Furthermore, the heavy use of symbolism in “The Ministers Black Veil” is the very heart of the story and contributes directly to the theme. While the veil itself is somewhat strange, if there were no hidden symbolism to it, the townspeople’s reactions would be completely unwarranted and exaggerated. As shown the the quote “Each member of the congregation…felt as if the preacher had crept upon them, behind his awful veil, and discovered their hoarded iniquity of deed or thought.”, the veil seems to symbolize each persons insecurities and regretted past. It is not the veil itself, or its representation of Mr. Hooper’s life that scares them, but it is the relation to their own sins that scares them. Rather than recognize the veil as such, they see it as a horrible secret of Mr. Hooper’s, and shown by “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.” In Mr. Hooper’s deathbed speech, the lines “Why do you tremble at me alone?...Tremble also at each other…loathsomely treasuring up the secret of his sin…I look around me, and, lo!, on every visage, a black veil!”, along with a general understanding of the story, show Mr. Hooper’s understanding of the veil. To him, it is not about some secret of his, or some singular, horrible sin of his own, instead, it represents his sinfulness. He wears it to visually show what he knows is true, that he is not perfect, he does bad things, he sins, and that that is what makes him, and all others, human. This deep symbolism gives power and character to the story, allowing it to illustrate a fact about life and how one man chooses to face it.
As a result of both the imagery’s and symbolism’s contributions to the story, its theme has much influence in its attempt to teach a lesson of human nature. The story confronts the fact that all people are sinners, but the challenging part still remains. In many ways, Mr. Hooper’s life was worsened by his acceptance of this fact and his attempt to deal with it, but it was also made better in a few ways. He gained reassurance in his purpose and cleared out many of the superficial facets of his life, making it more true and honest. He knew that the problems he was facing weren’t caused by him and the veil, rather they were caused by other people’s delusions. He is excommunicated not because he is a sinner, but because they won’t accept and reveal that they themselves are sinners. It could be said that they don’t ostracize him, they ostracize themselves by denying the truth and wearing a fake image in front of others. The removal of Mr. Hooper’s veil wouldn’t solve anything, the real solution is the townspeople accepting that they are sinful and taking up their own veil, at least metaphorically. It should also be noted that a number of the townspeople did realize that they were sinful, and weren’t ashamed of it, allowing them to communicate freely with Mr. Hooper. The theme could be summed up in saying that for society and relationships to function properly, people must accept who they are, their sins, other’s sins and just must portray themselves as they really are.
“The Ministers Black Veil” is in no way a perfect literary work. It is certainly debatable exactly how great it is, and the outcome would depend on the standards it would be set against. An excellent characteristic of the story is certainly its ability to make the reader think and become involved in the story. Probably the most notable of the elements in this story is the symbolism. It not only portrays something to the reader, but it also means different things to the members of the story itself. It is not merely the inclusion of said elements that makes it good, for any story can have these elements. That which sets this story apart and makes it an excellent story is its excellent use of imagery and symbolism, and it meaningful theme.
