A Comparison of "The Scarlet Letter" and "The Minister's Black Veil"

In his book, The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne tells of a story where a young woman has had an adulterous relationship with a respected priest in a Puritan community. Typical of Hawthorne's writings is the use of imagery and symbolism. In Chapter 12, The Minister's Vigil, there are several uses of imagery when Dimmesdale, the priest, is battling with confessing his sin, which has plagued him for seven years. Three evident techniques used to personify symbolism in this chapter are the use of darkness versus light, the use of inner guilt versus confession, and lastly the use of colors (black versus white).

Hester’s righteous battle against the villagers in defending her name does nothing more than display her courage and respectability. Throughout the novel, “The Scarlet Letter,” Nathaniel Hawthorne manages to implement various symbols in order to add meaning and understanding of certain aspects of the novel. In the novel, many symbols, such as the “Black Man,” are conflicted in the idea of meaning between the Puritans of the society and Hawthorne, but at the same time, some uses of symbolism represent similar ideas, as conveyed by the author. Hawthorne’s uses of symbolism represent the same religious idea as in comparison between Hawthorne and the Puritans, but some contrast the Puritan beliefs and rather are presented to foreshadow

The symbol of the letter “A” in The Scarlet Letter represents Nathaniel Hawthorne’s belief that one is not always defined by their sin. Throughout the novel, Hester faces the ignominy of the other townspeople, but she never loses her pride. Even though Hester suffers from the isolation of her punishment, she still keeps her confidence and survives her punishment with grace and pride. As the novel progresses, the letter and Hester change.

Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Minister's Black Veil" embodies the hidden sins that we all hide and that in turn distance us from the ones we love most. Reverend Hooper dons a black veil throughout this story, and never takes it off. He has discerned in everyone a dark, hidden self of secret sin. In wearing the veil Hooper dramatizes the isolation that each person experiences when they are chained down by their own sinful deeds. He has realizes that symbolically everyone can be found in the shadow of their own dark veil. Hooper in wearing this shroud across his face is only amplifying the dark side of people and the truth of human existence and nature.

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

In “The Minister's Black Veil” Hawthorne uses symbolism and irony to show how loneliness affects the minister. Hawthorne uses symbolism to show how the veil affects the Minister. The veil represents secret sin which leads isolating the Minister because they assume that's he has committed a terrible sin. The veil even leads to his wife not be able to trust him which leads to her calling off their engagement. “She is incapable of the ultimate trust or love required to see in the veil the human reality beyond the symbolic one.”

In the Puritan society, the Scarlet Letter represents the Puritan’s view on the "sin of adultery" that Hester has committed in her life. However, Hawthorne shows throughout the novel that the Scarlet Letter evolved to be a potent symbol of Hester’s identity. The scarlet letter "A" again was originate to represents adultery, however it also represents rebellion against the puritan culture. Hester's attachment to the scarlet letter isolates her from the puritan’s society but it allows her to have freedom on her beliefs and actions as quote “She had not known the weight until she felt the freedom” (Hawthorne). Later when she believes her relationship with the town minister, Dimmesdale is pure base on her 'free will’; she separates her 'free will' against the Puritan definition of 'sin'. As a result, it is a symbol of Hester's pride and burden. Because of this, Hester was forced to carry the scarlet letter of which she later accept the letter and the identity that it has placed upon her as quote, “She had wandered, without rule or guidance, into a moral wilderness... Her intellect and heart had their home, as it were, in desert places, where she roamed as freely as the wild Indian in his woods... The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers—stern and wild ones—and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss” (Hawthorne). Overall, her sin teaches her a lesson while obstructs her at the same

In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s, short story, “The Minister’s Black Veil” uses the the black veil as a symbol of secret sins. “Know, then, this veil is a type and a symbol, and I am bound to it ever, both in light and darkness....” This proves that the author uses symbolism to teach a lesson because, Mr. Hooper is aware of his own sins so he uses the black veil as a symbol to keep his sins hidden. Hawthorne also uses the veil as a representation of the instinctive sinful

Moreover, the symbol of secret sin also appears in “The Minister’s Black Veil.” When the people of the town first saw Mr. Hooper wearing the black veil, they were all wondering why he would wear such thing. To Mr. Hooper, the black veil means deceit and sins to those who can not separate themselves from their sins. One example is when he is wearing the black veil to the wedding, and everyone is kind of skeptic about why he is wearing it but in reality, he wore it to remind everyone of their sins. Because of this, people call him evil, and he soon became an outcast. The black veil can also represent his own sin that he committed in the past in which he can never forgive himself. Symbols for secret sin are once again used in Nathanial Hawthorne’s works.

    To begin, Hawthorne uses The Scarlet Letter to symbolize sin. Hester is the main character in the story, she wears The Scarlet Letter as a symbol of shame, because the letter she wears on her chest stands for Adultery. Hester Prynne was a woman who had been married by one man then had a baby with another man. Doing this caused a secret sin upon Hester and

Hawthorne’s theme of freedom and refuge being found in odd places is supported by the symbols of the scarlet letter and the scaffold. The scarlet letter freed Hester from the guilt of her sin and kept her from committing the same wrongdoing. While the scaffold displayed Hester’s sin to the whole town,

Many dark romantics use symbolism to support the themes in their stories. The themes represented by these symbols tend to represent sin and evil. Like many of his writing counterparts, Nathaniel Hawthorne extensively uses symbolism in several of his major works to explore sin and human nature. The Scarlett Letter, “Young Goodman Brown” and “The Minister 's Black Veil” are all vivid examples of this exploration and are the focus of this analysis.

Nathaniel Hawthorne, a notable writer in the nineteenth century, wrote a book known as “The Scarlet Letter” in the year 1850. In The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne uses excessive amounts of symbolism to aid the reader in understanding precisely what he attempts to portray. A few examples of symbolism used in the writing include: the Scarlet Letter, Pearl, and scenes of conversation among the characters.

All classic literature uses symbolism in one way or another. Nathaniel Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter is no different. The very basis of every character, their personal appearance and way they act revolves around one thing, the Scarlet Letter. The scarlet letter is an "A", in crimson fabric, worn by a Puritan woman for her act of adultery. Its very existence is solely to cause shame and remorse on Hester Prynne and her daughter Pearl, who was conceived in her lust, but it comes to stand for so much more. All of Hawthorne's main characters; Hester Prynne, Pearl, Reverend Dimmesdale, and Roger Chillingworth, feel the wrath of one piece of cloth and learn how character can be created or

After being found guilty of adultery, Hester is forced to wear a scarlet letter “A” on her clothing as a public sign of shame. Her long lost husband, now under a new name to remain unknown, reappears after being presumed lost at sea. With revenge on his mind, a drama explodes around Hester. Over many years, her lover Dimmesdale falls ill and the new town physician Chillingsworth spends many hours by his bedside, only to start believing that Arthur is the father of Pearl, Hester’s out-of-wedlock child. When pleading with Dimmesdale, Hester begs him to leave for Europe so that they can start a new life together. This plan fails when Hester discovers that Chillingsworth is also to be a passenger. Eventually, Dimmesdale dies in Hester’s arms, and losing an opportunity at revenge, Chillingsworth dies shortly after. With a large amount of money left to her, Pearl and her mother relocate to Europe to start a new life (Hawthorne).