...Do things you can’t see or understand make you distrusting or afraid? Some people fear the unknown. In fact, the unexplainable often puts irrational fear into the hearts of many. In “The Minister’s Black Veil” by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Reverend Hooper causes discord by wearing a veil in front of his congregation. Never explaining his reasons, he continues to wear the veil every single day. His people begin to shun him, thinking it is strange and unseemly. He wears it the rest of his life, and upon his deathbed explains it is a symbol of the mask everyone is wearing to cover his secret sin. The author emphasizes obsession, isolation, and underlying guilt as aspects of man’s hidden sins by presenting the struggle between the concealed side of man and the ideals of society. The minister becomes obsessed with his pursuit of showing men’s inner identities. As his bride-to-be Elizabeth confronts him about removing the veil, his response is not to her liking. “Do not leave me in this miserable obscurity forever!” “Lift the veil but once, and look me in the face,” said she. “Never! It cannot be!” replied Mr. Hooper. “Then, farewell!” said Elizabeth. (417) The parson is so consumed with being an example for his community that he sacrifices his own happiness. He strives to be in the image of God and to share his true character, and implies his congregation should do the same. However, his withdrawal sets him apart from his people. Therefore, without that contact the minister loses...
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...“The Minister’s Black Veil" is about Mr. Hooper the minister in a town and starts to wear a mysterious black veil over his head, but his people are left to be questioned. At first, his people think of the veil as a prop for his sermon. His people then start assuming he wears the black veil because of the sins he may have committed, and he's embarrassed to prove to the world what he has done. There are different thoughts in his people, such as the minister being an awful person. "Elizabeth, I will," said he, "so far as my vow may suffer me. Know, then, this veil is a type and a symbol, and I am bound to wear it ever, both in light and darkness, in solitude and before the gaze of multitudes, and as with strangers, so with my familiar friends." (10)...
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...Nwauwa Izuchukwu 10/16/17 English III Honors Symbolism in “The Minister’s Black Veil” The parable the “Minister’s Black Veil” It symbolic of the hidden sins that we hide; Separating us from the ones we love the most. When Mr. Hooper wore the veil it represented the isolation that everyone feels when they are brought down by their own sin. When Mr. Hooper wore this shroud across his face it showed the darkness of the people and the truth behind human existence. The reason why Mr. Hooper left the shroud on was because he had realized that secret sin is a veil that can never be removed until the person has died. In the “Minister’s black veil” Mr. Hooper said that “There is an hour to come when all of us shall cast aside our veils.”...
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...Nathaniel Hawthorne in ‘The Minister’s Black Veil’ uses the symbolic black veil to symbolize one hiding private sins. Hawthorne wrote ‘The Minister’s Black Veil’. He convinces me through his extraordinary writing to agree with the fact that the black veil is a good symbol. To continue, Hawthorne represented well by making a label clear, showing rather than hiding, and proving an element to the “black veil”. What does a label even mean? First, everything has a label. In ‘The Minister’s Black Veil’, the veil represented a label of screening a certain circumstance of one's life out. For instance, Mr. Hooper, in this short story, is a regular man. For example, his characteristics are still similar to other men who do not wear the veil. The sight at first may be weird to put together, but to Mr. Hooper the veil is a piece of him. For example, it's like an apple, apples usually don't have spots; just like how people usually don’t wear veils but some feel they...
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...A pastor in a small town in Connecticut delivers a speech of a secret sin wearing a black veil. The townspeople immediately begin to gossip. Some people say he's mad while others say he's covering his shameful sin. After the sermon, a funeral is held for a young lady who recently passed away. Mr. Hooper decided to stay for the funeral and continues to wear the black veil . The people then begin to judge him for wearing this mysterious black veil. Even though most of the townspeople start making assumptions about Mr. Hooper and his black veil, he doesn't want others to question why he wears it. The only person who has the ¨right¨ to ask about the black veil was his fiance Elizabeth. Even though Elizabeth tries her best to find out the reason why Mr. Hooper never takes off his veil, she gives up and...
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...“The Minister’s Black Veil:” Confidential Sin The question about the minister’s black veil runs through everyone’s mind when he enters the scene, on a Sunday morning church day. No one dares to ask him why he wears it, instead they choose to spread a rumor. “It was remarkable that of all the busybodies and impertinent people in parish, not one ventured to put the plain question to Mr. Hooper (Pg. 240).” The narrator uses curiosity to make the reader more entide to the basic situation. The story, “The Minister’s Black Veil”, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, is an enticing American Romanticism that conveys an interesting life learning lesson to everyone. The most well known American Romanticism characteristic of a story is love. However,...
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...“The Minister’s Black Veil” is a short story that uses the theme of guilt or a sin that is undisclosed. Since Nathaniel Hawthorne’s speciality seems to be describing the emotion a person feels when they are keeping a secret, he accurately captures the sentiment of guilt and shame that seems to claw the inside of a person’s consciousness. Hawthorne’s way of telling the story draws the reader in with his use of his vivid explanations and talented symbolism. Both of these things are an integral part of a short story, and they help the story ensue without losing the reader’s interest. In Hawthorne’s “The Minister’s Black Veil,” the use of diction helps to immerse the reader into the time period, the details make the reader feel the parishioners’...
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...Innate Nature of Sin Nathaniel Hathorne was an author who consistently wrote about sotires of the Puritan time. His short stories often revolved around themes of sin and how no one could escape from committing sin. The short stories “The Minister’s Black Veil” and “Young Goodman Brown,” written by Hawthorne, reflect these themes through elements of fiction, such as plot, setting, symbolism, and point of view. “The Minister’s Black Veil” is about a town’s minister who walks into Sunday Congregation with a heinous black veil covering his face. The veil shields him from the sins of the rest of the world, and the rest of the world from his sin. “Young Goodman Brown” is about a newly married man who leaves Faith, his wife to follow a man into the forest, where Satanic Rituals occur. These Satanic Rituals are powered by the people Goodman Brown had once known to be the most religious. Through the elements of fiction, the short stories “The Minister’s Black Veil” and “Young Goodman Brown,” show how there is no way for one escape from committing sin, no matter who they are. One of the stories Hawthorne writes is “The Minister’s Black Veil.” The story starts when a minster walks into his weekly Sunday sermon with a veil that cover’s his face.. The veil is seen as symbolic with sin, because the minister has started to wear his sin on his face. He is shunned from the town, as people start to grow uncomfortable in his presence. The veil is a constant reminder of their sins as well. When...
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...The Minister’s Black Veil In literature, a symbol is something used to represent something else. The textbook defines a symbol as “a further use of metaphor” (194). However, unlike the metaphor, a symbol does not clearly state what it is being compared with. Instead, it “implies rather than explicitly states meaning” (194). Symbols need to be seen within context for the reader to truly understand their meanings. At times, symbols may hold more than one meaning. Their meaning may also change throughout the story. An example of a piece of literature that successfully uses symbols to create a plot is the short story The Minister's Black Veil by Nathaniel Hawthorne. The Minister’s Black Veil is a parable published in 1832. It was inspired by Mr. Joseph Moody, a clergyman in New England that wore a handkerchief on his face. Earlier in his life, Mr. Joseph Moody had accidentally killed one of his friends. From that day until the day of his death, he hid his face from everyone. Similarly, The Minister’s Black Veil is about Reverend Mr. Hooper’s decision to wear a black...
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...In both The Minister’s Black Veil and The Scarlet Letter, there are many similarities between the two, portraying the views of Mr. Hawthorne. The stories are both centered around Puritan societies and how they view sins. In both stories the main characters, Hester in The Scarlet Letter and Mr. Hooper in The Minister’s Black Veil, wore symbols to show they committed sins. In The Scarlet Letter Hester was forced to wear a red A to show that she had committed the sin of adultery. “The scarlet letter burned on Hester Prynne's bosom. Here was another ruin, the responsibility of which came partly home to her” (14.9). Which is very similar to that of The Minister’s Black Veil, where Mr. Hooper voluntarily dons a black veil. In the story he tells his wife Elizabeth, "If it be a sign of mourning,...I, perhaps, like most other mortals, have sorrows dark enough to...
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...conflicts that are caused by sin, pride, untested innocence, hidden guilt, perverse secrecy, cold intellectuality, and isolation. In his stories “The Minister’s Black Veil", “The Birth Mark” and “Rapaccini’s Daughter” all suffer from pride, perverse secrecy, and sin. In these tree stories, Hawthorn’s characters use science and mind control to manipulate their victims resulting from their obsession to be or act like God. Neither of his characters felt as if they have sinned or show any remorse for their victims or actions. In the Minister’s Black Veil”, a minister wears a black veil to prove a point to his congregation, but when he realizes the power he has gained from his community through his veil, he decides to never take it off, as a result, he crushes his future bride’s heart along the way (Emmett). In Hawthorne’s story “The Birth Mark”, a scientist is obsessed with his wife’s birth mark and considers it as an imperfection; he believes his wife has. In the story of “Rappaccini’s Daughter,” a scientist is obsessed with science, and as a result he destroys his beloved daughter’s ability to love, and her life. Nathaniel Hawthorn’s story, “The Minister’s Black Veil” the main character “Minister Mr. Hooper” wears a black veil that hangs from his forehead, hiding his face from the world. All that is seen is part of his mouth and chin (Emmett). He wears this veil while giving his first sermon to teach his congregation about how everyone has secret sin. While giving his sermon he...
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...his essay discusses how The Minister's Black Veil, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, is considered a part of American Romanticism. There are certain characteristics, symbols, themes and characters that make it a part of American Romanticism literature. Those characteristics and parts that make up an American Romanticism piece, those items are presented in this essay. So, in this parable, there are only a few examples of specific characteristics which make a story or piece of literature a part of American Romanticism. The typical characteristics of American Romanticism stories, are the value of feeling and intuition over reason, the value of the imagination over reality, civilization is bad Nature is good, educated sophistication is bad, youthful innocence is good, individual freedom is important,nature is the way to find God, the idea that progress is bad, also, most settings are in exotic locales or the supernatural. Some examples from the text are,However, in The Minister's Black Veil, the characteristics of American Romanticism present are, the connection to the supernatural, the belief that individual freedom is important, and the value of feelings and intuition over reason....
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...Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Minister’s Black Veil” is centered on a man who wears a black veil. The man in this reading is a minister who has committed some vulgar sin(s), which is where the black veil becomes relevant to his life. Hawthorne has decided to write about sin, but his stories often give a different perspective on sin, and “The Minister’s Black Veil” is no different. Rev. Hooper, who is the minister, is the character that defines the world, which means that members of society as a whole shield themselves in order to present themselves as being perfect. However, perfection is unfortunately something one cannot achieve. Therefore, the veil symbolizes every man’s desire to hide his sins and be seen as perfect. Upon reading “The Minister’s Black Veil”, one can conclude that Hawthorne wants to demonstrate how individuals would rather hide their indiscretions than own up to them, and that is demonstrated through the character, Mr. Hooper. Nathaniel Hawthorne is an author who uniquely invites the reader into his stories through the use of symbolism, which draws the attention of the reader and allows one to become almost interactive with his readings. Mr. Hooper, who is a minister, is not allowed to commit any sin in his world, which means that even thinking sinful...
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...gothic short story “The Minister's Black Veil” is a critique of Puritan religious views because of the exposal of hypocrisy in the Puritan credences, while the Puritans value veracity with themselves and God through good doings and bad. When someone decides to follow through with this action the critique is displayed as the Puritan followers harshly judge and shun him, with judgment being one of the most deadly forbidden sins in Puritanism. The Puritan religion established itself in the 16th- 17th centuries predicating their sole purpose of life to serving God and proceeding to heaven, therefore evading sin in a very strict fashion valuing truth with oneself and The Creator. In “ The Minister's Black Veil” a once prominent and loved priest decides to abide by the true Puritan religion deciding to become truthful with himself and others relating to his secret...
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...proceeds to the front. Something has changed, and everyone is aware.” In The Minister’s Black Veil, Nathaniel Hawthorne presents the idea that personal sacrifices must me made during one's lifetime for those you love even if it means giving up one’s happiness. In Milford, a small Puritan town in which men, women, and children are fancying another Sunday. The peace is interrupted on the Sabbath day when Reverend Hooper, Minister of the Puritan Community appears before his congregation inexplicably wearing an obscure black veil that extends from his forehead and covers his eyes and nose. The people of the town cannot hide their shock and disbelief and are frightened by his...
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