Similarity between The Ministers Black Veil and The Scarlet Letter
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s stories The Minister’s Black Veil and The Scarlet Letter depict Hawthorne’s idea that man cannot judge what is sin or punish another for his sins because all people have sinned and there is more than one interpretation of every idea and symbol. ... In both The Minister’s Black Veil and The Scarlet Letter, the symbols meant to designate something evil to the people become either a symbol of good or of almost no meaning at all. In MBV, the town minister, Reverend Hooper, came to Sabbath one day wearing a black veil covering his face from the chin up. The church-members pondered about this veil all day, and most of them came to the conclusion that it was a sign of some sin he had done. ... If they had trembled so greatly at his veil, then why did they respect him so much? Why did they even tremble at the veil? Reverend Hooper never gives the reason why he wears the veil, it does not matter. All that matters is the people’s interpretation of the veil, which is the point the Reverend is trying to prove. ... You must look past that veil to truly see the wearer. The Letter “A” that Hester Prynne wears in The Scarlet Letter also illustrates to the reader that symbols do not show good or evil, but rather are our own interpretation of that object. Hester is given the letter “A” because she committed adultery with another person, who we later find out to be Reverend Dimmesdale. ... After time, though, people disregarded the meaning of the letter, and began to think it meant other things.