The Artist's Black Veil

mystery of sin in the hearts of his fellows, is condemned live in isolation and despair forever after. It would appear that a recurrence of Goodman Brown's subtle pride has brought the minister the area of the unpardonable that which Hawthorne has described as a cold intellectual prying into the secret guilt of others. Certainly, Hooper's sermons linger powerfully over this topic, until each listener feels uncomfortably open the minister's stealthy eye. subject had reference secret sin, says Hawthorne of one such'sermon. subtle power was breathed into his words. Each member of the congregation ... felt as if the preacher had crept upon them, behind his awful veil, and discovered their hoarded iniquity of deed or thought. This sounds strongly similar the forbidden knowledge that brought Goodman Brown damnation, his lust to penetrate, in every bosom, the deep mystery of sin ... which inexhaustibly supplies more evil impulses than human power ... can make manifest in deeds.' Nor does the case against the Reverend Mr. Hooper stop here. A series of unnaturally bad omens follows the man in the veil through his clerical undertakings. Observers could have sworn that during the funeral at which Hooper officiated the corpse shivered slightly when he bent over the coffin, revealing his face the body beneath. That same night, the minister cast a dreadful pall over a marriage ceremony with his black veil. cloud seemed have rolled duskily from beneath the black crape, and dimmed the light of the candles. The bridal pair stood up before the minister. But the bride's cold fingers quivered in the tremulous hand of the bridegroom .... Mr. Hooper's toast the newlyweds does 1 All quotations from Hawthorne's short stories are taken from Hawthorne: Selected Tales and Sketches, edited, with an introduction, by Hyatt H. Waggoner (New York, 1964)

Aesthetics · Art · Artistic and Creative Research · Cultural Studies and Interdisciplinary Research · Visual Culture and Art Theory

• The Minister's "Grievous Affliction"

  Carl Ostrowski•Literature and medicine•1998

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