Curiosity In Nathaniel Hawthorne In The Minister's Black Veil

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short stories are strongly developed around his unique and powerful use of physical setting. Often the location and the time of day of the story speak as much -- if not more -- of the plot, giving a deeper meaning then just the outside world. However, this emphasis on the physical setting is not always present, as in “The Minister’s Black Veil.” Instead, Hawthorne here used primarily the psychological setting of the characters (and most of all with Parson Hooper) to create this masterpiece work that creates just as much an impact - if not more so -- than any physical setting could ever achieve. Hawthorne’s gift as a writer who knew the power of darkness is evident in his short story “The Minister’s Black Veil”.

    There is no end to the ambiguity in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Minister’s Black Veil”; this essay hopes to explore this problem within the tale.

In Nathaniel Hawthorne's “The Minister's Black Veil” there are many secrets, many dark areas, both literal and metaphorical. An intensely private man who allowed few to know him well, Nathaniel Hawthorne was fascinated by the dark secrets of human nature. One of the first American writers to explore his characters’ hidden motivations, Hawthorne broke new ground in American literature with his morally complex characters. He explored such themes as sin, hypocrisy, and guilt. This essay is discussed about a pleasant scene in Milford, a small Puritan town where men, women, and children mill about enjoying the prospect of another Sunday. This peace is interrupted by the

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.

There are many traits found in strong and healthy relationships. Relationships should have a base of honesty, trust, and love even through the rough situations. Supporting a significant other and the decisions that they may make is also an important trait that should be present in relationships. Things do not run smoothly in a relationship if these bases are not correctly applied. In “The Minister’s Black Veil” by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the story displays a woman that makes a decision to leave her fiancé when he will not remove the black veil from his face to let her see him. Elizabeth ends by making the right decision to break off the engagement because she is an independent and strong woman the veil changes his personality, and the veil makes the community fear Mr. Hooper the Parson.

The author Nathaniel Hawthorne is a American novelist. Born into a family of old Puritan lineage, both his life and his work were marked by the Calvinist tradition. John Sutherland points out in his book that Hawthorne was in his early childhood when the tragedy of losing a father occurred him making a “[closer relationship] to his sister, Elizabeth.” (85) His early literary vocation forced him to face numerous economic problems, as his works did not give him enough to live. He wrote plenty of novels and short stories like “The Minster’s Black Veil”. Focusing on “The Minister 's Black Veil,” it is a horror story by Hawthorne, published in 1837. This short story has an interesting meaning, impacting the way people think about morals and

When one talks about Puritan literature, two main figures come to mind: John Edwards and Nathaniel Hawthorne. John Edwards was a fiery preacher who sought to convert the unrighteous in his sermons. He is most well-known for his sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”, which will be discussed in this essay. Nathaniel Hawthorne was a novelist and short-story author who wrote not only to convert his readers to Christianity, but to entertain them with stories of romance as well. He is most well-known for writing, among other things, “The Scarlet Letter”, “The House of Seven Gables”, and the short story “The Minister’s Black Veil”, which will also be analyzed in this essay.

Nathaniel Hawthorne, author of both stories The Scarlet Letter and “The Ministers Black Veil” utilizes symbols to show the lasting impact it leaves on the individual and in the community around them. In The Scarlet Letter and “The Ministers Black Veil” both main characters Hester Prynne and Reverend Mr. Hopper both have symbols in which both are of great significance. Hester’s symbol is an embroidered A on her chest meaning Adultery but later changes meaning by the community’s perspective as the time goes on. While in “The Ministers Black veil” Reverend Mr. Hooper’s symbol is a black veil that covers his face in which he never takes off not even on his death bed. Both symbols start off as something terrible, scary, and dreadful by the community’s view, but later reaching further into both stories the symbols leave a lasting impression not only on the individual itself but also the community. The Scarlet Letter is composed of many different symbols but the two that stand out are Reverend Mr. Dimmesdale hand over his heart and Hester’s Prynne A on her bosom.

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.”

Nathaniel Hawthorne was one of the most important authors in the history of American literature and the genre of Romanticism or Dark Romanticism, due to his unique style of writing and his focus upon subjects of Puritan religion and the unknown. I consider Hawthorne an important author, due to the fact that he skillfully and accurately based his fictional writings upon happenings of colonial times, was one of the first authors to display unfortunate outcomes for his characters’ immoral choices according to Puritan beliefs, and wrote of things that were considered taboo in his time, such as witchcraft, scientific innovation and experimentation. I strongly believe that Hawthorne’s influence for his writings were his Puritan ancestral background, his fascination with Puritan beliefs, and his interest in what was considered the unknown such as witchcraft and science. According to the Norton Anthology Textbook Vol. B, Nathaniel Hawthorne was “born in Salem, Massachusetts in 1804” (370). Hawthorne belonged “to a family whose ancestral roots were tied to Puritan history, with his family being among the first settlers of Massachusetts and having one of his relatives serve as a judge during the Salem witch trials” (370). Hawthorne, as a young boy, “had a particular interest in writings such as John Bunyan’s Puritan allegory The Pilgrim’s Progress, and by his mid-teens he took interest in British novelists such as Henry Fielding, Tobias Smollet, William Godwin, and Sir Walter Scott”

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s works “The Scarlet letter” and “The Minister's Black Veil” is some of his most famous works known to date. When it comes to two of his works, “The Scarlet letter and “The Minister's Black Veil” are in plain sight different in many ways when it comes to the plot and settings behind the stories. Yet at the same time, they are similar in literary techniques that are used throughout the story. In both stories, Nathaniel Hawthorne use symbolism that was shown multiple times throughout both of the works as they describe the flawed protagonists and secondary characters. Those symbolisms are often recognized as the black veil and the scarlet letter itself.

In this essay, we will discuss Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Minister's Black Veil." There are many secrets that are found in this dark story. These secretive aspects are not just centered on the main actor, the minister, but on all the people in the town as well. The story begins with Mr. Hooper and he is a well respected and appreciated. The conflict arises when Mr. Hooper is seen wearing a black veil. People around the town are astonished. For that reason, they point, stare, and laugh at Mr. Hooper as if he was a stranger. Immediately Mr, Hooper's social privileges is rejected. Mr. Hooper didn't want to tell anyone why he was wearing the mysterious black veil. The majority of the townsfolk isolated Mr. Hooper because he wore a black veil. His fiance, Elizabeth begged him to take off the black veil, but he refused to take it off.

“The Minister’s Black Veil” was first published in 1832 and was written during the American Romantic time period. Romanticism was a time period where emotion and beliefs were valued over reason and facts. Nathaniel Hawthorne can be seen as a writer of “Dark Romanticism,” a sub genre of Romanticism with a fascination with horrific themes and the exploration of the psychological effects of sin and guilt, and where the writers focused on judgement, punishment, and self-destruction. Hawthorne’s use of this style of writing sets the tone of the work as a observation of the nature of sin.

Nathaniel Hawthorne was a man who was both plagued and absorbed by the legacy of the Puritans in New England. He was related to John Hathorne, a Puritan judge during the infamous Salem Witch trials of 1692. In The Scarlet Letter, his fictional account of mid-17th century Boston presents an opportunity to examine different themes commonly associated with Puritans. Particularly the nature of sin, personal identity and the repression of natural urges are themes that appear repeatedly through the novel. While his account of this time period may not be completely historically accurate, it is indicative of the persistent thematic influence of Puritan culture on American and New England society.

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s historical-fiction novel, The Scarlet Letter, is known throughout education today, but why is this story still relatable to people now? This novel addresses the ideas of the Puritan religious community through the guilt and shame of their misguided beliefs. Although the Puritans beliefs, may seem of concern to only a small collection of people, it should, in fact, concern anyone who cares about the way we judge each other with rejecting people from society today.