The purpose of this research is to examine Nathaniel Hawthorne's nineteenth-century short story "The Minister's Black Veil" from a historical perspective. The plan of the research will be to set forth evidence showing that the story is in significant part a reflection of Hawthorne's understanding of and reaction to early American social history, particularly his philosophical judgment of Puritan Massachusetts Bay.
"The Minister's Black Veil" portrays what Becker terms "the Puritan spirit" (94) in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, inasmuch as it illustrates the confluence of secular and religious life in Boston. Yet whereas Becker identifies the vitality of eighteenth century Boston with the residue of the positive qualities of the Puritan ethic, he is careful to note that in the seventeenth century, which is the period of the story, the prevailing form of government was that of theocracy rather than Puritan democracy. Further, the attitude of the theocratic culture was something like self-righteous on one hand, and, on the other hand, prone to suspect that the worldly misfortunes of people reflected God's spiritual displeasure with them and their sinfulness (Schorer, et al., 114-6). To be sure, Becker notes the ultimately selfdefeating nature of theocratic rigidity, stating that "the history of Massachusetts Bay in the seventeenth century is the story of the vain and pathetic effort of single-minded men to identify the temporal and the spiritual commonwealths" (97). In such an environment, sin, guilt, and evil would be as important as ordinary social administration.
Hawthorne's literary posture, not only in "The Minister's Black Veil" but also in The House of the Seven Gables and The Scarlet Letter, may be said to be one of social and moral critique of the Puritan city-state. Within that critique, in "The Minister's Black Veil," is contained a strong rendering of the power of personal morality and humility to exercise moral ...