The character of Elizabeth in Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Minister's Black Veil seems to be a somewhat forgotten symbol of feminism. I was struck with Elizabeth's strength and determination when she confronted her husband in public. It seems as if Hawthorne is placing Elizabeth as a strong female character in order to further explore the ridiculous over-morality of the male character of the minister.

When Elizabeth confronts her husband in public about the reason for his hiding behind the veil, she does so in a persistent manner, defying his and society's expectation that she should be content with whatever answer her husband gives her. In other words, instead of playing the obedient and satisfied role of the wife, Elizabeth continues to ask her husband to give her reasonable answer for his unusual behavior. She expects to hear the rational truth from him. This shows that Elizabeth has a clearer sense of what makes a rational argument. The minister's reliance on religious reasons behind his wearing of the veil makes him a figure which people ridicule. Through this Hawthorne is showing a superiority of women over men, when it comes to levels of thinking.

I believe that Hawthorn, in his parable was trying to let us know that our imagination is much more a part of us than we believe. The black veil symbolized that we all have a hazed or covered look at the word are not looking at the whole person. Although the minister had not changed, because he wore the black veil, the attitudes of those around him did change. . One of Hawthorn's characters tells us, "The black veil, though it covered only our pastor's face, throws its influence over his whole person, and makes him ghostlike from head to foot". (1740). Had Reverend Hooper become a ghost, of course not, but his parishners saw him completely different. They started to see his veiled face as a bad omen. Of the parish wedding Hawthorn writes, "When Mr. Hooper came, the first thing that their eyes rested on was the same horrible black veil, which had added deeper gloom to the funeral, and could portend nothing but evil to the wedding." (1741) They started seeing changes in Mr. Hooper that were not there. The story reports, "But that piece of crape, to their imagination, seemed to hang down before his heart, the symbol of a fearful secret between him and them." (1742)

Some common words found in the essay are:
Reverend Hooper, Black Veil, black veil, sin seperates, husband public, Hawthorne's Minister's, minister's black veil, Minister's Black, hawthorne's minister's black, wearing veil, seperates people, hawthorne's minister's, minister's black,
Approximate Word count = 859
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)