What effect does the veil have on others, and why?

's short story
"" is so named because the action centers around a town's minister suddenly wearing a
black veil over most of his face. This causes quite a commotion in the town, and while he
preaches, the veil causes people to reflect on themselves as sinners. While people feel that the
veil brings the appropriate mood to a funeral he attends, he also wears it to a wedding, and it
makes people feel gloomy and depresses the mood of the whole event. People in the town spend a
lot of time speculating about what the purpose of the veil might be, but the minister himself
never reveals much, calling it a sign of his sorrows and refusing to remove it even at the
request of his fiancee, who eventually leaves him because of it.