Psychoanalitic Approach to The Minister’s Black Veil Essay

Hawthorne physically sit this short story in the town of Milford. It is a common setting for Hawthorne: a New England town set around a church, symbolizing the Puritan values that the villagers strongly upheld. Indeed, the story begins with the town coming to church on the Sabbath to hear the Reverend Hooper preach to them. Little more description is left for the reader to gain insight into the physical setting surrounding Mr. Hooper. The rest is left to the psychological impact that is created through the inner works of Mr. Hooper.

In New England Men of Letters Wilson Sullivan relates the purpose of Hawthorne’s veiled image:

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.

Nathaniel Hawthorne's “ The Minister's Black Veil “ and Jonathan Edwards “ Sinners In The Hands of An Angry God” are writings that have much significance to religion, having a strong belief in god. “The Minister's black veil “ and “Sinners In The Hands of an angry god: may seem similar since they talk on the behalf of religion, they have differences such as the punishment, damnation, and who the sinners are. Edwards agrees that everyone is predestined and anyone no matter who you are can go to hell. However, Hawthorne believes that everyone carries a secret sin in their hearts and how terrible humans can be on the inside. These two authors have different ties but their main ideas still have ties.

"The Minister's Black Veil" by Nathaniel Hawthorne is a story about one clergyman's alienation due to his outward dressing. Reverend Hooper was a well-respected preacher who got along well with the townspeople until one day when he appeared wearing a black veil over his face that consisted "of two folds of crape, which entirely concealed his features, except the mouth and chin" (Hawthorne 253). From that day onward, he was alienated both socially and physically from his community and from himself due to his inability to remove the veil.

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

“Magic mirror on the wall, who’s the fairest of them all?”, is a popular quote from the original Disney movie, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Usually, the town ministers are considered the most honorable, or the fairest people, but they too are not always innocent. In the short story, “The Minister's Black Veil” by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the town minister, Reverend Hooper, conceals his face with a black crape causing disruptions in the town. Incorporating the use of archetypes, rhetorical questions, and antithesis, readers are able to come to a common understanding. Through his craftsmanship, Hawthorne expresses that no one can be freed from sin as it surrounds even the most joyous of people and places.

The Minister 's Black veil is a Romanticism. A romanticism is a movement in the art which sprung during the eighteenth and nineteenth century.Romantic is used to describe literature. It is defined as a depicting emotional matter in an imaginative form. As well as the imagination and emotion and the freedom embraced are all focus points of romanticism. Characteristics Of this literature piece would include subjectivity and an emphasis on individualism. Solitary life rather than life in society. The beliefs that imagination is superior than the reason and devotion to beauty, the love and worship of nature as well as the fascination with the past.

American Romanticism was a literary and artistic movement that placed emphasis on strong emotions. Emotions intensified most were ones such as horror and terror, as well as awe. In, “The Minister’s Black Veil,” by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the emotions of horror, terror, and awe are drawn upon throughout the story, which follows the events and reactions of the citizens of a village after their resident minister suddenly starts to wear a black veil, which invokes discomfort and fear into the people. As with many of his stories, Hawthorne developed “The Minister’s Black Veil” around a symbol, which in this case is the veil. The veil represents that even the people that seem like they have nothing to hide or be ashamed of do, just as everyone else does. Hawthorne also makes the point of saying that although people do have secrets that they wish to not make a matter of, others still do not respect their privacy, and may even go out of their way to wonder and discuss the subject of the secret, without confronting the person themselves about it.

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

   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.

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