this reason, Mr. Hopper had to avoid going by the burial grounds, which is one of his favorite routes to walk.

The impertinence of the latter class compelled him to give up his customary walk at sunset to the burial ground; for when he leaned pensively over the gate, there would always be faces behind the gravestones, peeping at his black veil. A fable went the rounds that the stare of the dead people drove him thence. It grieved him, to the very depth of his kind heart, to observe how the children fled from his approach, breaking up their merriest sports, while his melancholy figure was yet afar off.

Basically, the sight at the burial grounds is that of children running away from him as if he were a bad person. His veil is meant to convey one message but he realizes that it is sending a separate message to children, who do not understand the depth of what the minister's message tries to be: All that the minister wants is to serve as an example. He wants to show everyone that everybody has a black or dark side. He is showing his, symbolically, as a symbol of open honesty of the heart. Additionally he judges those who do not come forward and admit to their inner demons. However, the goodness of the minister's heart is what makes him feel bothered that children are running away from him.

Hawthorne's story is a study in Puritan theology. In it, he portrays the Puritan preoccupation with sin as a struggle between good and evil in the soul. The heart, thus, is a place where "ghost and fiend" wrestle for preeminence against one's better nature. To many Puritans, even the mere thought of sin deserves condemnation: the hands may be "pure," but the hidden corruption of the inner soul is worth the "weight of a condemning sentence" in the heavenly courts. Thus, we can see Mr. Hooper's preoccupation with sin and judgment supporting these Puritanical beliefs. Here, it is the "secret sins" of the soul that makes one deserving of hellfire, even if those sins are merely in the imagination.

Mr. Hooper wears his black veil as a symbol of his inner corruption, or secret sin, contending that evil exits in every heart. He tells his fiancée, Elizabeth, that he covers his face because of "secret sin." Whether this sin is adultery or something else, Hawthorne doesn't clarify. The specifics of the sin are ultimately irrelevant, as Hooper's message is to demonstrate that none are without sin, and their attempts to conceal it are futile.

Behind the veil, Mr. Hooper confesses that he feels lonely and frightened. The "miserable obscurity" the veil lends him is a terrible burden to bear alone. Although he presents his case eloquently, Elizabeth is loath to stay. She leaves and consigns her beloved to his daily life of inward condemnation and mental torture. Essentially, the veil represents the Puritan belief in universal depravity. This is why, when Mr. Hooper looks across the burial ground, he imagines faces from behind headstones glaring at his veil. It is as if Mr. Hooper already stands condemned for his secret sins.

In all, although Hawthorne focuses on the Puritan conception of sin, he also paints a sympathetic picture of his protagonist's suffering.