Throughout “The Minister’s Black Veil,” Hawthorne uses the motif of visibility vs. obscurity to highlight the differences between Reverend Hooper and the townspeople of Milford. While the townspeople are constantly staring—at Reverend Hooper and at one another—Hooper is frequently depicted looking off into the distance, away from their faces. Reverend Hooper’s face is also obscured while theirs remain highly visible, making them anxious.
In the first paragraph of the story, the emphasis is on the faces of Milford’s townspeople. The scene is filled with bright light, and everyone is looking at one another:
Children, with bright faces, tripped merrily beside their parents, or mimicked a graver gait, in the conscious dignity of their Sunday clothes. Spruce bachelors looked sidelong at the pretty maidens, and fancied that the Sabbath sunshine made them prettier on week days. When the throng had mostly streamed into the porch, the sexton began to toll the bell, keeping his eye on the Reverend Mr. Hooper's door. The first glimpse of the clergyman was the signal for the bell to cease the summons.
“But what has the good Mr. Hooper got upon his face?” cried the sexton in astonishment.
All within hearing immediately turned about and beheld the semblance of Mr. Hooper, pacing slowly in his meditative way towards the meeting-house.
From the start of the story, Milford’s townspeople are depicted as having “bright faces,” immediately setting up the contrast between them and Reverend Hooper behind his dark, obscuring veil. Even the children are highly aware that they are being looked at “in the conscious dignity of their Sunday clothes.” The men are looking at the brightly-lit faces of women, and even the sexton is “keeping his eye on” the minister’s door, further emphasizing how important looking and seeing is in this town’s culture. Given the association between light and truth, particularly in the Bible, this bright scene gives the impression that the townspeople of Milford are being truthful and transparent with one another; what you see on the surface, it suggests, matches what is going on below. The emphasis on how much the townspeople look at one another also reflects the importance Puritans placed upon monitoring one another and keeping an eye out for potentially sinful behavior. In essence, this first paragraph suggests that Milford is a place where there is enormous pressure to appear virtuous, because someone might always be watching.
However, the illusion that the townspeople are being fully open and truthful with one another dissolves the moment the minister walks out the door. The townspeople, Hawthorne writes, “beheld the semblance of Mr. Hooper.” This choice in diction is significant. “Semblance” refers not to someone’s true self but rather to their outward appearance, often an unreal or deceptive one that does not reflect reality. This word choice reflects the way that Reverend Hooper’s black veil reminds everyone in the town that they all keep secrets from one another. While they might like to think that what they see is what they get, and that constant surveillance is enough to keep one another from sinning, this isn’t the reality. Reverend Hooper’s veil wordlessly reminds them that everyone has their secrets, no matter how closely you keep your eye on them.
In contrast with the townspeople with their brightly-lit faces, Reverend Hooper is referred to throughout the story in terms of darkness and secrecy. Words like “swathed,” “concealed,” “darkened aspect,” “hiding,” and “obscurity” all serve to set Reverend Hooper apart. He is also depicted at many points in the story as looking not directly at the townspeople but rather off into the distance. This characterization reveals that he is less concerned with outward appearances than with spiritual truth, and recognizes that the two are often at odds. The townspeople, on the other hand, are characterized as continually staring at one another, revealing their obsession with appearances.
