The Minister's Black Veil

The Minister’s Black Veil is a kind of eerie tale about a pastor named Mr. Hooper. He was well known and widely loved. Nathaniel Hawthorne depicts this story very well and with a lot of description. He gives you a good idea of what the people at the time really thought about a religious leader in the Puritan community doing something so taboo. I’m going to go over how he used his diction, rhetoric, and other ways that he appealed the audience.

The era in which this story takes place is very important in English and well as History. Many historical events happened at this time. Many of those historical events have to do with literature by different authors and writers. People in this area are mainly Puritans, a largely religious and tightly knit society. When this Mr. Hooper comes out and displays himself with a black veil over his face, it creates quite a ruckus and disturbance among the religious community. Hawthorne does a good job of explaining and describing the effect it has on his congregation. It sends people into a bit of a fit.

With the community being Puritan, religious plays a major role in their everyday life and society. By the clergy covering his face in such a terrible and depressing way, it throws everybody into a fit. Nobody knows why he is wearing the veil. Mr. Hooper does not talk to anybody about it, nor tell them as to why he wears it. It remains a sacred object of sorrow and terrible things that he is shading himself and/or others from. He refused to ever take it off until the end of his life, which causes him to lose his wife. Adding these little things proved the seriousness and the devotion that Mr. Hooper had towards this new notion of his. As this was well depicted by Nathaniel Hawthorne.

The author put a true sense of creepiness on the story by using certain words to describe how Mr. Hooper looked and appeared to other people. Also by using certain diction to describe the vibe he gave when he came in a room. He described him as “walking with the souls of those he laid to rest.” Hawthorne also described him as being cold, pale, and with a melancholy smile at all times. This makes the people wonder what is going on through his head and continues to press the questions of why is he wearing the black veil.

The author could have possibly appealed the different ethos, pathos, and even logos in this story. The audience’s ethos could have been appealed to by the fact that Hawthorne mentioned different actions that Mr. Hooper did and how everybody in the community reacted. Mr. Hooper didn’t exactly say or do anything but walk into a room and have his presence known, and it effected how people were acting. This described the scene and vibe that was being given off. Pathos could have played a part with people having sympathy for the clergyman. He was just living what he felt he needed and had to do with his life to take responsibility for the sorrow and terrible things of others’ souls. He felt he was doing the right thing, while other people thought he was going crazy and a mad man. Nathaniel partially brought logos into the picture by being realistic about the situation when it comes to religion and how the society was. With them being a society focused mainly on religious and beliefs, they would all have reacted in the same way.

All in all, Nathaniel Hawthorne did a good job of depicting this tale of his. He applied his personal sense of diction as well as good use of rhetoric to appeal to most audiences. It keeps you interested and makes you think more into it than just a plain old story. In a way, it makes you want to think about what it would be like if you were there and how you would act if you were in the shoes of the people there. It get’s the audience to think, and that’s exactly what the author would want. He wants them to consider different views and options when it comes to perceiving his story.