`` The Minister 's Black Veil `` By 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 by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the author seeks to convey that although all individuals are sinners, members of society will condemn those who seek to confront their own faults. This conclusion was drawn from the many motifs which relate to Puritan society, particularly the superstitions and Christian ideologies of many New Englanders during the 18th century. In this tale, Mr. Hooper’s donning of the black veil is viewed as a change which alters his countenance indefinitely; from the moment it is introduced, those who view it are awestruck. The mere sight of Mr. Hooper even acts as a “signal for the bell to cease its summons”. As murmurs spread throughout the congregation, Mr. Hooper preaches of “secret sin, and those

Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Minister's Black Veil" illustrates the dangers of secret sin. Allowing guilt from things done in the past, things that cannot be changed, can ruin lives. The life of the secret-carrier will be devastated, along with the lives of that person's most loved ones. Hawthorne uses various types of figurative language in his works to portray his message. "The Minister's Black Veil” is no exception; Hawthorne uses symbolism and suggestion to add depth and mystery.

Throughout the entire story of, The Ministers Black Veil , Mr. Hooer is wearing this black veil that covers his entire face. Usually, veils are worn during a funeral, and only a funeral and taken off after. Mr. Hooper wore this veil around the entire town and no one knew the reason why.

These seemingly mundane details Mr. Hooper handles them with a tinge of darkness and others take notice. The spectators of the clergyman’s sermon noticed a “gentle gloom” (Hawthorne 187) in his words that day. He spoke of “sad mysteries which we hide from our nearest and dearest” (Hawthorne 187), the reader may apply this to Mr. Hooper and the reasoning he wears the veil. His very own “secret sin” diverges him from the rest of society because he chooses to wear in a physical form as a veil. Later that day as Mr. Hooper attended to a funeral it is claimed that “the corpse had slightly shuddered” (Hawthorne 190) due to the minister leaning over the body, disclosing his face only to the dead. This eerie occurrence only builds to the fire the towns people fuel with their own fantasized thinking. That evening Mr. Hooper carries out a wedding ceremony. Already eerie due to his veil, during the toast the preacher “[catches] a glimpse of his figure in the looking glass” (Hawthorne 191) so frightened by his own appearance, the preacher disappears in the night. This happening is significant because the townspeople already view the clergyman as an anomaly, but even he is shaken by his own appearance. This debilitated way of living rises the question of the preacher’s morality. Mr. Hooper lost his good graces with the towns people the moment he decided to veil himself from the rest of the world. However, one person stood by his

During the 18th and 19th century America expanded their writing style into a new genre called Gothic Literature. This type of genre was invented originally in Europe but became popular in America quickly. This new genre allowed authors to portray a darker side in their works. Before this style was created, the only literature written was based upon romance. The romantic appeal still shows in some of these stories but is not the main aspect of the writing. The choice of evil in any type of writing was extremely sparse and the majority considered it to be insane. A copious amount of authors had the opportunity to grow and form this new style of writing. Add one more sentence which will be the thesis.

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

Nathaniel Hawthorne developed his theme and style in the text “The Minister’s Black Veil” better than Jonathan Edwards did in the text “sinners in the hands of an angry God.” The theme in Hawthorne’s text is don’t judge a person based on how they look; his style of writing was very gloomy and sad. Edwards theme of his text is the people must repent for their sinful ways or be dammed to hell; his style of writing is very serious and angry. The two texts themes are similar and different.

Nathaniel Hawthorne, author of both stories The Scarlet Letter and “The Ministers Black Veil” utilizes symbols to show the lasting impact it leaves on the individual and in the community around them. In The Scarlet Letter and “The Ministers Black Veil” both main characters Hester Prynne and Reverend Mr. Hopper both have symbols in which both are of great significance. Hester’s symbol is an embroidered A on her chest meaning Adultery but later changes meaning by the community’s perspective as the time goes on. While in “The Ministers Black veil” Reverend Mr. Hooper’s symbol is a black veil that covers his face in which he never takes off not even on his death bed. Both symbols start off as something terrible, scary, and dreadful by the community’s view, but later reaching further into both stories the symbols leave a lasting impression not only on the individual itself but also the community. The Scarlet Letter is composed of many different symbols but the two that stand out are Reverend Mr. Dimmesdale hand over his heart and Hester’s Prynne A on her bosom.

In “The Minister’s Black Veil,” Nathaniel Hawthorne proclaimed that the minister “…caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror. He himself was now horrified at the sight of the black veil.” Analogous to the minister, people find shamelessness in their personal lives that will haunt them for a lifetime. This mask of shame hides what people think is being done behind closed doors, but it is really revealed in the light. These hypocritical acts confirms that people who attempt to judge others are no better themselves. Basically, no one has any sins greater than someone else’s, they simply use a mask as a façade to cover up their own personal demons. Everyone has sinned in their personal and social life, but they do not want anyone to truly know

The Minister’s Black Veil is a short story written by Nathaniel Hawthorne. It tells the story of when Reverend Hooper begins wearing a veil that covers his face causing his congregation to experience a dubious attitude towards him which begins to make them anxious about this new look. The multitudes of reactions that accompany every person in this story can be compared to the Kubler-Ross model which is a system that refers to the five stages of grief: Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, and Acceptance. These stages are considered tools to help people understand what their feeling at certain moments and try to find ways to overcome it. Each of the stages are present in some parts of the story as the people go through them trying to understand

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.

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.

I feel like the story was making the black veil look as it represented sin. Mr. Hooper being a minister, so everyone thinks that they are pure and never sin, to me I feel like the author tries to focus the black veil on it representing sin. Nobody is perfect in this world, and by the minister wearing this black veil over his face makes the reader think about what they are reading and try to interpret what is going on in the story. That is a big lesson that I learned from reading this story. At first I didn’t get it but I re-read it and I was able to get a better understanding on what it was about and what Hawthorne was talking about here. This was a real mystery for me because Hawthorne does not tell us why specifically he is wearing the black veil over his face. It makes you actually think about what is going and I really did enjoy that about the story. It has you thinking what did he do to have that, because it must have been a really big sin that he commited to wear that all the time and not take it off when asked to, even by his own finance. He wears it until his death bed which gave the whole mysterious feel to the whole story which I