Essay on 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

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.

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

The veil that the minister wears in "The Ministers Black Veil", by Nathanial Hawthorne represents the emphasis on man's inner reality, and those thoughts and feelings which are not immediately obvious. As Hawthorne explored this inner nature, he found the source of dignity and virtue, and certain elements of darkness. When the minister first walks out of his home wearing the veil, everyone is astonished. This one man in this village decides to be a nonconformist and wear this veil without explanation. No one understands why the minister would wear such a veil for no reason at all. This is where all the assumptions begin to linger. All of the villagers have a story for why the veil is there. These people are

The townspeople in “The Minister’s Black Veil” represent negative judgement and discrimination against Mr. Hooper and veil he wore across his face. “At that instant, catching a glimpse of his figure in the looking-glass, the black veil involved his own spirit in the horror with which it overwhelmed all others.” Mr. Hooper wore the wretched black veil as an act of teaching the delinquent townspeople to look onto others as your own person and to not judge as God would. The black veil stood as a mirror to reflect the very souls of the good townspeople, and for Hawthorne, a message that even in today’s society there is judgement. As Reverend Hooper himself might say, judging a person does not define who they are… it defines who you

Throughout the short story, “The Minister’s Black Veil,” Reverend Hooper has a secret sin that is depicted as a mystery to the characters within the story and the readers, but teaches a parable. He wears the black veil for the rest of his life, even on his deathbed: an example in the literal sense for a spiritual sentiment. The crux of the parable is that every person dons a black veil, perhaps not physically, but spiritually. Hooper continually expresses that everyone hide sins and should fear one another instead of being terrified of his visually expressed sin as he had the audacity to wear a black crape, partially covering his face, for the rest of his mortal life. In “The

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

Minister’s Black Veil is a short story written by Nathaniel Hawthorne that more or less romanticizes the madness behind sins. In this short story, the Minister Mr. Hooper, wears a Black Veil that hangs from his forehead which he cannot seem to explain to anyone about. Everyone in town begins to question and wonder what the meaning behind this black veil is. As Reverend Hooper explained to his ex fiancee, the black veil signifies a secret sin that everyone has, but never reveals to anyone until, “Judgment Day, in the “sunshine of eternity,” will a person’s veil be removed”(Alexander, 1).

Set in the New England town of Milford, the short story takes place in a Puritan society. Historically, Puritan towns were generally close-knit communities. In “The Minister’s Black Veil,” society holds a very heavy presence. When Mr. Hooper first appears in public with a black veil “swathed about his

In the short story ¨ The Minister’s Black Veil¨ by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Mr. Hooper teaches the lesson to his community that everyone has committed a sin and that nobody is perfect. For example, in the short story the church members went to church to go hear Mr. Hooper preach and while he was speaking some of the church members felt uncomfortable and it states that ¨ Each member of the congregation...felt as if the preacher had crept upon them… [discovering] their hoarded iniquity of deed or thought...¨ (86-88). Here, in this quote of the passage it suggests that the people felt uncomfortable by Mr.Hooper’s black veil. The members felt as if Mr.Hooper was trying to discover their secrets that they have hidden from each other. This demonstrates

I believe that Hawthorne’s character Mr. Hooper has started to wear the black veil to bear others sin. If you read lines 70-92, Mr. Hooper tells his he congregation that everyone has their own deep dark hidden sins. Hawthorne adds how the other characters in the room begin to become nervous

The symbolism in this short story involves the black veil on the minister’s head states that Mr. Hooper is hiding a horrible sin. Although the minister wears a black veil; Mr. Hooper is trying to make amends of his own sin. “The subject had reference to a secret sin, and those sad mysteries which we hide from our nearest and dearest, and would conceal from our own consciousness” (Hawthorne 1). Although Mr. Hooper wears the black veil he is being recognized and gives a sort of power over the people. “The black veil had one effect; he becomes a man of awful power over souls that were in agony

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

The themes in “The Minister’s Black Veil” are appearance, sins and guilt. Appearance is one of the themes due to how the town’s people shun Mr. Hooper due to veil on his face. When Mr. Hooper comes to church the town’s people immediately take notice of his changed appearance. One of the churchgoers call him “awful” because of the veil covering his features (Hawthorne 1). Due to his new appearance the