The Dark Veil Pre-Vails

Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Minister's Black Veil" oozes Dark Romanticism.

Summary:
Parson Hooper (main character) is a minister (good and light) who comes to a regular church service wearing a black (evil, darkness) veil which covers his eyes. He does not acknowledge the veil at its first revealing, and discusses it only when forced to, but at all costs, never gives it up and wears it to his death bed. A simple veil, just a couple layers of dark crepe, was so off-putting that the man of the people became a complete outcast of the people.

The veil could be said to signify darkness, secrets and/or sin which is direct contradiction to Parson Moody's life purpose: to bring purity of heart to the people he was ordained to serve. As a veiled minister he was eventually shunned by all and seen as someone who forced all who viewed him to think about the "why" of veil. It made people uncomfortable and angry that he was forcing them to acknowledge not only his darknesses, sins, but theirs. He might have also been saying why are you rejecting someone who believes different than you....

In Paragraph 10: ". . .till Mr. Hooper had ascended the stairs, and showed himself in the pulpit, face to face with his congregation, except for the black veil. That mysterious emblem was never once withdrawn. It shook with his measured breath, as he gave out the psalm; it threw its obscurity between him and the holy page, as he read the Scriptures; and while he prayed, the veil lay heavily on his uplifted countenance. Did he seek to hide it from the dread Being whom he was addressing?"

Paragraph 10 is brilliant. It demonstrates both good and evil in the same line: ". . .it threw its obscurity between (walking the line between good and evil) him (darkness now) and the holy page (the ultimate light or the Puritanical beliefs that Hawthorne was raised on, which he is said to distain), as he read the Scriptures (good); and while he prayed (good), the veil lay heavily on his uplifted (the darkness is laying on the good) countenance. Did he seek to hide it from the dread Being (devil, evil, Hades, whatever your hell is).

Paragraph 13
"At the close of the services, the people hurried out with indecorous confusion, eager to communicate their pent-up amazement, and conscious of lighter spirits the moment they lost sight of the black veil. Some gathered in little circles, huddled closely together, with their mouths all whispering in the centre; some went homeward alone, wrapt in silent meditation; some talked loudly, and profaned the Sabbath day with ostentatious laughter. A few shook their sagacious heads, intimating that they could penetrate the mystery; while one or two affirmed that there was no mystery at all, but only that Mr. Hooper's eyes were so weakened by the midnight lamp, as to require a shade. . ."
I love the use of lighter spirits. . .black veil. . ." in the same line. Goodness and light co-existing; living life with our human angst and conflicts.
Then use of circles: "Some gathered in little circles, huddled closely together, with their mouths all whispering, in the centre;

Paragraph 22:
This should be a time of great human joy, marriage; and not just any marriage, but the marriage of the "handsomest couple..." "That night, the handsomest couple in Milford village were to be joined in wedlock."

Hawthorne again uses darkness and light, in the same sentence: "Though reckoned a melancholy (sad) man, Mr. Hooper had a placid cheerfulness (happy) for such occasions, which often excited a sympathetic (melancholy or dark) smile where livelier merriment (happiness/light) would have been thrown away."

The townspeople at the wedding were waiting for the good character of the minister to return when he came to officiate the wedding: "There was no quality of his disposition which made him more beloved than this. The company at the wedding awaited his arrival with impatience, trusting that the strange awe, which had gathered over him throughout the day, would now be dispelled."
The paragraph goes on to feature darkness, light, the supernatural; then added nature and the beautiful maiden dying and some Gothic symbols. He performs his duty, while shaking the bridal party to their core and then while toasting the couple catches a glimpse of himself wearing the veil, then rushes back into his own psychological darkness:
". . .But such was not the result. When Mr. Hooper came, the first thing that their eyes rested on was the same horrible black veil, which had added deeper gloom to the funeral, and could portend nothing but evil to the wedding. Such was its immediate effect on the guests that a cloud seemed to have rolled duskily from beneath the black crepe, 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, and her deathlike paleness caused a whisper that the maiden who had been buried a few hours before was come from her grave to be married. If ever another wedding were so dismal, it was that famous one where they tolled the wedding knell. After performing the ceremony, Mr. Hooper raised a glass of wine to his lips, wishing happiness to the new-married couple (romance, earthly happiness) in a strain of mild pleasantry that ought to have brightened the features of the guests, like a cheerful gleam from the hearth. At that instant, catching a glimpse of his figure in the looking-glass, the black veil involved his own spirit in the horror with which it overwhelmed all others. His frame shuddered, his lips grew white, he spilt the untasted wine (spilt blood?)upon the carpet, and rushed forth into the darkness. For the Earth, too, had on her Black Veil."
Paragraph
Great jab at his religion: If I can show my private transgressions and sorrows, shouldn't you?: "If I hide my face for sorrow, there is cause enough,'' he merely replied; ``and if I cover it for secret sin, what mortal might not do the same?''

Also a excellent poke at Romanticism where his girlfriend or bethrothed Elizabeth, abandons him for showing his human weakness to her:
"Lift the veil but once, and look me in the face," said she.
"Never! It cannot be!" replied Mr. Hooper.
"Then farewell!" said Elizabeth."