"You must needs be a stranger in this region...else you would surly have heard of the Mistress Hester Prynne, and her evil doings."(pg 42) This quote is from one of two very similar but different stories written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the Scarlet Letter and The Ministers Black Veil; "Mr. Hooper had on a black veil...which entirely covered his features...but probably did not intercept his sight, further than to give a darkened aspect to all living and intimate things."(pg 266) This essay will compare and contrast the two by examining, how does the symbol affect the wearer, what is the publics reaction to the symbols, and what happens to the men in each story?
             The wearers of the symbols are Reverend Hooper with his veil and Hester Prynne with her scarlet A. Here Hawthorne explains to the reader that " amid his grief, Mr. Hooper smiled to think that only a material emblem had separated him for happiness..." (pg 271) which leads us to realize that he would have had happiness but others let the veil interfere with the relationships that could have been. One of those relationships is with his soon to be wife Elizabeth. "Beloved and respected as your are, there may be whispers that your hide your face under the consciousness of secret sin. For the sake of your holy office, do away with this scandal!"(pg 270) here she is clearly hurt and upset and later leaves him for the reason that he will not let her see his face not one time. The quote "In all her intercourse with society, however, there was nothing that made her feel as if she belonged to it"(pg 58) suggest that Hester is considered an outcast and nobody will associate with her because she has a bad reputation. The crowd knows that she has committed adultery, and in the time of this story adultery was considered to be a dark crime. So the people do not want to be in contact with an adulteress despite the good that she can ...