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Nathaniel Hawthorne and the Puritan Influence
Nathaniel Hawthorne's critique of puritanism
Nathaniel Hawthorne and the Puritan Influence
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In Nathanial Hawthorne’s “The Minister’s Black Veil”, Mr. Hooper is the Puritan minister of a village in 19th century America. The minister unexplainably put a black veil over his face one day, confusing his parishioners, friends and family. He later explained to his fiancée, Elizabeth that he wore the veil to conceal the sins and failures of his life. He was ashamed of his sorrows in life because he was living in a time where there was so much opportunity, that if one were to fail, they were a horrible individual, which Zwieg tried to state in his comments about Poe’s writing. His comments apply to Hooper in Hawthorne’s story when Hooper told Elizabeth that all people have their own black veils and “there is an hour to come when all of us
History has underrepresented females throughout countless centuries. In contrast, Hawthorne allows them to take on essential roles in “Young Goodman Brown,” “The Minister’s Black Veil,” “and “The Birthmark.” The way he presents them distinguishes his stories from others at his time. He proves all of his female characters almost flawless, deeply connects the male protagonists to them, and uses them to reveal the males’ hidden sides.
Considering, Melville’s and Hawthorne’s views of humanity and how they perceive the world in an accurate manner just goes to show that people can be thrown off by false views. In “Benito Cereno”, Caption Cereno is blind to the evil within Babo, his faithful servant. Caption Cereno’s judgment is clouded by the one person he believes is taking care of him and in trusted him with more power then he deserves. While in “The Minister’s Black Veil”, Mr. Hopper judgment is clouded by the veil he wears, and the congregation minds are clouded by the veil that Mr. Hopper wears. They believe he is not the same man due to the fact that he wears this black veil now; however Mr. Hopper ends up blinded by the veil that he
His lover, Elizabeth, leaves him, because he refuses to take the veil off. The plot to the story is that Parson Hooper tries to overcome the gossiping of the town, and make people accept him. However, his plan backfires and they reject him. “ Mr Hooper had the reputation of a good preacher, but not an energetic one: he strove to win his people heavenward, rather than to drive them thither,” states Hawthorne. The sermon he gives with the black veil on his face, is the same style and manner he gave the last sermon.
In Joan Scott’s book The Politics of the Veil she argues that contemporary understandings of Muslims and their place in French society are rooted in a longer history of racism and colonialism that reaches back to the 19th century. The controversies of wearing a veil in France have root causes dating back to French colonial. Scott traces back through time to examine the initial history between these two nations. She addresses the causes through her themes of racism, individualism, secularism and sexuality in which she intertwines to give light on the veil controversies.
The year is 1729 and the Puritans are going about their daily life of strict, religious life. Nathaniel hawthorne is not part of this crowd but he likes to pick fun at their lifestyle. In "The Minister 's Black Veil" and "Young Goodman Brown" he does just that. In both these stories he makes fun of their idea that everything is a sign, and has a double meaning. These allegories that Hawthorne uses may confuse the average reader. In both stories there is something that has a meaning based on reality, and a more mystical meaning. The word faith, when used in "Young Goodman Brown" can either mean Faith, as in the name of Goodman 's wife, or faith in God. The black veil, is it just a veil, or does it have a deeper, darker meaning of sin?
Every human is a born sinner, none of us are perfect. We have been known to keep secrets due to fear of rejection or even fear of being criticized. A great example of this can be found in the story “The Ministers Black Veil” which is about a minister who wears this black veil symbolizing secret and him hiding behind the truth. Even the people we look up to can make mistakes and sin like everyone else.
In a small close-knit town of people of course there will be gossip so therefore, news gets around pretty quick. In "The Ministers Black Veil", Mr. Hooper decided to start wearing a black veil which may represent darkness, sin, and hiding. Ever since this, people of the town were getting frightened and quite confused as to why he is wearing it. I believe he started doing this out of shame, guilt, and to get all who seen him to become aware of their own sin. This impacted the people in many ways.
Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote ?The Minister?s Black Veil? in 1836. Reverend Mr. Hooper was the protagonist of the the story. He was a minister in a small Puritan town called Milford, located somewhere in New England. At the beginning of this story, Mr. Hooper was walking to church with a black veil over his face. No one knew why the minister has this garment covering his face, and they did not like it. One woman claimed, ?He has changed himself into something awful, only by hiding his face? (Hawthorne 2). Typically, people put veils over their faces when they were sorrowful and mourning. As you read on, you will notice that the Minister is not depressed, or at least doesn?t show it. He walked through the church, bows to his oldest parishioner, and steps into his pulpit. As he began preaching to the congregation, the black veil remained upon his face. ?That mysterious emblem was never once withdrawn. It shook with his measured breath, as he gave out the psalm; it threw its obscurity between him and the holy page, as he read the Scriptures; and while he prayed, the veil lay heavily on his uplifted countenance? (Hawthorne 2). In his sermon, he preached about secret sin. He told us that we all have our hidden sins, and how we wish for the
"Why do you tremble at me alone?" cried he, turning his veiled face round the circle of pale spectators. "Tremble also at each other. Have men avoided me and women shown no pity and children screamed and fled, only for my black veil? What but the mystery which it obscurely typifies, has made this piece of crape 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 sin; 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!" on his deathbed Hooper says everyone avoided him and saw him as a monster simply because he chose to wear a piece of crape over his face, he also goes on to say that the people of Milford were so drawn in by the veil and so focused on whatever possible sins Mr. Hooper could have committed, that they completely neglected their own sin. The isolation Hooper experienced throughout his life in Milford adds to the tragedy aspect Hawthorne conveys. Whereas Hawthorne uses the veil to symbolize hidden or secret sin, Poe uses the raven to symbolize the narrator's sorrow. In Poe’s poem, a raven visits the narrator and sits above their chamber door. The raven continues to repeat the word
"The Minister's Black Veil" by Nathaniel Hawthorne is a short story that was first published in the 1836 edition of the Token and Atlantic Souvenir and reappeared over time in Twice-Told Tales, a collection of short stories by Nathaniel Hawthorne. The short story narrates the events following Reverend Mr. Hooper's decision to begin wearing a black veil that obscures his full face, except for his mouth and chin. Mr. Hooper simply arrives one day at the meeting house wearing the semi-transparent black veil and refuses from then on to take it of, leading to the loss of his fiancée and isolation form the world. He is even buried in the black veil. Yet, what is important to note are Mr. Hooper's last words to those surrounding his deathbed. He tells them namely in anger that all of them wear black veils: “I look around me, and, lo! on every visage a Black Veil!”. This declaration underlines the meanings of the veil in the story as symbolic of sin, darkness, and the duality within human nature. Thus, "The Minister's Black Veil" by Nathaniel Hawthorne is a literary work of art that demonstrates the author's use of allegory to highlight the psychological angle of the story and characters.
The same thing happens in “The Minister’s Black Veil,” except the reader does not know exactly what secret sin makes Reverend Hooper begin to don the black veil. Many scholars believe that this has something to do with the funeral of the young lady at the beginning of the story. The opinions range from believing that Reverend Hooper loved the girl in secret, to Poe’s believe that Reverend Hooper may have actually been the cause of the girl’s death (Newman 204). Whatever the reason, the minister’s wearing of the veil taints his view of everyone else around him, making all of them look like they are wearing veils as well (Hawthorne 107).
"There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you." - Maya Angelou. In the "Minister's Black Veil" by Nathaniel Hawthorne's character, Mr. Hooper, has a personal sin that warrants his action of wearing the terrible black veil. I believe this because of two reasons; he had an affair with the young women who passed away, and he wanted to show that even men of God sin. Others believe that Mr. Hooper hid his face because of his sin of vanity which is not the case and here's why.
In “The minister’s black veil” The black veil Mr.hooper puts on is to prevent people from spying on his private life. The veil symbolized that human nature is blinded by sins and they way the town treated him after he started wearing the veil shows that there faith is blind they couldn't understand where he was coming from. “ Mr. Hooper's conscience tortured him for some great crime too horrible to be entirely concealed, or otherwise than so obscurely intimated. Thus, from beneath the black veil, there rolled a cloud into the sunshine, an ambiguity of sin or sorrow, which
In “The Minister’s Black Veil” Nathaniel Hawthorne conveys the idea that sin, whether it be your sin, secret sin, or a known sin, can sometimes lead to isolation and gives insight into people’s true character. The main character Parson Hooper was met with many confrontations in his literal representation of secret sin by wearing a black veil. In the beginning of the story, as Hooper leaves the church he dreadfully realizes the darkness and effect of the black veil which would soon lead to his own isolation. Hawthorne writes, “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.” Parson Hooper was so hurt by the people’s reaction and afraid of the black
In the short story, “The Minister’s Black Veil,” Nathaniel Hawthorne tells the Mr. Hooper’s black veil and the words that can describe between him and the veil. Hawthorne demonstrates how a black veil can describe as many words. Through the story, Hawthorne introduces the reader to Mr. Hooper, a parson in Milford meeting-house and a gentlemanly person, who wears a black veil. Therefore, Mr. Hooper rejects from his finance and his people, because they ask him to move the veil, but he does not want to do it. In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Minister’s Black Veil”, Mr. Hooper’s black veil symbolizes sins, darkness, and secrecy in order to determine sins that he cannot tell to anyone, darkness around his face and neighbors, and secrecy about the black veil.