Stories may be interesting while teaching lessons. Nathaniel Hawthorne was a writer from New England who wrote stories as allegorical stories, or stories with symbolic meanings used to teach moral principles. The Minister's Black Veil and The Birthmark are two stories that seem similar in some aspects yet contrasting in many ways. These two parables both compare and contrast in their symbols, love, and individuality.
There are symbols in The Minister's Black Veil and in The Birthmark, which are evident from the title of the parables. These symbols are similar because they are visible on the faces of the main characters of both stories. They also both have a meaning behind them that teaches a lesson. Neither the black veil nor the birthmark is explained in the text, so the lessons remain up to the reader to decide. They are also different in what they represent. To me, the black veil represents a hidden secret that everyone has while they are living. Whether it is a secret sin or something good, everyone has something they want to keep secret from the world. For example, in The Minister's Black Veil, Mr. Hooper says, "If I hide my face for sorrow, there is cause enough and if I cover it for secret sin, what mortal might not do the same"(187). The birthmark, in the shape of a hand, represents how every person is unique and wants to change their features for the wrong reason. The desire for perfection is demonstrated by Georgiana's husband, for he states on page 192, "you came so nearly perfect from the land of nature that this slightest possible defect, which we hesitate whether to term a defect or a beauty, shocks me, as being the visible mark of earthly imperfection." Georgiana's death at the end of the story shows that perfection is impossible. Mr. Hooper does not remove his black veil, nor does Georgiana remove her birthmark, until the moment of both Mr. Hooper's and Georgiana's death.
