The Minister’s Black Veil

A Parable

by

Nathaniel Hawthorne

Nathaniel Hawthorne

• 1804 – 1864• 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.

Inherited Guilt

• One of Hawthorne’s ancestors was a Puritan judge who played a key role in the Salem witchcraft trials.

• Another ancestor was a judge known for his persecution of Quakers.

• 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 ancestors.

• He was not a Puritan and was born 112 years after the Salem witchcraft trials.

Nathaniel Hawthorne

• Master of symbolism and allegory• He wrote throughout his life.• After graduating from Maine’s Bowdoin

College in 1825, he wrote a novel, Fanshawe.• Soon after the book’s anonymous publication in

1828, he was seized by shame and abruptly burned most available copies of his book.

Nathaniel Hawthorne

• During the nine years that followed, he honed his writing skills working in a room he called “the dismal chamber.”• This resulted in a collection of stories entitled

Twice Told Tales published in 1837.• Although the book sold poorly, it established him as

a respected writer.• Gave him sufficient resources and encouragement to

continue his writing.

Nathaniel Hawthorne

• In 1850, he published his masterpiece The Scarlet Letter, a powerful novel about sin and guilt among early Puritans.• This book was extremely successful.• Earned him international fame

• He soon wrote two more novels, The House of the Seven Gables (1851) and The Blithedale Romance (1852).

Nathaniel Hawthorne

• When his friend Franklin Pierce became president, Hawthorne was named American consul at Liverpool, England.

• He spent several years in England and traveled through Italy before returning to Massachusetts.

• Used his Italian experiences in the novel Marble Faun (1860).

• Hawthorne died four years later.• He left four unfinished novels among his belongings.

The Minister’s Black Veil: A 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 important.

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 veil’s symbolic meaning.

• Revealed through responses of parishioners• Revealed in minister’s own deathbed explanation.

Reading Strategy

• 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, especially descriptions

and dialogue.

Inference

• Drawing inferences is a way of interpreting a character’s behavior, statements, or an author’s message.

• Description Dialogue:• “He has changed himself into something awful,

only by hiding his face.”• Inference: Villagers are frightened by the veil.

Vocabulary

• venerable: adj. commanding respect p. 342• iniquity: n. sin; wickedness (p.343)• indecorous: adj. improper (p. 343)• ostentatious: adj. intended to attract notice;

showy (p. 343).• sagacious: adj. shrewd; perceptive (p. 343)

Vocabulary

• vagary: n. unpredictable occurrence p. 344• tremulous: adj. characterized by trembling

(p. 345)• waggery: n. mischievous humor (p.345)• impertinent: adj. not showing proper

respect (p. 346)• obstinacy: n. stubbornness

Connecting to the Literature

• A secret, when kept too long can take on a mysterious significance.

• It can cause people to fill in the missing story and draw their own untrue conclusions.

• In “The Minister’s Black Veil,” a Puritan parson keeps a secret from an entire village for his whole life.