Hawthorne's Use of Allegory"The Minister's Black Veil" by Nathaniel Hawthorne is a short story that was first published in the 1836 edition of Token and Atlantic Souvenir and reappeared over time in Twice-Told Tales, a collection of short stories by Nathaniel Hawthorne. The story recounts the events following Reverend Mr. Hooper's decision to begin wearing a black veil that hides his entire face, except for his mouth and chin. Mr. Hooper simply arrives at the meetinghouse one day wearing the translucent black veil and thereafter refuses to take it off, leading to the loss of his fiancée and isolation from the world. He is even buried in the black veil. However, what is important to note are Mr. Hooper's final words to those surrounding his deathbed. He tells them, just angrily, that they are all wearing black veils: “I look around, and lo! on every face a Black Veil!”. This statement highlights the significance of the veil in history as a symbol of sin, darkness, and duality in human nature. Therefore, “The Minister's Black Veil” by Nathaniel Hawthorne is a work of literary art that demonstrates the author's use of allegory to highlight the psychological angle of the story and characters. “The Minister's Black Veil” is an allegorical narrative in which the agents of the setting, symbols, characters, and actions consistently come to represent nonliteral and metaphorical meanings about the human character. The black veil is undoubtedly the most important symbol used in history. It comes to represent the darkness and duality of human nature, thus adding a certain undeniable psychoanalytic angle to the tale. The black veil represents the sin that all men secretly carry in their hearts as M...... in the center of the card......face, the veil of pretension, appearances, lies and self-deception. Unconscious desires and guilt are suppressed and cornered in consciousness. In short, Mr. Hooper reflects the true nature of the human beings around him. Only when the true nature of life and the freedom of truth is observed can the veil be lifted. Works Cited Abrams, MH A Glossary of Literary Terms, 7th ed. New York: Harcourt Brace College Publishers, 1999.Bell, Millicent. "New Essays on Hawthorne's Major Tales". Cambridge: Cambridge University Press., 1993Hawthorne, Nathaniel. “The minister's black veil”. Electronic Text Center, University of Virginia Library. http: / / etext.lib.virginia.edu / etcbin / toccer-new2?id=HawMini.sgm & images=images / modeng & data= / texts / english / modeng / parsed & tag=public & part=1 & division =div1Merriman, CD "Nathaniel Hawthorne" Jalic Inc. 2007.