Reflection - "The Minister's Black Veil"

When I first started reading this story, I have to admit that I thought it was pretty strange. But like every story I read, I end up liking it just a little better than I originally thought I would. So anyway, the short story, "The Minister's Black Veil" by Nathaniel Hawthorne, is about a man named Mr. Hooper. The sexton and some other people are curious about him for one reason. Mr. Hooper is wearing a black veil over his face. You can instantly tell that the black veil cannot stand for something good, because from the moment the people see the black veil, they automatically start saying bad things about it and getting worried. For example, in the story the people say things like, ""I can't really feel as if good Mr. Hooper's face was behind that piece of crape," said the sexton."I don't like it," muttered an old woman, as she hobbled into the meeting-house. "He has changed himself into something awful, only by hiding his face.""Our parson has gone mad!" cried Goodman Gray, following him across the threshold (Hawthorne). This is an example of dark romanticism because it shows that right from the start, the veil represents something not necessarily good.

Later in the story, Mr. Hooper tells the members of his church that perhaps he is hiding his face beneath this veil because he believes that like a humans face, the veil can cover up a mans evil and sin (Hawthorne 280). This is also a good example of Dark Romanticism because it shows that they did both acknowledge sin and evil like we talked about last class. Along with that, other characteristics of the romanticism period is that for one, romanticism is very much based on feeling and emotion. then, there is normally some kind of dark twist, making it part of Dark Romanticism (Dark).
Anyway, this is also a very sad story, which ties in more things having to do with the dark romanticism period. So, in the end, the lady tries to get him to take off his veil, but he just wont. She tries and tries to get through to him, but he again refuses to do so. He is not yet ready to take it off and show his face. I was however, very disappointed with the ending though. I thought that in the end, it would get better or at least end just a little happier, but instead it was very sad and depressing. however, I did like the story much, much better than I originally thought I would. I really actually like the dark romanticism period, although it is not always happy, it is always interesting and has really good twists in the story unlike some other genres of literature. This was a really good story in my opinion. But I am still a little bit confused on some parts of it. I do not understand what happens at the end exactly. I read it, but I keep hearing different things about it.


"Dark Romanticism - ArticleWorld." Main Page - ArticleWorld. Web. 23 Jan. 2012.

Hawthorne, Nathaniel. “The Minister’s Black Veil.” Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm,
Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed.
Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 280-289. Print.