Question

In the first paragraph, describe the attitude of the townspeople as they do to church. What does this tell us about their true spiritual priorities?
Describe the initial reaction to Rev. Hooper’s Veil.

What is the subject of Rev. Hopper’s sermon that day? How does the veil affect this topic?

What were the two ceremonies that Rev. Hooper directed that someday? How does the veil affect the mood of each?

Summarize the scene between Rev. Hooper and Elizabeth. How would you describe how both feel at their parting?

What does Rev. Hooper mean when he says, “There is an hour to come when all of us shall cast aside out veil”?

As the years pass, what are some of the negative effects of Rev. Hooper’s veil? What were some of the positive?

Rev. Hooper is described as “a man apart from men” and that the veil has “kept him in that saddest of all prisons, his own heart.” Explain the meaning.

Why is Elizabeth described as a “faithful woman” in the final scene?

Go through the story and count all the references to Rev. Hooper’s “smile.” How is his “Smile” often described? Why does Hawthorne focus on this detail so much?

Beside the veil on Rev. Hooper’s face, what other references to other types of veils are mentioned in the story? What does each mean?

What is the attitude of the other ministers toward Rev. Hooper on his deathbed? What does this tell us about them?

According to Rev. Hooper, why had he been wearing his black veil?

Why is this story called “a parable”?

Answer 1

1. All the townspeople are going to attend the service and are quite excited about it, as if it was a holiday. The children are dressed nicely, the bachelors have a feeling they are even more handsome on this day. Obviously, going to a Sunday service is an event of great importance in their lives, and the center of their spiritual wellbeing.

2. The sexton is the first person who reacts to Rev. Hooper’s veil. The narrator tells us he is astonished by the sight. All the other people turn to see him, and are absolutely amazed. The narrator quickly drops in to tell us that there is only one unusual detail about Hooper’s looks: the black veil that covers his face.

3. The subject concerns secret sin – all of those things we do and try to hide them and stay silent about them, sometimes even forgetting that we can’t conceal them from God. The veil intensifies the topic because they can’t see the face of the man behind the sermon. It underlines the significance of the topic, as the preacher himself conceals his countenance.

4. The first ceremony is an afternoon funeral service for a young woman who had just died. Hooper still wears his veil; as he stoops over the coffin, he catches back the veil, as if the dead woman might have seen his face. Here, the veil additionally darkens the mood. The second ceremony is a wedding that takes place that evening. Thanks to the veil, Hooper is a bizarre and ominous figure who installs a certain sense of gloom.

5. Elizabeth wants Hooper to uncover his face, if only for a moment. He refuses to do it, saying that he took a vow never to do it. He implores her to accept that and they can be happy together, even with this small piece of cloth in between them. But Elizabeth wants all or nothing, and goes away, in spite of his pleas. She is obviously desperate, as she doesn’t understand his obsession. He is philosophically sad because of it, thinking that the very symbol of materiality is the cause of their separation.

6. He means that there will be a moment when the truth will overcome all of our delusions and expose itself. This moment is most likely our death. Hooper also says that all people wear veils. The fact that his is visible and covers most of his face doesn’t mean the rest of the people are without secrets.

7. The veil never changes in the people’s perceptions. It is an evil omen, a symbol of something devilish, otherworldly, or perhaps even a token of the pastor’s lunacy. Even children run away from him. He hates the veil most of all, avoiding mirrors. The only good thing if the effect the veil has on his preaching, and the way it lures the most terrible sinners. He becomes famous throughout the country for his preaching.

8. It means he willingly embraced an object, knowing that it would alienate him from all the people who were dear to him. It would leave him ultimately alone and desolate as a person, even if he fulfilled his oath.

9. Because she is with Hooper at his deathbed, even though she had to leave him for life. She still came back to him, as if to tell him she had never stopped loving him, even though she didn’t agree with his way of life.

10. “Mr. Hooper's smile glimmered faintly.” He often smiles sadly, as if he knew more about the world than the rest of the people. His faint and sad smile could also mean that he loves people, even though most of them inflict pain on each other, and on him as well.

11. A lady compares Hooper’s veil to “a simple black veil, such as any woman might wear on her bonnet”. A veil can be utterly devoid of any mystery and significance. Later on, when Hooper gives his funeral speech, the narrator mentions “the dreadful hour that should snatch the veil from their faces” – here, the veil is a metaphor of all the illusions about ourselves. After the pastor rushes off the wedding ceremony, having spilled wine on the carpet, the narrator says: “For the Earth, too, had on her Black Veil.” The earth too has its ways to pretend. Near the end, a minister asks Hooper if he is ready “for the lifting of the veil that shuts in time from eternity”, which is a metaphor of death.

12. They warn him that it is time to uncover his face. If the veil represents some terrible sin, it is time to confess it. It tells us that even though they are ministers who should be able to see beyond the obvious, they still can’t understand his act, nor read its symbolism. Furthermore, they can’t accept a person for who he or she is.

13. In his view, everybody wears a veil. It is only his veil that is most obvious. But even those who had abused or disregarded him for wearing the veil have their true natures concealed behind a metaphorical veil. So, he only did in public what everyone else does in secret.

14. Because it doesn’t have to be real. It is completely unimportant if it ever really happened. It is actually an allegory about human nature and its ways. It is a timeless story about people intolerant of other people, and not ready to own their problems.