Sin In Nathaniel Hawthorne's Black Veil

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 is a story of guilt, humility, sin, hypocrisy, love, compounded emotional stability and trials of life. It is a work of gothic literary art that describes the complexity of emotions and the psychological give and take that takes place when processing and dealing with any human emotion. The gothic writing style Hawthorne uses in The Minister's Black Veil makes it easy for him to focus on one main emotion: guilt. Hawthorne is no stranger to guilt, a huge reason why he discusses its nature so much. The Hawthorne families, formally known as Hathorne, were involved in the Salem Witch Trials and have carried the shame and guilt of their families decisions through generations. Throughout this story,

In “The Minister's Black Veil” by Nathaniel Hawthorne: the veil symbolized purity and innocence in Hooper's eyes , however it really symbolized the two “I’s” , isolation from his community, and /village , and Elizabeth , and Mr. Hooper’s insecurities with the veil.Throughout the whole short story the environment began to change because of Mr.Hooper’s veil. For instance , when Mr. Hooper started to wear his black veil , he started getting attention from the villagers.The author expresses that the villagers do not understand and accept Mr. Hooper’s veil. When the villagers saw Mr.Hooper with the veil, their comments already told their reactions to the veil. “ I don’t like it” and he has turned himself into something awful , only by hiding his face” (Hawthorne

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

As Mr. Hooper attempts to stand in the pulpit “face to face” (Hawthorne 187) the congregation is disheveled as the veil “threw its obscurity between [Mr. Hooper] and the holy page” (Hawthorne 187). This personification gives the veil its own human-like qualities as it draws its own audience. As the story progresses Mr. Hooper becomes dehumanized as he falls into isolation, meanwhile, it is as if the veil becomes its own character entirely. Mr. Hooper is also observed to have a metaphorically “noiseless step” (Hawthorne 187) which attributes to his eerie presence and sets him apart from others. The simile of him being “ghost-like” (Hawthorne 189) from the clothing of a single veil transforms his appearance completely. The use of figurative language supports the fall of Mr. Hooper’s relationships he held in his life and foreshadows his complete isolation through his unorthodox way of living.

Mr. Hooper has an effect on people by wearing the veil and he uses it to express his original purpose. Everyone on Earth has sinned, “for the Earth, too, had on her Black Veil.” This shows that Mr. Hooper believed that sin is a part of nature and it is a natural thing to be sinners. Even Earth, His own creation, is hiding her secret under a black veil. Hawthorne says this to show Mr. Hooper’s point that people have an inborn sinful nature and it is not always represented by literally wearing a black veil. In other words, he says that even people who do not wear a black veil equally have secret sins, “If I hide my face for sorrow, there is a cause enough…and if I cover it for secret sin, what mortal might not do the same?” People hide their real self to prevent being criticized by society and because they are ashamed of what they have done. He pays a high price in the attempt of teaching society the nature of sins. The people who used to admire him are now afraid and confused so he is forced to live a lonely live. Following this further, he influences people to believe the moral lesson behind his decision of wearing the veil. He wants people to

Many people look at him in a strange way because that black veil usually represents a bad sign that is dark. Many people thought that he was wearing the black veil because he had killed someone or done some other bad and dark things. But Mr Hooper does not wear it because he killed someone. There is a Priest that is known to wear a black veil But he did not wear it because he killed someone in a bad way. He will wear it because he did kill someone, but it was unintentional, it was his friend and he killed him by accident and he felt really bad and sorry about it that he decided to wear a black veil for the rest of his life in memory of his friend that he will remember for the rest of his life. in ( Nathaniel Hawthorne 337) it introduces him wearing the black veil, and in ( Nathaniel Hawthorne 338 ) they explain the secret scene which it is not what people thought that it would be they were thinking a whole different thing. I personally was thinking a different bad reason why he was wearing that, I was thinking that he had killed someone.

Hooper was trying to break free from the veil but he knew that wasn't right and that he should wear that veil because of what he committed. The people were afraid of him and scared. Everyone was avoiding him. "Have men avoided me, and women shown no pity, and children screamed and fled, only for my black veil?" (Hawthorne 17) If i was in the place of Mr. Hooper I would be very lonely and upset because no one would talk to me because of the veil. The veil really did show evil and fear to the people. I would want to break free from the veil but the veil was a consequence for committing a

However there is no specification about what happened to Mr. Hooper in The Black Veil, which affected on his decision to wear the black veil. I interpret the veil as a wall that separates minister from the rest of the real world. Mr. Hooper did something and now he awfully repents about that. To wear this veil is the only valid way to be on his own and be able to sink deeply in his concerns and thoughts. Mr. Hooper’s desire is to be separated from community mentally, but not physically.

In “The Minister’s Black Veil” Minister Hooper hides his face with a black veil one day and does not remove it, because, he says everyone has a secret sin. The veil makes him seem more dark to the people attending the church. He refuses to remove the veil for anyone and will not give a reason as to why he is wearing it. People start to think that since he isn’t removing or giving a reason why he is wearing the veil that he is hiding an extremely dark sin.

First of all, I imagine that Mr. Hooper wears the veil for his own personal sins for many reasons. For an example, the first article says, “the sin that Mr. Hooper admonished himself over was the temptation or dalliance with a female.”. Meaning, that Mr. Hooper feels

The meaning of the veil revolves around religion and humanity. The first level to understand is that you can't hide your sins from God. It is known in religions that God knows your plan and knows everything you do. This could be a reason why he wore the veil because he committed a sin that he cannot hide from God and he wears the veil as a symbol of a sinner. The second level is that the minister is almost acquirable for the people and the sins that they commit. As a minister is his job to lead people and he might have taken the responsibility to carry the sorrows of the sins that the people committed just like Jesus died for our sins. The third level is the importance of taking ownership of the sins you commit. The sin of humanity as a whole is very intriguing because society always tries to hide and ignore the fact that they commit sins each day. Mr Hooper might have been trying to show the greatness of humanity, sin by wearing the veil and showing the darkness and mystery

The theme of the passage is everyone has a secret sin, even if they don't have a black veil, people shouldn’t be quick to judge based on appearance. He developed his theme by using third person omniscient and his diction choice is archaic, puritan culture. There are two quotes to support this theme. From line 275, Hawthorne writes “There is an hour to come”, said he, “which all of us shall cast aside our veils.” This quote proves that one day everyone will show their sin. Together with everyone having sin, from lines 485-86, Hawthorne writes “Have men avoided me, and women shown no pity, and children screamed and fled, only for my black veil.” This quote shows how everyone he, Mr.Hooper, associated with, ran from him because of his black

Hawthorne includes three levels of parable to help understand the symbolism behind Hooper and why he wears the black veil. The first level would be considered to be that the minister is carrying or in other words covering the sins of others. Just as Jesus Christ died for our sins. The next level would be that you cannot hide your secret sins from anyone not even the all ruling, all powerful God. Lastly, the third one would be that the sin of humanity is the greatest sin which society hides and ignores. “What, but the mystery which it obscurely typifies has made this piece of crepe so awful? When the friend shows his inmost heart to his friend; the lover to his best beloved; when man does not vainly shrink from the eye of his creator, loathsomely treasuring up the secret of his in; 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!” (Hawthorne

In the Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story “The Minister’s Black Veil”, Hawthorne uses a black a veil as a symbol in the story in order to represent something much greater. In the short story, Mr. Hooper gets judged by his close peers for wearing a black veil upon his face, however they fail to realize that Mr. Hooper has a reason behind him wearing this upon his face. The black veil symbolizes some type of object used which hides one’s true persona. Mr. Hooper asks his auditory "Why do you tremble at me alone?... Tremble also at each other!” In this quote, Hawthorne let’s the reader know that we should all fear each other, regardless if we have something that is physically covering our face or not. A veil lies upon everyone’s face which hides people’s true persona which they all don’t show at first but later in time reveal what is hidden underneath. Everyone at the church had negative feedback towards Mr. Hooper’s black veil, many asked why he did it while others wondered if he was hiding something. Mr. Hooper refused to remove his veil even after his fiance had asked him why he wore it and if he could remove it, this proves that Mr. Hoopers character was a strong believer