Hawthorne’s Veil: A Puritan History and Parable

Edis Shanata

Professor J. Nader

LIT-601

December 3, 2006

Hawthorne’s Veil: A Puritan History and Parable

The Puritan nature of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s works is evident throughout The Minister’s Black Veil. Much as the Puritans fled from their native England to escape what they felt was a state religion that had become mired in extravagance and ritual, so too does Hawthorne break with the traditions and airs behind which we hide our true selves. He uses his story’s title character as a platform from which to specifically speak out against the possibility of true blamelessness on earth; from a wider perspective he is in fact reminding us that just as the Puritans sought to purify their faith through spare and austere method, so too must we constantly examine ourselves for deeper meaning and true motive behind our actions, never trusting in what facets of ourselves we deem fit to show in public. Hawthorne’s Reverend Hooper cloaks himself behind an enigmatic black veil, drawing the increasingly overt curiosity of his congregation. The effect his willful veiling has upon the townsfolk is the crux of Hawthorne’s theme, and it serves a double purpose. It is both a history and critique of Puritan culture of his time. Much as the Reverend Hooper’s practicing his self-chastening in order to pursue his vision of enacted faith causes his shunning amongst the townsfolk, so too were the Puritans marginalized as extremists in the Anglican Church for practicing their own austere brand of Christianity; having thus alluded to the history of Puritanism, Hawthorne then moves to remind his readers, through Hooper, that if they are to maintain the severely chaste ideals of Puritanism, they too must look inward and scour for their true selves.

Hawthorne begins the story with an overview of traditional past Sundays in the village; through his description of children’s “bright faces, tripping merrily beside their parents…in the conscious dignity of their Sunday clothes…” (581), we feel the tone of village Sunday worship: a joyous and important affair. The villagers soon however, spy their minister leaving his house, face clad in a black veil. The townsfolk reply in amazement, questioning the identity of the masked figure. When it is clear that it is their minister they become distinctly uneasy, as they know him to be a mild mannered man. The congregation immediately comments on how the change is affecting them: they say, “I don’t like it’, muttered an old woman... ‘He has changed himself into something awful, only by hiding his face.”(582) ‘Our parson has gone mad!’ cried Goodman Gray, following him across the threshold.” (582) This marks the beginning of Hawthorne’s personification of the Puritan movement, in the shape of the veiled preacher amidst a village going about its business and not ready for his change of demeanor. Hawthorne is therefore arguing that Anglican society was likewise not ready to face the social upheaval brought about by the Puritans’ practices, represented in the story by the minister’s changed visage.

The sermon begins not with the “hushed repose which should attend the entrance of the minister” (582) but with a “general bustle” (582) as word and speculation regarding the change in the minister makes its rounds through the townspeople. His sermon is particularly effective that day, as the spiritual weight of the veil lends further authority to his words and manner. His performance on the pulpit was “[darkly] tinged with the gentle gloom of Mr. Hooper’s temperament…A subtle power was breathed into his words.” (583) And yet for the malignant feel of his veil, his kindly nature was not diminished; after the sermon he “paid due reverence to the hoary heads, saluted the middle aged with dignity, [and] greeted the young with mingled authority and love” (583). In this way Hawthorne depicts his take on the initial reaction to Puritanism in England: people had found a new, austere way to worship they believed brought them closer to their deity, and the rest saw that ascetic piety as a threat to their own prosaic ways. Despite showing their still good character to the populace, the feeling of malignancy and worry of a threat to their own lifestyles remained in the Anglican majority, as shown through the reactions of the people following the sermon: “strange and bewildered looks repaid his courtesy...“none...aspired to the honor of walking by their pastor’s side” (583). Through the townsfolk’s newfound fear and unspoken distrust of their minister they are depicting how Hawthorne felt Anglican England unjustly turned against.

When taking into account the social ramifications, the minister’s