A paradox is a statement or idea that appears at first to be contradictory, but which upon closer examination expresses some sort of essential truth. A paradox central to “The Minister’s Black Veil” is that Reverend Hooper obscures his face in an attempt to reveal a truth about humanity. The truth he is attempting to illustrate by wearing the black veil is expressed in a sermon he gives early on:
The sermon which he now delivered was marked by the same characteristics of style and manner as the general series of his pulpit oratory […] The subject had reference to secret sin, and those sad mysteries which we hide from our nearest and dearest, and would fain conceal from our own consciousness, even forgetting that the Omniscient can detect them.
In essence, Reverend Hooper hopes to reveal that all people wear a sort of “veil” in their day to day lives, a public face that they show to the world, keeping their darker aspects and “secret sins” hidden. Mr. Hooper wears the veil to illustrate this idea to the congregation and encourage them to be more transparent with one another and honest with themselves. In order to be truly open with and close to one other, Reverend Hooper suggests, his congregation needs to pay less attention to surface appearances and focus more on the spiritual. Surface appearances, in his view, are a distraction from the truth, as they can be misleading; someone who appears to be a paragon of godliness and piety on the surface could, in truth, be harboring some secret sin behind their “veil.” By obscuring your face or otherwise downplaying outward display, he suggests, you can actually give others a clearer view of your true self, because they will not be distracted by what is on the surface.
