Examples Of Ambiguity In The Minister's Black Veil

Ambiguity is a theme that runs through many narratives and due to itss nature can serve multiple purposes. At this moment, ambiguity will be explored in, “The Minister’s Black Veil” by Nathanial Hawthorne. The short story is about Parson Hooper, a minister for a small town, who suddenly dawns a black veil across his face and refuses to remove it for any reason. As a result, the townspeople begin to gossip and change the way they act. Through the nature of sin, Hooper’s life, and the purpose of the veil, ambiguity exists.
Overall, the nature of sin in this story is kept vague with the reaction to the potential sin having more effect than the sin itself. For example, secret sin is described as “those sad mysteries which we hide.” (2) Each of the characters in the town share the Puritan belief structure concerning sin.
Hooper’s life. The descriptions were vague with him being called, “a gentlemanly person…nodding kindly.” (1) A choice that Hawthorne made to keep the character’s motivations vague is that the reader is unable to enter Mr. Hooper’s mind. This creates a physical barrier between the audience and Mr. Hooper is preventing a full understanding of the situation. Ambiguity exists with his relationship with Elizabeth since they are engaged, but there is no evidence of romance. Critically, ambiguity is the purpose of the veil since it causes such a controversy in the town. The contrast between the explicit and the implicit nature of the veil shows with Elizabeth’s comments “there is nothing terrible in this piece of crape” (5) and town reactions. Due to the speculation, Mr. Hooper’s status in the town changed, becoming increasingly separated from the community as the ambiguous nature of the veil gained spread. Then, there is the question of is there any real purpose beyond the effect it had on the village since Mr. Hooper prevented him from ever taking off the