Compare And Contrast Young Goodman Brown And The Minister's Black Veil

Father Hooper, a character in The Ministers Black Veil, has put a wall up between himself and his parishioners with the simple adornment of a veil. The veil is symbolic of secret and sin the Father is trying to hide from the world. A secret so massive, it is not even to be removed by his Fiancee’, Elizabeth. While he, himself will not let his secrets be known until his earthly departure, it can be presumed that they carry the weight of infidelity. On his deathbed, Father Hooper described seeing a black veil on everyone he has met, perceiving that everyone has their own walls and

Goodman Brown’s journey into the woods introduces us into his own religious hypocrisy. His character is described as young and possibly naïve to the true nature of the world, and Goodman Brown considers himself descended from”… a race of honest men and good Christians” (343). However, for unknown reasons, perhaps just out of curiosity, he decides to venture into the woods on a quest of “evil purpose.” Faith, Goodman Brown’s wife, is an important source of symbolism throughout his journey. She is not only his wife, but she is also symbolic of his spiritual faith. Before setting off into the woods Faith begs him not to go and foreshadows that nothing good will come of his trip. Hawthorne uses this scene to emphasize that questioning and straying from his “Faith” for even a night shows that his spiritual faith is much less established than he displays to his wife or the public. It also symbolizes that Goodman Brown had doubted and compromised his faith before he even began his voyage into the woods.

Many modern and older short stories are written around a central theme. Most authors write about many different themes and their works are generally focused around one specific theme meant to send a message with a deeper meaning to the reader. In Nathanial Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown” and “The Minister’s Black Veil,” Hawthorne centralizes the stories around the theme of evil. In “Young Goodman Brown,” the protagonist is a puritan who goes by the name of Goodman Brown. In the middle of the night, he decides to wander into the woods to meet with someone for an evil deed. As the story progresses, the reader finds out he is meeting with an old man that is thought to be the devil himself. As Goodman Brown goes further into the woods with the devil, he recognizes some people from his town. He quickly finds out that the people are also in the woods to makes deals with the devil. In “The Minister’s Black Veil,” the protagonist is Reverend Hooper. Hooper attends his church wearing a black veil that completely covers his face. The reader never finds out why he covers his face, but he preaches to his churchgoers about secret sin and that everyone has done something evil they want to hide. Based on that, readers can infer that he has committed an evil, secret sin of his own. Throughout both of Hawthorne’s works, he uses motifs, symbols, and the themes themselves to connect to the nature of evil in the two stories.

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.

He goes anyway. This trip will lead to the guilt that Goodman Brown will feel for the rest of his life. Goodman Brown goes into the forest to meet a man which we later find out is the devil. He was late because his wife had kept him in town. "You are late Goodman Brown." (p.383) He replies "Faith kept me back" (p.383), which is ironic because his wife Faith really kept him back that day, but his religious faith also kept him from confronting the devil previously. Goodman Brown follows the man or devil through the forest which leads to an open field. This is presumed to resemble The Garden of Eden. He sees the whole town there including his wife worshiping the devil. On his return to the town, Goodman Brown cannot look at anyone. The life that he knew before this journey was over and would never be the same. He didn't go to church or talk to barely anyone because of his guilt for going to worship the devil. When he died, "there was no hopeful verse upon his tombstone for his dying hour was gloom" (p. 391) This is like the "The Minister's Black Veil" showing that someone must live and breathe everyday knowing of the sin that they have committed.

Nathaniel Hawthorne utilizes the color of the veil, Mr Hooper’s speech to the townspeople, and the contrast of the bad veil in good events to once again showcase his views on the everlasting effect of guilt and sin. While it may be a harsh concept to comprehend, when one comes to terms with this, it leaves a feeling of ease. Once one knows that there is no time of the day where they can be freed of the feeling of guilt is when they can truly love themselves. Remember that sin is like a convenience store, it is open 24/7, and everyone has to take a trip there once in awhile, so there is no reason to be

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

Jonathan Edwards states “that natural men are held in the hand of God, over the pit of hell; they have deserved the fiery pit.” This statement shows the feeling the author wants the reader to feel and understanding about sinning and the consequences. While in “The minister’s black veil” the author's tone is more saddened and more emotional and this feeling affects how the reader feels about Parson Hooper and the sinful emotions that he carries with him throughout the story. Both “Sinners in the hands of an Angry God” and “The minister’s black veil” have the right text for the reader to understand the tone that the author is feeling. Jonathan Edwards have a harsh and to-the-point tone, while Nathaniel Hawthorne has a sad and personal touch to it, Hawthorne says that Parson Hooper covers his face by a black veil because of a sin he has created, this effect show that people have a different way of handling their sins. While Jonathan Edwards stated that if you do sin you are going to be casted to hell for the sin and that god will have no mercy on you for

These two wonderfully written short stories by Nathaniel Hawthorne, “Young Goodman Brown” and The Minister’s Black Veil”, both have great ways of bringing up the topic of secret sin. They show the readers two different ways to handle the situation. Both main characters in these short stories handle their own secret sin in a different manner. Goodman Brown takes his situation and adds negativity onto himself by hiding his sin, meanwhile Reverend Hooper admits to his mistakes and reveals to all of his peers that he has sinned and he now has nothing to hide from. These short stories are great examples to prove there is a positive way and negative way to handle not only the situation the two men were in, but in all difficult situations in life.

In “The Black Veil” the author Hawthorne shows how people try and hide their sins. Even though they try and hide their sins God knows that they have sinned. Meanwhile in “Sinners in the hands of an Angry God” he talks about how was the people’s sins affected God and has Angered him. Both passages wants the readers to know that God knows when you sin so there is no need to try and hide your sins.

in Nathaniel Hawthorne's anecdote the "Pastor's Black Veil" his subject of the story is that no one can get away from a wrongdoing. An examination on the surface of the story is one day Mr. Hooper clergyman of an assemblage in Milford, MA, a little settlement of puritans, buckling down just to manage life.

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.

If we take “The Minister’s Black Veil” as a horror story, it leads us to certain conclusions about the nature of the veil and Hooper’s refusal to take it off. If horror is something that centers upon the horrifying or macabre, especially concerning the supernatural, one can see that this story could belong. Hooper never divulges the exact nature of the veil, and we are left to speculate about what it could possibly mean. Several possibilities present themselves if we think of this story as a horror story; it could be that the veil is covering Hooper’s face to be a constant reminder to his congregation and all who see him of secret sin. It seems that the idea that he could possibly know someone’s secret sin is terrifying to the townspeople. Indeed, this veil does give Hooper “awful power over souls that were in agony for sin” (943). Sinners fear him, because they feel that the black veil is a reference to their own personal secret sins. And the veil gives him an association with the dead and ghostly qualities; after the girl’s funeral at the beginning of the story, one woman remarks that she thought she saw Hooper walking hand in hand with the ghost of the dead girl. Such things would not have been imagined if he had never donned the veil.

Using long, run on sentences to detail his story, Hawthorne wrote Young Goodman Brown about a man who leaves his wife to go on an errand. The two characters Goodman and Faith exchange a few words in dialogue in order to get the idea across that they are madly in love. On his journey, the reader learns that Goodman is doubtful about continuing further, but his new companion urges him on despite the hesitation. The temptation of evil is symbolized with the staff that Goodman was offered by the man in the woods (the man himself is a symbol of evil). The story revolves around this theme of real and unreal, temptations, and paranoia that something you’ve seen is actually true when indeed it was all a dream—or was it. It is expected that the couple’s

The black veil brings up confusion and interest to the Puritan society because everyone has a different view as to why Mr. Hooper is walking around with his face covered with a veil. To the townspeople, Hooper’s veil is a clear sign that he is trying to atone for a grave sin. “There was but one thing remarkable about his appearance. Swathed about his forehead, and hanging down over his face so low as to be shaken by his breath, Mr. Hooper had on a black veil. On a nearer view it seemed to consist of two folds of crape, which entirely concealed his features, except the mouth and chin, but probably did not intercept his sight, further than to give a darkened aspect to all living and inanimate things” (Hawthorne 369). Although Hooper identifies the veil in a different manner, the townspeople use the veil to focus exclusively on Hooper’s sinfulness because, deep