Criticism of the Veil

When i read the story "The Minister's Black Veil" by Hawthorne, i seemed to notice that the whole story was basically a symbol of dark romanticism. The story really does sum up the whole idea of dark Romanticism. Basically, this is true because the black veil in the story basically just represent that throughout life, there is always going t be dark times. One would have to admit that there are examples of dark events everywhere. This is basically what dark romanticism is all about. An example of dark romantic writing is the following quote: “With this gloomy shade before him, good Mr. Hooper walked onward, at a slow and quiet pace, stooping somewhat, and looking on the ground, as is customary with abstracted men, yet nodding kindly to those of his parishioners…” (Hawthorne). This quote shows the dark romanticism that is shown in this story. Also, in the book, there is also mentioning of a "secret sin". In the story, this represents the black veil, or also the sadness that goes unnoticed in the world. This reflects dark romanticism because dark romanticists also realize that there is a lot of sin in the world that goes unnoticed and they like to bring that to the attention of the reader (Hawthorne). This is because this thought process is what dark romantic writer really like to believe in when they are writing. The writers liked to believe that there is alway something dark in life no matter how happy the moment is. In my opinion, i really do not like this point of view from these writers. It really just seems way too sad and depressing. As a reader, i like to believe that there are moments in all stories or even in life where there is nothing but happiness. According to these writers, this is not true, or never true in life. For example, in the story, the minister wears his black veil everywhere he goes. He wears it to church, he wears it to a wedding, and then he even wears it to a funeral. Then, when no one really knows why he is wearing this strange black veil, he starts to die, and eventually when he is on his death bed, people begin to realize why he wears his black veil and every other person who goes to the funeral wears a black veil. As it turns, the people realize that the minister because they, like the minister, have realized that even in the happiest moments in life, there is still sadness in the world, and the people are wearing the veils to symbolize that. This event basically represents that mere fact that the minister did his job in making people realize that there are many sins and very sad events that go unnoticed in life. Unfortunately, this means that the people who are wearing these veils are reminded everyday that there is a lot of unhappiness that happens in life, and therefore, the minister did his job in helping the people to notice this by wearing a veil.

Hawthorne, Nathaniel. "The Minister's Black Veil." American Literature. Comp. Jeffery D. Wilhelm. Columbus: McGraw Hill, 2009. 280-89. Print.