One of the motifs that connects many, if not all, of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short stories is that of the unpardonable sin. In terms of themes, Hawthorne and his main characters are typically preoccupied with the effort of resolving the base desires and fallibilities of human beings with the divine commandments to embody particular spiritual and religious values and there is a clear sense of the meaning of unpardonable sin. In a comparison of “Young Goodman Brown” and the “Minister’s Black Veil” as well as the longer story, “Ethan Brand” in almost all cases, male characters in the stories of Nathaniel Hawthorne are neither heroes nor villains; they are simply mortal men who are struggling to be better people, but who are constantly inhibited from accomplishing that goal by the very fact of their consuming obsession with it. By comparing the stories “Ethan Brand,” The Minister’s Black Veil,” and “Young Goodman Brown,” in terms of the theme of unpardonable sin, the reader begins to understand how Hawthorne developed a character type that reflected the spiritual and social preoccupations of Puritan America. In each case, the purpose of depicting this figure in the midst of his struggle is to provide the reader with a moral lesson that can hopefully help the individual resolve his or her own spiritual tensions.

In “Ethan Brand,” by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the title character has become a bit of a local legend, the topic of tales told over pints of ale at the tavern. Everyone knows about Ethan Brand, the former lime-burner, who set off on a journey, as much metaphorical as it was literal, to discover more about himself and, in particular, to look for what he referred to as the Unpardonable Sin. The unpardonable sin, the reader will soon learn, is a motif that runs throughout many of Hawthorne’s stories, but in this specific story, Brand defines it as “[t]he sin of an intellect that triumphed over the sense of brotherhood with man and reverence for God, and sacrificed everything to its own mighty claims!” (425). The unpardonable sin, says Brand, is also “[t]he only sin that deserves a recompense of immortal agony!” (425). Brand is clearly a tortured individual, whose persistent pensive state causes others to speculate that he is half-mad. The other characters in the story are both repelled by Brand’s obsession with the unpardonable sin and simultaneously drawn towards him. As the narrator expresses, “there was something in [Brand’s] face which [Bartram and his son were] afraid to look at, yet could not look away from” (424).

It is Brand’s wholehearted dedication to the discovery and understanding of the unpardonable sin that makes him a compelling character type, not only to the other figures in the story, but to the reader as well. When Brand finally realizes what the unpardonable sin is, and that it is inside of him, he is embodied with another trait familiar to the readers of other Hawthorne tales, and that trait is this type of character’s penchant for serving as a moral exemplar. Burning, figuratively and eventually literally, with the knowledge of the unpardonable sin, Brand becomes self-righteous. When the lime-burner cautions Ethan Brand against summoning a demon from the fire, Brand replies “It is with such half-way sinners as you that he busies himself” (425). Later, in the tavern, Brand continues on his moralizing track, never restraining his impulses nor his tongue in lashing out against others and their obvious immorality.

In “The Minister’s Black Veil” the reader encounters a similar moralizing character who is consumed with the search for spiritual purity, but whose quest is complicated. In this story, Reverend Hooper suddenly and strangely takes to wearing a black veil that covers part of his face. Like Brand, Reverend Hooper feels no need to explain his actions to others, but those actions are intended to serve as a constant reminder, both to himself and the community, of the persistent presence of sin amongst them. The Puritan community is deeply affected by the reverend’s strange actions, and like the characters in “Ethan Brand,” the moralistic figure’s insistence upon making his personal decision part of the community’s life means that no townsperson is left untouched by his action. The narrator of “Ethan Brand” explains that the ‘whole village…talked of little else….[It]…kept women gossiping at their open windows…. It was the first item of news that the tavern-keeper told his guests” (630). Even “children babbled of it on their way to school,” though no one in the town “ventured to put the plain question to Mr. Hoooper, wherefore he did this thing” (630).