"He has changed himself into something awful, only by hiding his face." – Line 40. Mr. Hooper is unexpectedly wearing a black veil everywhere he goes. Everyone seems to be afraid of this unusual behavior recently from Mr. Hooper. I believe Mr. Hawthorne’s character, Mr. Hooper, is hiding his own sin due to why he wears the black veil on behalf of his face. No one knows for sure why, but I’m here to tell you.
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.
Whatever his reason for his odd clothing, Reverend Hooper's veil caused more than a physical separation from the people of his town. The people felt the veil was "the symbol of a fearful secret between him and them" (Hawthorne 256). Their fear and confusion of the minister's motives caused strange behavior and unnatural withdrawal from their spiritual leader.
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
In the short story The Minister's Black Veil Nathaniel Hawthorne is explaining how mankind is afflicted by the seven sins. The officer of the church is ring the town bell calling all the people of the village to church, when the church sexton sees Mr. Hooper leave his house he stops ring the bell. The people of the town don't like the Hoopers change in appearance they think that he has lost his sanity and no one walks on the side of the street he lives on. Later in the story the their is a funeral for a young woman and the town people think that's why Hooper is wearing the Black veil “for his own secret sins”. The young minister asks Hooper to remove the veil as Hooper is dying. Hooper is brought to his grave, “Many years pass, and grass
Hooper wore the black veil to symbolized secret sin; this veil represented how everyone has something in their heart that no one knows about." I mainly stuck to this article because it supports my argument by a landlside. The quote is saying her (the authors) thought as to why Mr. Hooper wore the veil. Everyone has their own personal secret. The author, Searis West, explains throughtout this entire article is that he wore it for his own personal issues. The townspeople think that he wears it to bother them only because he doesn't say what the reason was to anybody. He made a promise to God which he swore to secrecy. The author thinks that Mr. Hooper wears this veil because of the audltery he was accused of with the young girl. Maybe, Mr. Hooper wore this because of
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 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
Hardly anyone would have sympathy for Mr. Hooper because it seems crazy to be wearing a veil especially for a man or a parson. And it is hard to get some logical reasons why Mr. Hooper got a veil on his face. One couple seeing the veil judged: “’How strange,’ said a lady, ‘that a simple black veil, such as any woman might wear on her bonnet, should become such a terrible thing on Mr. Hooper’s face!’”. People in the town could not find out why Mr. Hooper is covering up his face. Goodman Gray of the sexton when saw Parson Hooper said: “’Are you sure it is our parson?’”. The story tell us what the people think about the veil: “But that piece of crap, to their imagination, seemed to hang down before his heart, the symbol of a fearful secret between him and
To the people the veil is an outward symbol of a sinful action that was committed, although they wanted to blame Hooper for commiting a grave sin, they were reminded of their own sin that they did not want admit. On the other hand, the veil could also symbolize the shallowness of the puritan religion at the time. Based upon this, the reader can conclude that the veil in fact symbolizes the denial of sin before God. This explains why the townspeople were so off-guard when they first saw Reverend Hooper with the veil, most people are not open about their sin but when they are it is easier for others to open up and make personal connections with them. Furthermore, when Hooper is on his deathbed and expresses that he does not want anyone to remove his veil until he is heaven that can also be connected to the judgement day when all of our sins will be exposed to
Society tends to judge the people whom are a bit different. In the story of The Minister Black Veil by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the town preacher decides to wear a black veil. He decided to wear a black veil because he wanted to remind everyone that sins are in everyone. I believe Hooper is self-reliant because he doesn’t care what the people around him think or say. Even his fiancé leaves him because she becomes scared of the veil. Hooper dies with the veil still on. Hooper believed that wearing the black veil is a form of symbolism to show everyone that sin resides on everyone. According to Hawthorne, Father Hooper was judged by the civilians because father Hooper mentioned before dying “Tremble also at each other! Have men avoided me, and women shown no pity, and children screamed and fled, only for my black veil?” (Hawthorne 22).
In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story “ The Minister’s Black Veil”, The main character Mr. Hooper, really opens light to the topic of appearance. Being a reverend Mr. hooper has quite a shocking way he displays himself. A black veil is what he wears down his face, more like a second face he carries around. This black veil represents the sin and sorrow the reverends been holding.
In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Minister’s Black Veil” there are many unknown secrets, and because of this, there are many dark mysteries in the story, whether literally or metaphorically. These secretive aspects are not only centered around just the minister himself but on all persons in the town that attend the church. Therefore is notable that the veil is a symbol to say that the world is not perfect and it is filled with many flaws, and there sins that people withhold on the inside of them deeply.
Is humanity conceived with the ability to execute evil tasks? Or are we all created with the love and goodness most people believe that they themselves are born with? Edgar Allan Poe believed that each person had two sides to themselves; a “social self” and a “beast” side. The social self is there to contain the “beast” inside, who inevitably gets out to bring about havoc. While Hawthorne did believe in something relatively close to Poe, the difference is that unlike Poe, Hawthorne believed that humankind might have had good intentions, though you can never escape your sinful nature.
In his various works, Nathaniel Hawthorne addresses the religious themes dominant in colonial Puritan society. Mr. Hooper’s black veil is a prime example on how the Puritans believed it could bring nothing but evil. Like many of his works, Hawthorne brings upon a symbol in which tends to symbolize the wrongdoings of such characters. This is not the first in which Hawthorne uses a strong symbol in his works. For example in “The Scarlet Letter”, Hester Prynne is forced to wear the scarlet letter “A” which symbolizes that she is an adulterer. The black veil can be interpreted in many ways, it’s all a matter of perception.