The Minister's "Grievous Affliction": Diagnosing Hawthorne's Parson Hooper

This interpretation of Hawthorne's "The Minister's Black Veil" explores the possibility that Parson Hooper's enigmatic veil is not merely "a type and a symbol." Hooper might wear the veil to hide from the community of Milford a physical (and moral) infirmity that is visible on his face---scars resulting from the secondary stage of syphilis.