In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short stories Young Goodman Brown and The Minister’s Black Veil there are many thematic connections between both protagonists and antagonists. Some of the protagonistic similarities in these tales embrace that both of the characters become complacent about the community that they have come to know and love. In the case of The Minister’s Black Veil Parson Hooper undergoes a transformation as an energetic preacher, revered by all, to a social pariah when he dawned the black veil. Doing so caused uneasy feelings in the community around him, which led to the building of contempt against him. Similarly, in the case of Young Goodman Brown his journey into the ‘forest’ left him world-weary of the place and peoples he grew to love from childhood including his father and grandfather. Which in turn caused Brown to have an exponentially…
I’ve read a lot of Hawthorne's work and in "The Minister’s Black Veil", Hawthorne presents another variation on his favorite theme: that humankind is stuck with the so-called seven deadly sins which include pride, covetousness, lust, envy, gluttony, anger, and sloth, I think. Like all Hawthorne’s short stories, it displays the author’s vivid imagination, which I really enjoy. It also shows exceptional artistry. In “Young Goodman Brown”, another one of his stories, Hawthorne tears off people’s masks and exposes their real faces, in “The Minister’s Black Veil” he hides the face of a single character and thereby creates the impression that the exposed faces of all the other characters are actually masked. I think the imagery of that is really…
In conclusion, Dark Romanticism was popular in the nineteenth-century in America. The most common themes of Dark Romanticism works involve the subject matter of the conflict between good and evil. Both Hawthorne and Poe, in “The Minister’s Black Veil” and “The Raven,” became known as Dark Romantics because they tended to view the world as egotistical rather than optimistic. They had a fascination for the mysterious, supernatural, and the Gothic. Their philosophical perspective is supernatural and melancholy…
Over the Summer, I read the book “The Color Purple” Written by Alice Walker. This book is written in the form of letters, which is also referred to as an epistolary. The series of letters are written by the main character Celie, and all of her letters are addressed to God. The story of the Color Purple is primarily about Celie’s life, which starts out extremely rough. She is raped and abused by her Pa, her mother dies, and there is also a man instructed in marrying her sister. But, her Pa refuses to let her sister out of the home. Astonishingly, this all happens on the first page. Her Pa tells Celie that she mustn't tell anyone about what is going on accept God. Celie gets pregnant twice, and is taken out of school. Her children are put up…
In both texts, Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood and Through Black Spruce by Joseph Boyden shows how one character from both texts have many problems to deal with. Like fitting into a new city, finding confidence, and they try to find themselves throughout the books to the extent of becoming the person they really are.…
a. Hawthorne is revealing the hypocrisy of Puritanism by highlighting the fact that even those who appear to be pious and noble are actually sinners.…
The elements of evil live among the population. It has been that way since the creation of time. One can neither run nor hide from something so malicious. Unfortunately, the avoidance of evil can only be accomplished through instinct. On the other hand, the nature of evil is often neglected. As a result, the usage of evil can be misjudged or unaccredited by the human race. “Young Goodman Brown” and “The Minister’s Black Veil” are apparent to these essences of wickedness. In these works by Nathanial Hawthorne, the reader must analyze how evil coexists in everyday life. Even though individuals are subject to glance over evil and the concealing it holds, the presence of it should still be taken with appropriate measures.…
In the text The Minister’s Black Veil, Hawthorne writes a fictional text about covering up your sins and it will end bad if you do. He’s very soft and easy going in his tone, he uses a sad approach to get to the…
The Ballad of Birmingham and To Kill a Mockingbird are two pieces of literature that deal with similar themes. In both of these pieces of writing two innocent people died because of the wrong doing of others. Both of these events leading to the death of two innocent people were not needed and could have been avoided if violence can be stopped especially toward people that cause no harm (mockingbirds). Both To Kill a Mockingbird and Ballad of Birmingham have very important lessons to be learned and contain unfortunate real life situations. In To Kill a Mockingbird Tom Robinson's death could have been avoided if Bob Ewell did not accuse him of raping his daughter, Mayella Ewell.…
Nathanial Hawthorne had a way of intertwining imagery and symbolism into one. He could put the two together to create an ominous mood throughout his story “Young Goodman Brown”. The focus on the use of symbolism and imagery helps imply the theme, that no one can escape sin, in the story. Hawthorne uses this theme to denounce puritan attitudes and hypocrisy.…
Both influential writers in the time of early American literature, Nathaniel Hawthorne and Edgar Allen Poe explored the dark motives of the human psyche. In “The Minister’s Black Veil”, a short story by Hawthorne, the town’s minister, Mr. Hooper steps out into the street one day wearing a black veil that covers his face. His clergymen cannot bear to see him plainly profess his sins and instead separate themselves in an attempt to deny the truth that all people are flawed, but are eventually forced to accept it. In Poe’s short story, “The Masque of the Red Death”, Prince Prospero and his merrymakers lock themselves within a castellated abbey in an attempt to escape the horrible “Red Death” that ravages the lives of the…
Symbolism plays a major role in the “Minister’s Black Veil” by Nathaniel Hawthorne. It influences the setting of the story and it complements the moral message. The minister, Mr. Hooper, has a lot of faith and is very committed to helping the society to be more faithful and closer to God. He lives a very harsh live being rejected by society and goes through unpleasant moments to achieve his original goal. When he decides to wear the black veil, he was not trying to be mysterious and create a gloomy environment like he did; he had much more than that in mind. The Black Veil represents the thought of the puritans that sin was an inexcusable mistake, the secret sin and dark side in each individual, and he uses this symbol to teach a moral lesson to the puritan society.…
Cited: Hawthorne, Nathniel. "The Minister 's Black Veil." The Norton Anthology of American Literature. New York: Norton & Company, 2003.…
This essay will examine the thematic relevance to the Puritan setting and its impact upon the characters and their development in both "The Scarlet Letter" and the short story, "The Minister's Black Veil." These two texts detail an accurate portrayal of what I assume the Puritan community to represent. This is partly because of the Puritan background within the works, but also considering that the main characters of these are deeply rooted within the Puritan faith and are, in different ways, in the public eye and are under separate scrutiny as a result of such. Mr. Hooper, being a minister, is considered a beacon and an exemplar of faith and righteousness in his community. One bright Sunday morning, Reverend Hooper dons a black veil to his congregation and lectures on sin and its appearance, or lack thereof. His congregation is outraged but intrigued by his use of the symbolic sheath. Since his sermon focuses on the "secret sin" of his parishoners and the entire community, they are drawn to assume that Mr. Hooper, himself, carries with his a "secret sin" which he is hiding from underneath his veil.…
Cited: Hawthorne, Nathaniel. “The Minister’s Black Veil.” The American Tradition in Literature. Ed. George Perkins and Barbara Perkins. 12th Ed. Vol. 1. Toronto: McGraw Hill, 2009. 937 – 945.…