Home > The Minister's Black Veil: A Paradigm Summary & Study Guide > The Minister's Black Veil: A Paradigm Group > Question and Answer

Question:

Answers:

1. 
   ms-mcgregor Teacher
   High School - 12th Grade

   eNotes Editor

   The veil had a positive effect on the ministry of Reverend Hooper. Many people convert to his faith and people want him to be with them when they are on their death beds. Much like the scarlet letter of Hester Prynne, Hooper is thought to have some kind of special understanding about life. The veil makes him seem more mysterious and perhaps, people think, a sinner who will understand their own sinfulness. Unfortunately for Hooper, the veil also separates him from friends and, more especially the love of his life.

   Sources:

   http://www.enotes.com/ministers-black

   Rate answer:

   • Flag as inappropriate

   Posted by ms-mcgregor on Monday September 29, 2008 at 6:26 PM
   
   

2. 
   gbeatty Teacher
   College - Freshman

   eNotes Editor

   Best answer as selected by question asker.

   The narrator says, "Among all its bad influences, the black veil had the one desirable effect, of making its wearer a very efficient clergyman. By the aid of his mysterious emblem--for there was no other apparent cause--he became a man of awful power over souls that were in agony for sin."

   This is a very specific kind of clergyman--one very Puritan, and very much in line with other works by Hawthorne. As far as why, there are several reasons. The veil hides his face, allowing sinners to imagine the best and worst. The fact that he carries darkness with him all the time allows them to think of him as one of them: a sinner.

    

   Sources:

   http://www.enotes.com/ministers-black

   Rate answer:

   • Flag as inappropriate

   Posted by gbeatty on Monday September 29, 2008 at 6:45 PM