Comparing The Minister's Black Veil: Guilt And Alienation
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Minister’s Black Veil
Guilt and Alienation
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s writings have had the history of relating to a certain times in his life. The stories were not fully based on what he went there or what his family had done, but the idea of them had come his imagination and from his life. The guilt and alienation that “The Minister’s Black Veil” has seems to have a relation to the guilt that Hawthorne felt about what his family had done in Salem. Hawthorne’s desire to separate himself from his family was very strong. He moved out of Salem and he changed his name by simply adding a “w” to his name to distance himself even more form them. (Ruben Essay, 2).The full detail of the events that took place in connection to Hawthorne’s family is not fully discussed but the humiliation and embarrassment that he felt for the acts they committed followed him throughout his life. Although one can allude that Hawthorne’s imagination was the source of the writing of The Minister’s Black Veil, but is his imagination the only thing that helped him write such tales? …show more content…
Hooper has in The Minister’s Black Veil is related to the guilt and alienation that Hawthorne had because of the things that his family had done in Salem. The behavior of his uncle during the Salem Witchcraft Trials shadowed him for years. He used these tales to represent and demonstrate the shame and the guilt he had felt for so many years and the shame that his uncle should have felt, that he was never able escape. The narrator of the Minister’s Black Veil never details the reason for Mr. Hooper wearing the veil. The Veil symbolizes the hidden sins that he had committed himself, the sins of his parishioners and the sins of all humans. He carried the sins and the shame of not only himself but of everyone. The veil represents his inability to obtain goodness and righteousness of
Guilt and Alienation
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s writings have had the history of relating to a certain times in his life. The stories were not fully based on what he went there or what his family had done, but the idea of them had come his imagination and from his life. The guilt and alienation that “The Minister’s Black Veil” has seems to have a relation to the guilt that Hawthorne felt about what his family had done in Salem. Hawthorne’s desire to separate himself from his family was very strong. He moved out of Salem and he changed his name by simply adding a “w” to his name to distance himself even more form them. (Ruben Essay, 2).The full detail of the events that took place in connection to Hawthorne’s family is not fully discussed but the humiliation and embarrassment that he felt for the acts they committed followed him throughout his life. Although one can allude that Hawthorne’s imagination was the source of the writing of The Minister’s Black Veil, but is his imagination the only thing that helped him write such tales? …show more content…
Hooper has in The Minister’s Black Veil is related to the guilt and alienation that Hawthorne had because of the things that his family had done in Salem. The behavior of his uncle during the Salem Witchcraft Trials shadowed him for years. He used these tales to represent and demonstrate the shame and the guilt he had felt for so many years and the shame that his uncle should have felt, that he was never able escape. The narrator of the Minister’s Black Veil never details the reason for Mr. Hooper wearing the veil. The Veil symbolizes the hidden sins that he had committed himself, the sins of his parishioners and the sins of all humans. He carried the sins and the shame of not only himself but of everyone. The veil represents his inability to obtain goodness and righteousness of