¶ … MINISTER'S BLACK VEIL" BY NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE
The purpose of this paper is to discuss and analyze "The Minister's Black Veil," written by Nathaniel Hawthorne.
Hawthorne's short story is deceptively simple. He tells the tale of a minister, Parson Hooper, who comes to church one Sunday wearing a black veil over his face. Nothing else about him has changed, but this veil frightens the worshippers, and sets off all kinds of rumors, including that Parson Hooper has gone mad.
"Such was the effect of this simple piece of crepe, that more than one woman of delicate nerves was forced to leave the meetinghouse. Yet perhaps the pale-faced congregation was almost as fearful a sight to the minister, as his black veil to them."
As he preaches his sermon, the congregation seems to find this sermon special, and somehow it touches each one. Hawthorne says that Hooper was normally a rather "uninspired" preacher, and today was no exception, but the people perceive his words differently. They frighten many of them. "Each member of the congregation, the most innocent girl, and the man of hardened breast, felt as if the preacher had crept upon them, behind his awful veil, and discovered their hoarded iniquity of deed or thought." Perhaps Hooper's words are hitting a little close to home, and people are seeing some of the things they cover up in their own lives, as Hooper covers his face...
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