Preview

Symbolism In Minister Of The Black Veil

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
790 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Symbolism In Minister Of The Black Veil
Jaeden McKenzie
Mrs. Dwyer
English 11, Slot 6
October 29, 2014
Symbolism in "The Minister’s Black Veil” How can a single piece of black cloth influence and completely change a man’s life? “The Minister’s Black Veil,” a short story written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, is a perfect example of this idea. This short story is mainly about a well-loved minister, Parson Hooper, who begins to wear a black veil without any explanation as to why, and this action begins to create conflict with those around him. Symbolism plays a major role in the story as it helps to influence the setting and the overall moral of the message that is being stressed. One of the first ways that the readers see symbolism being used in “The Minister’s Black Veil” is Parson Hooper’s interaction with his betrothed. In the story, the reverend’s fiancée asks him to lift his veil once, so she can see what is hidden underneath. Hawthorne writes, “Come, good sir, let the sun shine from behind the cloud. First lay aside your black veil: then tell me why you put it on."(pg. 6) however, he refuses, and this causes her to lose him. Right from the start, we can how the veil is going to be a major problem. It has already affected his relationship with his intended and now it is starting to affect his relationship with the rest of the community. Rumors begin to spread that the reverend is wearing this black veil because it is a result of the guilt that he is feeling or it is used to represent his past sins. “He perhaps, like other mortals, has sorrows enough to be typified by a black veil.” This quotation is an indication that the minister is struggling with his guilt and he cannot come to terms with it. His guilty conscience for past misdeeds are essentially the basis of his problems, but he still wears it in order to express his idea In “The Minister’s Black Veil,” the presence of symbolism helps to show the recurring motif in the story: hidden sin. Wearing this black veil could symbolize a specific sin

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    When looking at “The Ministers black veil” by Nathaniel Hawthorn, Elaine Barry makes a strong case for the central symbols such as the veil, and people have such a strong ambiguity. She makes the case that it helps describes “Hawthorn’s distrust of moral certainties, but also his sense of artistic bankruptcy” (Barry 1).…

    • 275 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    The narrator explains “At that instant, catching a glimpse of his figure in the looking-glass, the black veil involved his own spirit in the horror with which it overwhelmed all others. His frame shuddered, his lips grew white, he spilt to untasted wine upon the carpet, and rushed forth into the darkness. For the earth, too, had on her black veil” (48). After the couple got married, Hooper takes a glass of wine to celebrate; he notices his black veil in the mirror and runs out because he is frightened. Hooper noticing his veil in the mirror is strange. It was like he forgot that it was there. It’s as if it was a reminder of this secret and guilty sin that he is hiding. In the last sentence, it says that the earth is wearing the black veil as well. If the earth is wearing a black veil, that means that the earth is covered in sin itself. Hooper was known to love and enjoy weddings. It’s surprising that he would still show up to something so happy and cheerful with the black veil hanging over his face. At this point it looks like Hooper isn’t going to be taking his veil off anytime…

    • 1616 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    In “The Minister’s Black Veil” there are many secrets, many dark areas, both literal and metaphorical. These secrets aren’t necessarily centered on the minister but on the people around him. This is evidenced by their reaction to his sermon of secret sin while wearing the black veil. Their discomfort of the people is because of the veil. The black veil symbolizes the secret sins the people are hiding. It’s not the sin that the minister is carrying, it’s the sins other have that he’s carrying. Which has become a burden. The center of this story is the effect of the veil. The veil isn’t to hide the minister’s sins, it’s his congregation sins that he’s trying to conceal.…

    • 787 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Covering up one`s entire face is criticized in the Puritan society because it suggests that one is ashamed, has committed a sin or is crazy. Puritans establish these norms as a way of acknowledging that they are pure but because Hopper wears a veil he is no longer seen as pure but is looked as someone who has gone against puritan norms. Hooper is a minister who decides to wear a black veil because he wants everyone to realize that they all have secret sins like himself, but instead, the community views the veil as a “horrible black veil …. portend[ing] nothing but evil” (413). This suggests that by violating the norm and covering up one`s face with a black veil it suggests that the devil has influenced an individual to commit a sin. Puritans view the color black as death, which symbolizes the devil which is also why they view wearing a black veil as sinful and against puritan norms. Wearing a black veil would then symbolize sin and bring consequences to that individual in this case…

    • 2035 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Minister's Black Veil Sin

    • 393 Words
    • 2 Pages

    In The Minister’s Black Veil, there are a lot of mysterious themes, and it is unclear as to who Mr. Hooper is or what he hides under the veil he wears. This story revolves around sin. In “The Minister’s Black Veil” by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Mr. Hooper is hiding a sin. Although Mr. Hooper preached about the sins of others, there are many details to back this up. In an analytical article, it says that Mr. Hooper is not a perfect sinless being. Also, another detail in the article is that Mr. Hooper didn’t take off his veil for his fiancée, the person he has the closest relationship to. These details in the story add to the impression that Mr. Hooper is hiding a sin.…

    • 393 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The satire of the story shows how the minister always wearing a veil. It seems to be very foolish to the people, but he continues to wear it. The black veil represents how we all have sins and we are hiding, so we should cover our faces too. However, in “The Raven,” Poe take the raven as a symbol of somber and dead. Poe does not use the satire because Poe express his feelings in the poem. Moreover, the diction that Hawthorne and Poe uses the words like ghastly, gaunt, plutonian, evil, devil, tremulous hand, and death-like paleness make the story/ poem sound scarier and gloomy.…

    • 453 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    An Angry God's Sinners

    • 625 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The theme in both texts are pretty similar. One theme in The Minister’s Black Veil is that you can’t try to cover up your sins, it will just bring you down. In lines 39-40 of the text it says, “With this gloomy shade before him, good Mr. Hooper walked at a slow pace, stooping somewhat and looking at the ground, as is customary with abstracted men, yet nodding kindly to those of his parishioners who still waited on the meetinghouse steps.” This quote from The Minister’s Black Veil shows that it brought Mr. Hooper down while he wore the veil, the reason he wore the veil was to try to cover his sins. A theme that is in Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God is that if you don’t repent for your…

    • 625 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The main point of the story was having the freedom to do something without being judged by others. People seemed to jump to conclusion that the Mr. Hooper was hiding something and keeping a secret sin. The veil was symbolized as a fearful secret between his community and him and they found themselves too intimidated to approach him and ask why he wore the black veil. "What, but the mystery which it obscurely typifies, has made this piece of crape so awful? When the friend shows his inmost heart to his friend the lover to his best beloved; when a man does not vainly shrink from the eye of his Creator, treasuring up the secret of his in then deem me a monster, for the symbol beneath which I have lived, and die! I look around me, and, lo! on every visage a Black veil !" (17). The Minister's Black Veil has characteristics that are unique to the…

    • 1053 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    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.…

    • 1241 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    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.…

    • 1578 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Reoccurring Themes and Symbols in Different Works by Nathaniel Hawthorne It is no secret that Nathaniel Hawthorne 's "The Minister 's Black Veil" is a parable. Hawthorne intended it as such and even gave the story the subtitle "a parable." "The Minister 's Black Veil," however, was not Hawthorne 's only parable. Hawthorne often used symbols and figurative language to give added meaning to the literal interpretations of his work. His Puritan ancestry also influenced much of Hawthorne 's work. Instead of agreeing with Puritanism however, Hawthorne would criticize it through the symbols and themes in his stories and parables. Several of these symbols and themes reoccur in Hawthorne 's "The Minister 's Black Veil," "Young Goodman Brown", and The Scarlet Letter. One particularly noticeable theme in Hawthorne 's work is that of secret sin (Newman 338). In the "Young Goodman Brown", this theme is evident when young Mr. Brown dreams that he is led by the devil to a witching party. There he sees all of the honorable and pious members of society, including his minister and the woman who taught him his catechisms, communing with the prince of darkness. Upon awakening, the hypocritical nature of his once admired neighbors and the realization of his own secret sin causes him to become terribly disillusioned (Colacurcio 396). The same thing happens in "The Minister 's Black Veil," except the reader does not know exactly what secret sin makes Reverend Hooper begin to don the black veil. Many scholars believe that this has something to do with the funeral of the young lady at the beginning of the story. The opinions range from believing that Reverend Hooper loved the girl in secret, to Poe 's believe that Reverend Hooper may have actually been the cause of the girl 's death (Newman 204). Whatever the reason, the minister 's wearing of the veil taints his view of everyone else around him, making all of them look like they are wearing veils as well (Hawthorne…

    • 1012 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    While I was reading the short story, I thought the minister wore the black veil that covered his face except from his mouth and his chin to hide from his parishioners as he did something to be embarrassed of. But after I finished reading I got various hints indicating that he wore the black veil to hide from his sin and secret. However, when Mr. Hopper’s wife asked him to take the veil away, he told her that he wore the veil as a symbol for his commitment to his religion.…

    • 310 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Story The Black Veil

    • 375 Words
    • 2 Pages

    There are many references to the “black veil” throughout the course of the story. The references of the black changed by first being a “terrible thing” to being a “prevailing wonder” to a “sable veil”. So basically, it went from negative to positive to neutral. The people of the community thought it was strange to do something different. When the minister wore this veil, he got lonely and abandoned from society. In my opinion, it wasn’t weird at all for him to wear this veil. He was trying to make see that everyone has secret sins that only God knows about. They don’t want to face reality, so they hide them. The community changed minds about the black veil throughout the course of the story. At first, they described it as “gloomy shade” and…

    • 375 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Base on “black veil,” had a symbol beneath which i lived and die. I looked around me, and lo. On everything the visage black veil. “Beloved and respect as you are, there may be whisper, that you’re hide your face under the consciousness of the secret sin. As we read this story “God is the most powerful man and can strike on anyone at anytime, but doesn’t.” because “ The bow of god’s wrath is bent, and the arrow’s made ready on the string.…

    • 335 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Meaning of the Veils

    • 399 Words
    • 2 Pages

    AL-AMIRA- A classic style, easily and comfortably worn. A two-piece set, the Al-Amira hijab comes with an underscarf complemented by a matching elasticated fabric hijab that fits snugly over the head.…

    • 399 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays