What Does The Veil Symbolize In The Minister's Black Veil

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The Black Veil
“There was but one thing remarkable in his appearance” (266). Nathaniel Hawthorne in “The Minister’s Black Veil” uses a veil to symbolize death and sin. Mr. Hooper, the preacher in Milford, comes wearing a black veil across his face at a Sunday sermon. Hawthorne hopes to have the reader understand that death and sin affects all. The congregation of the church are captivated by the veil and it is hard to keep from looking at. By using the black veil as a symbol for death, Hawthorne can captivate readers and create mystery in the ongoing story of mortality.
Death follows everyone, all the time. The black veil seemed to always be around death: “The bearers went heavily forth, and the mourners followed, saddening all the street, with the dead before them, and Mr. Hooper in his black veil behind” (270). The dead are in front of the veil, as well as the alive. Each person
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Hooper's black veil as a symbol of death, but he also reveals it as a symbol for the cover for deep sin. Almost like how makeup covers the dark spots on a woman's face. A human's sins are the “dark spots” and the makeup is portrayed as the veil: “From that time no attempts were made to remove Mr. Hooper’s black veil, or, by a direct appeal, to discover the secret which it was supposed to hide” (272). Just as one does not try to remove a woman's makeup to show what she looks like underneath, one does not try to remove the black veil to discover the deep sin.
The black veil is worn by all who are mortal. In “The Minister’s Black Veil”, every person hides things and has sin that they don’t want people to know about it: “Then deem me a monster, for the symbol beneath which I have lived, and die!” (275). The minister hides his sin, just as all mortals do. These sins can be considered ungodly and possibly works of the devil. The devil is greatly feared and most who are in contact with it try to hide it. Especially Mr. Hooper since he is a