How Father Laforgue's Beliefs Changed In 'Black Robe'

The movie Black Robe serves as a perfect example of the "middle ground" that existed between the Algonquian Indians and the French colonists. Throughout the movie, there are numerous depictions of the cohabitation between the two groups. Using the movie, Black Robe, the following question will be answered through examples presented in the movie; how does the film portray the "middle ground" between the Algonquian Indians and the French colonists?

Ambivalence, or the simultaneous and contradictory attitude and/or feeling toward an object, etc., may well be the cause of the extreme ambiguity, doubt, uncertainty in the mind of the reader of “The Minister’s Black Veil.”  Intentional ambivalence on the part of the author in order not to offend too many may be a plausible explanation for the author’s ambiguity. H.J. Lang in “How Ambiguous Is Hawthorne?” states:

Black Robe presents the story of a French Jesuit missionary struggling to stay true to his religion while traveling from Champlain’s fur trading outpost to a Huron Native American mission in Nouvelle France during the 17th century. Father Paul La Forgue sets out on the 1,500 mile journey with members of the Algonquian tribe and a young Frenchman named Daniel Davost, determined to convert the “savages” to Christianity. Throughout the film, Father La Forgue faces the Algonquians’ beliefs that he is a demon, calling him “Black Robe”, and even abandoning him for a short period. Later, when his Algonquian guides and Daniel recover him, they are captured and tortured by an Iroquois tribe. Eventually,

Laertes response to the death of his father is immediate. He is publicly angry and lead a public riot. His actions are rash, being based on his anger. He is not concerned with punishment.

Laertes also brings revenge and betrayal out of Hamlet. Though an enemy, Laertes is a foil to Hamlet. Laertes helps in the development of Hamlet through the similarities they share. These include anger over the death of their fathers, and desire to exact revenge. Betrayal is also relevant because Laertes betrays Claudius in the end, revealing his plan to kill Hamlet. Hamlet betrays his father by verbally abusing his mother, against the wishes of his father. The differences between the two men are very strong. Hamlet would not kill Claudius in the church because he was praying. Laertes, however stated that he would kill Hamlet in a church, praying or not. Another difference is that Hamlet cannot be a man of action and a man of thought at the same time. He does not use his mind when he acts. He just acts. When he is pondering something, he is unable to act out his thoughts, and keeps quiet. Laertes, however, is able to act while thinking. He finds out that Hamlet killed his father and immediately devises a plan to kill him. This flaw makes Hamlet dangerous to himself, and is ultimately his downfall.

Laertes and Hamlet each set out to avenge the deaths of their fathers, but they end up committing far worse crimes than those crimes that they were punishing. When Laertes and Claudius invite Hamlet to a duel, they intend "To cut his throat i' the church…[and] Requite him for [Laertes'] father" (4.7.127, 140). Because the King is afraid

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.

Laertes acts the most irrationally and rapidly. When Laertes discovers that his father was murdered, he becomes outraged and demonstrates his uncontrolled character as he storms into the castle of Denmark overthrowing the guards and demanding answers about his father's death and questionable funeral. "O thou vile king, give me my father!" (Act 4 Sc.5, 119-120). He is enraged that his father was not buried with his sword and that there was no memorial. When Laertes learns that Hamlet killed his father, he gives no thought to the damnation of his soul as he immediately makes a plan with Claudius to poison and kill Hamlet. Laertes' hatred

2always has to make sure he thinks things over before he does anything. Laertes wants to get back at Hamlet for killing his father. “How came he dead? I'll not be juggled with. To hell, allegiance! Vows, to the blackest devil! Conscience and grace, to the profoundest pit! I dare damnation. To this point I stand. That both the worlds I give to negligence. Let come what comes, only I'll be revenged. Most thoroughly for my father”. Act 4 Scene 5. Laertes tires to figure out what happened and how it happened, he is trying to figure out why he was killed and by who. He wants his father to have a proper burial, but he can not find the body because Hamlet hid it in another room. Hamlet and Laertes is so different in so many ways. Hamlet wanted to talk things out and make everyone happy at the end.

Laertes loses his family because of Hamlet’s actions. His father is killed by him and his sister kills herself because of her grief. Laertes and King Claudius begin to plot Hamlet’s murder, planning to poison him, by drink or wound, whichever comes first. However, the plan backfires on the both of them and Laertes dies from his own blade, but not before saying “The King, the King’s to blame.”

Laertes acts much like his father in taking a position of authority over Ophelia. He feels free to tell Ophelia what she has to do with her love life and expects she will oblige his demand. Like his father, he too tells her to break off her relationship with Hamlet. However, his reasoning is not selfish; he is worrying about her virginity, her reputation, and the

Do they just simply not understand what it is that the other person has the new appearance for? Even though the townspeople have all, most likely, committed a sin of their own in the past, the townspeople and the people of the church all still feel the need to judge someone else doing the same thing, but actually coming out and showing that, yes, indeed they did do something wrong in their own eyes, even though in the case, Hooper is simply mourning something that cannot be given, and even fears his own self image. In conclusion, Hooper is faced with many challenges throughout the story such as not being able to properly vocalize what it is that causes him to put on the black veil. He also faces hypocrisy from the people of his town, and even his own church. Although he has yet to do anything towards to the town besides put on this veil, they still believe he is some sort of sinner. But, maybe he actually does have some sort of secret sin that he is hiding from everyone that he is just not telling everyone. Something so secret that he even takes it to the grave, including his veil which he wear even during

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

Laertes was noble because he died for his cause, avenging his father’s death and defending his father’s honor, but he would not have been had he not sought revenge. Towards the end of the play, Laertes returns from France upon hearing that his father died, but he misses the funeral because of its haste. Furious, Laertes leads a mob into the Castle Elsinore and, upon finding King Claudius,

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.