Examples Of Psychological Setting In 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.

The minister they had once sought for comfort and solace has become a seductive, mysterious stranger with whom nobody can identify. The congregation feels as though Hooper can reach into their souls and see all the inadequacy and sin hidden within. As expressed in the story, "Each member of the congregation, the most innocent girl, and the man of most hardened breast felt as if the preacher had crept upon them, behind his awful veil, and discovered their hoarded iniquity of deed or thought." Because of his vow, the minister is forced into a life of solitude, forever lacking satisfaction and comfort.

Hooper’s abundant wisdom, through Hawthorne’s utilization of the Old Man archetype, an archetype that exemplifies a teacher in the highest order. Hooper, like the Old Man, has a defined spiritual element to him, and exists to aid the story’s protagonists, the congregants, on their quest to become more complete individuals and a part of a stronger community. This Old Man, after a long time of growth, continues to teach the congregation, and possesses a certain element of wisdom to him that gives the congregants. He has so much wisdom, readers might be able to confirm that community members expected and hoped for his intervention in multiple situations (8). Indeed, even Clark of Westbury, a minister in a town paces over, comes to see Hooper and to wish him well as he departs to the afterlife and calls him “venerable” or respected.

During the period of American Gothic literature, authors, such as Nathaniel Hawthorne and Edgar Allan Poe, incorporated the sinister perspective of the human nature in their writings. Both Hawthorne’s symbolic short story, “The Minister’s Black Veil”, and Poe’s violent fiction, “The Tell-Tale Heart”, demonstrate separation and symbolism throughout the course of each story. In Hawthorne’s story, the protagonist, Minister Hooper, decides to wear a black veil over his face and vows to never remove it. This vow continues to the point of his death. Mr. Hooper’s decision to wear the black veil consequently separates him from society. Hawthorne uses the veil to symbolize the human psyche and efforts to hide sins. In Poe’s story, the narrator is the caretaker of an old man with a blind eye. He describes his internal discomfort when he sees the eye, and later devises a plan to murder the old man. His separation from humanity due to the uneasy feeling of the old man’s pale, blind eye are shown through his efforts to commit murder.

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

‘The Minister's Black Veil’ by Nathaniel Hawthorne is an American Romantic story published in 1832. Themes such as secret sin, and in short, everyone has a somewhat erroneous character are conferred in The Minister's Black Veil.

    Henry Seidel Canby in “A Skeptic Incompatible with His Time and His Past” explains regarding the solitude of Nathaniel Hawthorne: “His reserve and love of solitude were the defenses of an imagination formed by peculiar circumstances and playing upon circumstances still more peculiar” (55). Let us explore in this essay the solitude within “The Minister’s Black Veil” and its author.

In Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Minister's Black Veil," Mr. Hooper, a Reverend in the town of Milford, surprises his parishioners by donning a conspicuous black veil one Sunday. The town is visibly spooked, yet still curious, about his eerie appearance and profoundly affected by his sermon on secret sin. "A subtle power was breathed into his words. Each member of the congregation, the most innocent girl, and the man of hardened breast, felt as if the preacher had crept upon them, behind his awful veil, and discovered their hoarded iniquity of deed or thought" (2432). The parishioner's expect that Hooper will only don the veil for one day and then remove it, having used the visage to make his point on secret sin, but they are taken aback to

   Based on the evaluations of literary critics, Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story, “The Minister’s Black Veil,” contains both an external and an internal conflict, about equally treated in the tale. It is the intent of this essay to explore both types of conflict as presented in the story.

The Holocaust was the murder of approximately six million European Jews and others by the Nazi regime in 1933. Many people should question the morals of human beings considering the past events of mass genocide. Human nature is flawed and has a lot of capacity for evil. This idea is reinforced through the writings of Anti-Transcendentalists dating back to the early 1800’s. A key writing of this time include “The Ministers Black Veil” by Nathaniel Hawthorne. While giving a sermon to his puritan church, Reverend Hooper wears a black vail that strikes people as peculiar. The townspeople quickly assume that Hooper is hiding behind the cloth because he has secret sin. He refuses to take it off after begged by his wife and dies wearing the veil. Another story by this author includes “Young Goodman Brown,” the main characters faith in humanity is lost after talking to the devil in the woods and seeing his family and friends as devil worshippers. He lives in suspicion and believes that all people are evil. The use of symbolism in the literary works of Hawthorne indicates his view on human nature, which is man is inherently sinful.

Children, with bright faces, tripped merrily beside their parents, or mimicked a graver gait, in the conscious dignity of their Sunday clothes” (Hawthorne, 1) places the readers in a small village in the United States in the middle of the 1800’s with an action that lasts for several days.

The short story “The Minister’s Black Veil” by Nathaniel Hawthorne follows the minister Mr. Hooper whose simple change in appearance alters the very nature of his existence in society till his death. While his decision to begin to wear a black veil over his face ostracizes him from society, it also turns him into a more influential clergyman. With the symbolism of the black veil and in a somber tone, Hawthorne makes a statement on the involvement of society in personal matters and the “black veil” that is present over the heart of every man, making the point that everyone is guilty of being sinful.

I think that, as a general rule, humans love to categorize things. We like to organize things. We like things to fit into our neat, little organized view of reality, whether it’s a can of soup we buy, a movie we watch, or a person we meet. Everything needs to fit into some sort of category and if it doesn’t fit, we create a category for it to fit into. Categories give us certain expectations about the thing we are dealing with. Stories are no exception to this idea. For example, a romance novel should be romantic, obviously; but we would assume that it also contains some sort of conflict for the hero or heroine to overcome, which eventually leads him or her to their true love, or some sort of happiness at the end. But what effect do

"All within hearing immediately turned about, and beheld the semblance of Mr. Hooper, pacing slowly his meditative way towards the meeting-house. With one accord they started, expressing more wonder than if some strange minister were coming to dust the cushions of Mr. Hooper’s pulpit·" Working in the realm of the Gothic, Nathaniel Hawthorne hits upon psychological points that few of his readers are willing to explore. Of course, one may not be able to relate to an example involving such an "eccentric" display as Mr. Hooper’s. There is a sudden hush throughout the audience, followed by a rush of low whispering. He walks past them, oblivious to the goings-on and proceeds to the front. Something has changed, and everyone is aware. It is

In the short story of “Young Goodman Brown” by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the setting is a very important aspect in providing symbolism to certain events. The setting of a dramatic work or story is defined as the overall setting of a narrative detailing the general location, historical time, and social undermining in which its action occurs. The setting of a story is just as important as the characters that are involved within the story. It is a necessary aspect that has influence on every narration. Which is a subject that has not gained much attraction and attention as other parts of the story, but is certainly a very interesting topic to discuss. This essay will give an in-depth analysis of the various techniques that Hawthorne used to convey