The Theme of Guilt Through Symbolism inHawthorne's The Minister's Black Veil
Nathaniel Hawthorne's two short stories, The Minister's Black Veil and Lady Eleanore's Mantle, cover the same thematic topic, but are opposite in approach and differ in the symbols used. Both the veil that Parson Hooper wears and the mantle that dons the head of Lady Eleanore deal with issue of guilt. The differences between the two, however, lie in the wearers of the articles, and their attitudes towards their own guilt. Parson Hooper wears the cloth because he realizes his sinful nature and desires humility by trying to cover it up. Lady Eleanore, on the other hand, wears the charming mantle as a prideful showcase of her wealth and heritage. In The Minister's Black Veil, the minister, Parson Hooper, puts on a black veil to hide his face from his parishioners. Hawthorne has Hooper wearing this veil for two reasons. First, Hooper veils himself to symbolize the facade of righteousness and decency that the townspeople have raised while their true nature is quite the opposite. Secondly, the minister, seeing himself as sinful, wears the veil as an act of confession to the people of the town. Hawthorne's purpose for the veil is to point out that all people who hide their sins inside wear a veil that covers their soul instead o
f their face. The parson's veil hides his face (Hawthorne uses the face as the window of the soul) from everyone else as well as from himself. Likewise, the parishioners' "invisible veils" cover their sins from the rest of the community and from themselves - when they chance to look inward. The parishioners could not even sense the guilt of their sins because of the veil that covered their hearts. The people in the town see the minister as hiding a great sin behind the veil; however, they do not sense that they too are hiding many sins underneath "veils" of their own. Finally, Hawthorne drives home the point, when he has the minister on his death bed exclaim, "Why do you tremble at me alone?....Tremble also at each other!....I look around me, and, lo! On every visage a Black Veil." (Pg. 349) The parson's words reveal to the individuals in the room that they all hide sins behind a veil, just as he hides his face. Unlike Parson Hooper, Lady Eleanore in Lady Eleanore's Mantle wears a piece of cloth on her head to enhance her pride, not dethrone it. While the parson covers his face because of the guilt of his sin, the Lady feels no guilt for hidden sins and dons the mantle simply to show herself to be weal
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Approximate Word count = 821
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
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