Nathaniel Hawthorne’s two stories, “Young Goodman Brown” and, “The Minister’s Black Veil” are both great examples of his views on the Puritan church and religion in general. Although both stories have differences in how they approach the topic, the conclusion can be made that there is a similar theme in both of his works. In both “Young Goodman Brown” and “The Minister’s Black Veil,” Hawthorne’s ideas about and problems with religion and religious leaders are explored, and the different viewpoints in both of the stories show two unique examples of the same hypocrisy. Hawthorne’s stories both explore the problem he perceives with organized religion and how religious leaders can be blind to the sanctimonious posturing they perform through the lens of both a member of the congregation and a church leader. This can be seen in, …show more content…
Similar themes are seen in “The Minister’s Black Veil” when Minister Parson Hooper wore a veil to symbolize hidden sin his entire life, which ultimately resulted in him feigning a sense of false-righteousness. Minister Hooper had intended the veil to imply that everyone, including the most innocent, all had, “secret sin, and.sad mysteries which we.conceal from our own consciousness, even forgetting that the Omniscient can detect them.” Although the idea behind the veil was seemingly a good message, it only created discomfort in his congregation and came to symbolize the opposite of what he was trying to achieve. Members of his congregation felt that Hooper could read their minds of the “hoarded iniquity of deed or thought” that they possessed. This being something only the Omniscient