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Black Veil Symbolism

Decent Essays

Everyone has felt lonely before, everyone has struggles, and everyone needs to take time for themselves. Almost everyone comes back to their normal themselves after time, but for some it affects their whole lives. In the short story “The Minister’s Black Veil,” by author Nathaniel Hawthorne, the main character is having struggles within and on top is being excluded from his community. The minister of a small puritan town, Reverend Mr. Hooper, is a well disciplined young man who shocks the church congregation when he shows up with a black veil covering his face only revealing his mouth. Hooper is rejected from his his fiance and his town leaving him all alone. Hathorne never reveals the reason why Hooper wears the veil leaving the reader to wonder what does the veil truly represent? A dominant theme that Hawthorne develops in the short story is complete loneliness and guilt. He shows that when one does something to separate themselves from it can ruin relationships. Throughout the story “The Minister’s Black Veil,” Nathaniel Hawthorne uses literary elements of symbolism and conflict to develop his theme of loneliness and guilt.

Connecting symbolism of the black veil adds a deeper meaning to the way the story is read. The thought of the black veil having a deeper meaning is evident from the beginning. The story is set in a church in Millfrod, Connectitcut during the time of the Puritians. The preacher of the church, Reverend Mr. Hooper was thought of as a

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