Minister's Black Veil Essay

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”.

When one has to grope for, and fumble for, the meaning of a tale, then there is “failure” in the work, as Henry James says. This unfortunately is the case of “The Minister’s Black Veil.” It is so ambiguous in so many occasions in the tale that a blur rather than a distinct image forms in the mind of the reader. The Norton Anthology: American Literature states in “Nathaniel Hawthorne”:

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.

In “ The Minister's Black Veil”, Hawthorne uses plain descriptions that don't confuse readers, which helped explain his meaning of his story shown. “The Minister’s Black Veil” had a strong meaning showing that everyone has a sin that they don't want anyone to know about it. This meant everyone was a sinner and nobody was really a good man. Hawthorne was trying to tell the people that God could see the sins of everyone as he says here “loathsomely treasuring up the secret of his sin; then deem me a monster, for the symbol beneath which I have lived, and die! I look around me, and, lo! on every visage a Black Veil!"” (4) , so he wanted Christians to be more orthodox and become more pure to prevent these secret sins.

Hawthorne was able to show the true intentions and feelings of characters and the relationships between characters. He did this because he wanted the readers to understand that the Puritan society was not as religious or great as it is sometimes portrayed as. Even though their intentions were right with wanting to start a new religious society in the New World, they had their faults. Hawthorne is able to address these through the use of ironies. For example, having the reverend that everyone looks up to and emulates, be suffering from committing a very sinful act. Also, having the townspeople contradict the meaning of the scarlet A, and see it as a positive thing after Hester has just endured the torture of isolation and banishment. Overall, Hawthorne is trying to express his personal views on the Puritan society through the use of

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

Both of these stories revolve around a lot of symbolism. These stories, since they really don't make a lot of sense on their own, force the reader to look deeper in an attempt to understand the ideas that Hawthorne tries to get across.

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

In comparison of both text, the style of the writing is different. For example, while Edward uses an archaic or out-of-date form wording like thy , Hawthorne uses a modern language but also uses imagery to show readers about sin instead of telling the sin compared to Edward. Nevertheless, both text do explain about sin. They use a setting that revolves around a church’s congregation.

   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.

In the renowned parable The Minister’s Black Veil, published by Nathaniel Hawthorne(distinguished for writing The Scarlet Letter)in 1836, a minister around the age of thirty and still a bachelor named Mr. Hooper bore a black veil upon his face. The community surrounding Mr. Hooper were led to believe that the act of this veil was nothing but a sermon to be preached

Throughout his novel, The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne reveals character through the use of imagery and metaphor.

Firstly, Hawthorne uses the concept of sensibility, especially regarding Arthur Dimmesdale and his place in the community. In 1642 Puritan Boston, still under british rule, the puritan community do not have their own, tangible, nearby government. Because of that historical background, the sensibility of some characters is more

Question: In what ways does Hawthorne’s novel provide social and political commentary on the hypocrisy of Puritan culture and mores? How does the depiction of various characters in the novel provide Hawthorne the platform through which to make this commentary and/or critique?

Throughout the story Hawthorne shows man's problem specifically by naming the characters after certain types of sinful characteristics. At the part of the story where the train passes the Cross the passengers begin talking of the advantages of keeping their burdens." We were rushing by the place where Christian's burden fell from his shoulders, sight of the Cross. This served as a theme for Mr. Sooth-it-away, Mr. Live-for-the-world, Mr. Hide-sin-in- the-heart, Mr. Scaly-conscience, and a knot of gentlemen from the town of Shun- repentance, to descant upon the inestimable advantages resulting from the safety of our baggage." Giving the characters of the story these names Hawthorne specifically address the problems that man can and does face. In the city of Vanity Fair Hawthorne describes the churches with respect yet he contradicts himself when he gives the names of the reverends. "In justification of this high praise, I need only mention the names of the Rev. Mr. Shallow-deep; the Rev. Mr. Stumble-at-Truth; that fine old clerical character, the Rev. Mr. This-to-day, who expects shortly to resign his pulpit to the Rev. Mr. That-to-morrow; together with the Rev. Mr. Bewilderment; the Rev. Mr. Clog-the-spirit; and,last and greatest, the Rev. Dr. Wind-of-doctrine." In this section Hawthorne show's how Christians and even whole churches can be hypocritical of