The Black Veil, written by the Romanticist Nathaniel Hawthorne is a book in which a man suddenly decides to wear a random veil to a church meeting. Everyone is shocked, simply because it does not fit their conformist ideals of wearing a plain clothes, especially of his position as a minister. Wearing a veil is one of the most outrageous things a person could probably do, especially a black veil. Black is usually the dim color of death, or anything taboo. A veil is something that hides secrets, because it does not show the wearer's face completely, thus it could mean that the audience of the church had somehow hypothesized in the back of their heads that the minister was hiding something, therefore finding his presence uncomfortable and then departing. The atmosphere of the whole area was just insane, because people were left probably with an uncomfortable feeling (I know I would be) when they sense his presence. A man reading at the altar, reading the Holy Bible, in a black veil.
It's signifying that he's hiding a secret. A minister, a man of God, a man of truth - hiding a secret!? A role model in their society that they had looked up to was concealing a secret? People know that people only hide things when they think others would it unacceptable or that they're doing it for personal gain. Obviously both of these are not accepted principles, so in their eyes he is, subconsciously, a heretic.
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