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Setting
Key Examples in The Minister’s Black Veil
Situational Irony
Explanation and Analysis—Shunning the Virtuous:
A central irony of “The Minister’s Black Veil” is that Reverend Hooper’s veil—which he wears in an attempt to teach his congregation about the way that secrecy, and particularly secret sin, bars them from truly knowing one another and themselves—only serves to further divide him from the people around him. Assuming Reverend Hooper has committed some secret sin of his own and is wearing the black veil to atone for it, the people of Milford quickly start to shun him:
Turning his veiled face from one group to another, he paid due reverence to hoary heads, saluted the middle aged with kind dignity as their friend and spiritual guide, greeted the young with mingled authority and love, and laid his hands on little children's heads to bless them. Such was always his custom on Sabbath day. Strange and bewildered looks repaid him for his courtesy […] He returned, therefore, to the parsonage, and, at the moment of closing the door, was observed to look back upon the people, all of whom had their eyes fixed upon the minister.
Related Themes:
