The Minister’s Black Veil
By Nathaniel Hawthorne
SILLY QUIZ #5
How did the Minister’s parishioners react to the veil?
OBJECTIVES
 To develop vocabulary and word identification skills
 To use a variety of reading strategies to comprehend a short story
 To increase knowledge of other cultures and to connect common elements
across cultures
 To express and support responses to the text
 To analyze literary elements
 To increase knowledge of the rules of grammar and language
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE
 Born in Salem, Massachusetts.
 Descended from a prominent Puritan family.
 Believed that evil was a dominant force in the world.
 His fiction expresses a gloomy vision of human affairs.
 One of Hawthorne’s ancestors was a Puritan judge who played a key role in
the Salem witchcraft trials.
 Both Hawthorne’s character and focus as a writer were shaped by a sense of
inherited guilt.
 He was haunted by the intolerance and cruelty of his ancestors.
 He was not a Puritan and was born 112 years after the Salem witchcraft trials.
 Master of symbolism and allegory.
 Wrote many stories that included symbolism, but never outright said what the
symbols stood for, preferring to leave it to interpretation.
 He wrote throughout his life.
 He presented The Minister’s Black Veil as a parable.
LITERARY DEVICES
 Symbolism: a group of words or sentences that use symbols to represent a
thought or an idea.
 Allegory: a text that could be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning or a
moral lesson.
TEXT ANALYSIS: PARABLE
 Parable: a simple, usually brief, story that teaches a moral lesson.
 A type of Allegory, which is a story with both a literal and a symbolic
meaning.
 In subtitling this story “A Parable,” Hawthorne indicates that the moral
lesson it conveys is both important and central to the purpose of the text.
THEMES
 Theme of ‘Estrangement’
 Estrangement: (n) the fact of no longer being on friendly terms or part of
a social group.
CONNECTING LITERARY
ELEMENTS
 The veil that Mr. Hooper vows never to remove is a symbol – something
that has meaning in itself while also standing for something greater.
 To understand the message expressed, analyze the veil’s symbolic meaning.
 Revealed through responses of parishioners.
 Revealed in minister’s own deathbed explanation.
 Revealed through symbolic moments.
 Hawthorne uses both allegory and symbolism to convey the general
meaning of the symbol.
READING SKILL: INFERENCES
 Draw inferences about meaning.
 When message of work of fiction is conveyed indirectly through symbols,
the reader must draw inferences, or conclusions.
 Look closely at details, descriptions, dialogue, and imagery.
VOCABULARY
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Ambiguity
Zealous
Iniquity
Preternatural
Ostentatious
Imbued
Tremulous
Portend
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Unclearness; uncertainty
Eager and enthusiastic
Wickedness
Supernatural
Loud; overdone
Deeply influenced by
Trembling
To signify
PRE-DISCUSSION
Consider the masks that people wear in today’s society. Imagine that you had
to wear a mask for a day that reflects something about your true identity.
READING SKILLS AND TEXT
ANALYSIS
 Symbol: lines 133-138: In this
context, what could Mr. Hooper
mean when he refers to “the
dreadful hour that should snatch
the veil from their faces”?
 Symbol: lines 159-166: What
reaction or belief does the veil or
mask generate here?
 Culture: lines 175-199: What
motivates the parishioners to
confront Mr. Hooper? What do
their fears reveal about Puritan
culture?
 Symbol: lines 200-210: Contrast the
response of the minister’s fiancée
to the veil with the responses of
the other villagers. What might
explain the difference in her
response?
 Symbol: lines 243-266: From this
passage, what can you surmise
about the meaning of the veil?
Does this passage help the theme
of estrangement? How so?
 Symbol: lines 380-387: What do his
comments suggest about the
meaning of the veil?
DISCUSSION
 According to the text, what is good and what is bad about the veil?
 How do the people react to the veil? What does that tell you about the culture of the
puritans?
 How did the minister become estranged from his parishioners?
 In what ways did the veil affect the people around the minister?
 How could the same black veil be fine on a woman’s bonnet but “terrible” when
covering the minister’s face?
 What does the physician mean by saying that people sometimes are afraid to be alone?
What does it mean to know that Mr. Hooper has chosen to do something that may
result on solitude?
 Notice the narrator's comments in lines 98-100 and 128-129. how sympathetic is the
narrator to Mr. Hooper?
 Lines 266-270, why does Elizabeth leave so suddenly? Do you think that she realized
something?
 The minster constantly preaches about confessing one’s sins to God and the people
around, yet he never tells of the reason he is wearing the veil. How does this fact affect
the story?
DISCUSSION
Critics disagree about the meaning of the veil. Edgar Allan Poe once argued
that the minister wears the veil out of remorse for a secret sin involving the
young woman whose funerals he attends (lines 115 – 142). Do you agree with
this interpretation? If yes, what evidence supports this thesis? If no, what
evidence expels this theory?