In "The Minister's Black Veil" by Nathaniel Hawthorne the example I chose was how the author used the veil to hide something on Mr. Hooper. The veil is a personal symbol that symbolically is hiding his private sins. The veil symbolizes his shame and…
Although Hawthorne’s “The Minister’s Black Veil,” speaks of secret or hidden sin, it is viewed as a sarcastic parody of how in the Torah when Moses sees God, his face takes on this unearthly glow, it somehow seems to capture some of the glory of God’s presence, the people are said to want Moses to veil his face because they can’t bear to look at it, presumably out of fear, perhaps out of unworthiness to look upon it. In the case of Minister Hooper, no one has asked him to veil his face, and this causes the congregation and the people in the village not only to be fearful of him, but to judge him and gossip about the reason why he is veiled. “I don’t like it,” muttered an old woman, as she hobbled into the meetinghouse. “He changed himself into…
The way Hawthorne chooses to tell the story is very important. He tells it in third person limited, through the eyes of the parishioners. In doing so we never find out the truth about the veil and it becomes a mystery to everyone around him. The main symbol in the story is the veil, which represents death and darkness. Also the veil symbolizes the secret of sin. At one point he even says, "If I hide my face for sorrow, there is cause enough, and if I cover it for secret of sin, what moral might not do the same." The veil basically ends his life, his love left him for it and many others feel uncomfortable around him with it on. The veil also is the antagonist of the story because it creates change among the parishioners, who are the protagonists. The veil is unknown to the town and even the reader, which brings up the point of the fear of the unknown and the nature of man. The story also presents the idea of isolation, Mr. Hooper is isolated because he is different that everyone else, similar to John Proctor in The…
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 “The Minister’s Black Veil”, the black veil symbolizes a secret sin. Mr. Hooper wears the black veil to hide his sins and to confront people of their sins. The townspeople were disturbed by this black veil because he was facing them with their sins. He wore this black veil everywhere he went. The black veil separated him from God and the townspeople. Mr. Hooper wore the veil to church, funerals, weddings, and even his death bed.…
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.…
The central theme of “The Minister’s Black Veil” revolves around the notion that everyone has secret sins of some sort that they covertly hide from other people’s view and how one’s soul will eventually be destroyed if these sins are not confessed. Reverend Hooper realizes this and says, as he lies dying, “I look around me, and, lo! on every visage a Black Veil!” Another theme that is presented is that of religion and the Puritan faith. Both Reverend Hooper and Reverend Dimmesdale, in the Scarlet Letter, supposedly are deeply rooted in their faith, yet Rev. Dimmesdale gives in to his human desires and has an affair with Hester, and Rev. Hooper’s sins are hinted at when, at the funeral of the young woman, one of the mourners says, “I had a fancy, replied she, “that the minister and the maiden’s spirit were walking hand in hand”. Both Dimmesdale and Hooper are so intent on concealing their sins that it ends up consuming their lives and they struggle through a lonely isolating existence.…
The minister’s black veil is revealed in Mr. Hooper's remarks to Elizabeth when she wonders why he had chosen to wear that mysterious black veil.Mr. Hooper was the pastor who gives a sermon on the subject of sins which, when he is giving the sermon he wears the black veil, which makes people wonder why he wears that. No one dares to ask him why he wears it , the only person who had the courage to ask was his fiance Elizabeth. He is asked to remove it but he refuses to do so. It was so strange how everywhere he went he always had that mysterious black veil.…
The language Hawthorne uses in the Minister’s Black Veil focuses on the eerie sense and aspect of life. From the start, readers can notice the dark and gloomy tone because of Hawthorne’s word choice. At the beginning of the story, Hawthorne describes the Hooper’s sermon as “It was tinged, rather more darkly than usual, with the gentle gloom of Mr. Hooper’s temperament” (...). This quote shows how Hawthorne’s selection of word affects the tone and mood of the story. He sets the scene of Hooper’s sermon that it was mysterious and dark. Hawthorne also describe the Black veil which contributed to the overall theme of the secret sin that he may be hiding from everyone else. As the story progresses, the tone gets more gloomy and it can be seen that veil symbolizes something with a powerful meaning. It can be seen when the author wrote “Further than to give a darkened aspect to all living and inanimate things. With this gloomy shade before him” (...). Moreover, the use of imagery paints a picture for the reader to know that there is something hidden beneath the veil. The gloomy shade of the veil can be depicted as strange and…
The Minister's Black veil story, it is a Parable. The story has a message where we can learn from. The parable that “The Minister’s Black Veil” is trying to show us or teach us that we all can have something that can be worrying us or wanting to forget…
During the holocaust, many people suffered due to the loss of their loved ones. The memoir Night by Elie Wiesel tells the story of what those who did not meet Hitler’s expectations while creating a superior race had to endure at the concentration camps. Thesis By using symbolism and setting, Wiesel creates the message that love is sacrificed in order to survive.…
(An analysis of the letter ‘a’ and all the symbolisms behind it from Nathaniel Hawthorne’s, The Scarlet Letter.)…
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…
Lurking guilt and shame, if not acknowledged and owned up to, can consume you. “‘I wonder he is not afraid to be alone with himself!’” (Hawthorne). The people that attended Reverend Hooper’s church were concerned, frightened, and intrigued about why he was suddenly wearing a black veil to cover his face. What was speculated about him not wanting to be alone with himself is true because he was getting caught up in his own guilt that he felt he needed to hide it from everyone in an attempt to hide it from himself. “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” (Hawthorne). At the wedding, Reverend Hooper finally saw himself in the mirror and, for the first time, saw how caught up in his guilt and shame he was, and how by not owning…
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…