The Minister's Black Veil by Nathaniel Hawthorne "The Minister's black veil" by Nathaniel Hawthorne is a story of a life of a clergyman Hooper which leaves the reader with the feeling of sacrifice but also a sort of a personal tragedy. The reader becomes acquainted with the protagonist at the crucial moment of his life, the moment in which he decides to wear a black veil on his face. The very beginning of the story is a portrait of a happy everyday life of a village - merry children are willing to make fun of a graver's gait, spruce bachelors are looking sidelong at the pretty maidens and a sexton is tolling the bell - and its light-hearted mood contrasts with that of the rest of the story. It gives us a taste of what the parson's life was like before his decision to wear his black veil, i.e. happy with the inhabitants of the city showing him the signs of respect. With the decision to wear the veil starts a period of alienation in his life. As early as after his first sermon in the veil his alienation starts: "old Squire Saunders, doubtless by an accidental lapse of memory, neglected to invite Mr. Hooper to his table, where the good clergyman had been wont to bless the food, almost every Sunday since his settlement". Although the only thing he changed in himself was the black veil on his face the inhabitants of the village changed the perception of the entire person which can be exemplified by the words of an old woman: "He has changed himself into something awful, only by hiding his face". The explanation that some people give for his wearing the veil is a mental disease, then, as the veil is stubbornly not removed by the par... ... middle of paper ... ...oper tries to indicate the fact of concealment in his community and criticize it. However, the parishioners misread the message and speculate there is something wrong with Hooper himself and groundlessly accuse him of committing a sinful deed. The black veil focuses the attention of the villagers on the person of Hooper instead of themselves. Behind the invisible veils on their faces Hooper's parishioners hide their true visages. They are barriers and obstacles in communication between people who do not show their true faces when they are together, even if they are two people who love each other (it is important to notice, that the parson does not take the veil off during the wedding nor when he talks to his beloved Elizabeth and she asks him to do so). The veil is everywhere, masks and concealment is everywhere.
Throughout his literary endeavors, Nathaniel Hawthorne utilizes symbolism to present a certain theme that pertains to human nature and life. In his works, The Scarlet Letter and "The Minister's Black Veil", Hawthorne uses symbolism to present a common theme pertaining to religion; that though manifested sin will ostracize a person from society, un-confessed sin will destroy the soul.
How many readers have considered that the utter simplicity within the Nathaniel Hawthorne short story, “The Minister’s Black Veil,” might be an expression or reflection of the utter poverty within the life of Hawthorne? It is the purpose of this essay to clarify this issue.
In Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston, the reader is given a particular glimpse into Janie's life with reference to the men she has known. Janie's three men are all very different, yet they were all Janie's husband at one point in her life. Although they all behaved differently, in lifestyle as well as their relationship with Janie, they all shared certain similarities.
In both “Roger Malvin's Burial” and “The Minister's Black Veil,” Nathaniel Hawthorne centralizes the themes of sin, guilt, and repentance. Both are very much set in terms of what defines sin and, in turn, what would constitute action leaving an opening for forgiveness, and both leave many a question unanswered in the story being told. The main question for us becomes, then, one of applicability. Does either story hold a message, if so, what? In considering the two, it may be that they do indeed hold a message, but maybe that message is not one that Hawthorne himself could ever have intended. In this paper I will deal with the themes of guilt, sin, repentance and how Hawthorne developed them in both stories.
In every generation there are certain rules and etiquette that play a large role in dictating the appropriate behavior for the time. An individual may choose to live his or her life according to this code of conduct and do fairly well, or in contrast live a life full of trials and hardship as a result of their transgression. This is especially true for the early inhabitants of 17th century colonial America, a period rife with the religious zeal and harsh castigation carried out on behalf of the Puritans who settled the area. During this time, as is still the case today, offenders of this societal moral code were made examples of and forced to suffer so that they may serve as a warning to the rest of the population. This is the case in The Scarlet Letter where the protagonist Hester Prynne is ostracized from her conservative community after committing the then unforgivable sin of adultery. In his novel, Nathaniel Hawthorne uses both themes of guilt and redemption to create trials that test his character Hester Prynne and in the process transforms her from a pitiable sinner, to a symbol of strength.
Everyone has secret sins that we don’t want anyone else to find out about. Yet, when these secret sins are revealed, we discover that these sins were holding us back. Hester Pyrnne returns to her home in the last chapter of The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, and willingly puts the scarlet letter back on. This letter bears the pain and guilt of her secret sin, adultery, and the town that she lived in thought that the letter would make her deal with, and be redeemed from her sin. Through her trails, we can learn about ourselves, and how to deal with the secret sins inside each of us. Hester Prynne saw the Reverend Dimmesdale’s embrace of his sin on the pillory led to his salvation. Even though she preached that she was unable to be saved, she was drawn back to the place of her sin so as to let the scarlet letter do its job and save her. Secret sin is something that we want to hide, but only after we deal with it in the place that it occurred, can we move on.
Imagine your inner soul trying to rip out of your body all tell people of all of your sins. Also, imagine your sin is floating around letting you see others sin. Finally, you are a product of sin, your life is full of evil, and torture. Until your sin is revealed by your unknown father. These events happened to the character in Nathaniel Hawthorns The Scarlett Letter. Their sin affects the way that these characters live. The Nature of sin can bring the worst and best out of people. Whether it is hidden or know, the sin can bring good and bad things to the people who have sinned. Dimmsdale’s sin was locked inside him, as he ended up breaking down and decoding sick, and then died after revealing his sin. Hester’s sin was know and she was able to be a normal part of society. Being a product of sin, Pearl was a demon or became like the devil, until Dimmsdale reveled his sin and she became normal. The nature of peoples sin dictates what your life is going to belike. When your sin is hidden it can really harm you.
Is it acceptable to neglect one’s crimes and move on, or is it better to openly confess yourself in front of your peers? In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel, The Scarlet Letter, the main character, Arthur Dimmesdale, experiences both ends of the question. From initially disregarding the need to repent for his sin, his figure and character drastically change. By repenting in the wrong ways, Dimmesdale’s character continues to worsen until he finally publicly atones for his mistakes. Hawthorne’s views on the theme of repentance are embodied within the tragic and symbolic character of Dimmesdale, which he uses to demonstrate how repenting leads to a strong-willed and free being.
Nathaniel Hawthorne, author of famed novel, The Scarlet Letter, came from a long line of puritans. The family name of Hawthorne, was one of strict puritanistic ideals, which translated into topics covered in his literary works. When Hawthorne’s father died of yellow fever at sea when he was only four, his mother became overly protective and pushed him to isolation. All of Hawthorne’s fictional characters are believed to be figurative confrontations of good and evil. Almost all of his characters can be classified as one of these two types. Most of Hawthorne's early stories were published anonymously in magazines and giftbooks, 19th century, lavishly decorated compilations of collected essays, short fiction, and poetry. Through both emotional and physical drama and literary elements such as symbolism, Nathaniel Hawthorne conveys his thoughts about who can truly judge a person for their sins, saying that it is not society’s job to judge but rather God himself.
Not very many children are born in prison, nor do many live in prison for the first three months of their lives. It was almost probable that the child might turn out rather eccentric, which Pearl, in a way, did. And it is definitely strange that she was born as a result of a sin. Thus, her mother named her Pearl, “as being of great price, —purchased with all she had, —her mother’s only treasure!” She has very capricious emotions and is impish sometimes. Pearl is an eerily intelligent and devilish child who has a strange connection with the scarlet “A”.
During the nineteenth century, Nathaniel Hawthorne graced America with The Scarlet Letter. Out of all of his works, the commended author’s most enduring and well-known novel is The Scarlet Letter. The narrative was set in the 1600s around the same time as the historical Salem Witch Trials. Over the years, this classic story has been reviewed by numerous essayists. Nathaniel Hawthorne’s most popular novel reflects the injustice of the Salem Witch Trials and received notable analyses from major literary critics.
In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, the guilt bestowed upon two passionate lovers committing adultery reveals the corrupt and over-radical beliefs of a strict Puritanical society. Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale face life-changing consequences after submitting to their emotions and committing sin. The narrator’s forgiving tone presents the society as being very strict in living by their social and religious codes. The administrative, or authoritarian, imagery conjured up by various scenarios with the scaffold, magistrates, and the mayor in hid castle supports the tense mood as Hester and Dimmesdale try to mysteriously elude the laws of their community. Hawthorne employs allegory to the names of many characters in the novel to suggest their vulnerable personalities as they, in many cases, become shaped by the Puritanical views. Most importantly, the abundance of symbolism, such as the scarlet letter “A” itself, hammers home the effects of the Puritanical moral values on the characters in the novel.
Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Minister’s Black Veil is a story of guilt, humility, sin, hypocrisy, love, compounded emotional stability and trials of life. It is a work of gothic literary art that describes the complexity of emotions and the psychological give and take that takes place when processing and dealing with any human emotion. The gothic writing style Hawthorne uses in The Minister's Black Veil makes it easy for him to focus on one main emotion: guilt. Hawthorne is no stranger to guilt, a huge reason why he discusses its nature so much. The Hawthorne families, formally known as Hathorne, were involved in the Salem Witch Trials and have carried the shame and guilt of their families decisions through generations. Throughout this story, guilt is a prominent concern for all the characters involved: the minister, the minster's fiancé, and the towns people. Hawthorne uses gothic tones and descriptions to define and describe the natural human emotion of guilt.
“A bloody scourge…rigorously, and until his knees trembled beneath him, as an act of penance.” (Hawthorne, 141) In the Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Minister Dimmesdale starved himself, whipped himself, and tortured himself to get rid of the guilt caused by his sin with Hester Prynne. Hawthorne describes the minister’s guilt as the evil that anchored him down and shows how Dimmesdale tortures himself but can never get rid of it. His guilt came from many things. First was his guilt for committing the crime with Hester Prynne. Second is his guilt for not being with her at the time that she was put upon the scaffold. Last was his guilt from not revealing himself to his own daughter and from having to stay out of her life due to fear of being shamed by the community. Hawthorne’s views on guilt and Dimmesdale are mostly that his guilt controlled his life completely until the very end when the power of the sin and guilt took over to the point where he couldn’t control himself.
The Scarlet Letter is a blend of realism, symbolism, and allegory. Nathaniel Hawthorne uses historical settings for this fictional novel and even gives historical background information for the inspiration of the story of Hester Prynne in the introduction of The Scarlet Letter, ‘The Custom-House’. The psychological exploration of the characters and the author’s use of realistic dialogue only add to the realism of the novel. The most obvious symbol of the novel is the actual scarlet letter ‘A’ that Hester wears on her chest every day, but Hawthorne also uses Hester’s daughter Pearl and their surroundings as symbols as well. Allegory is present as well in The Scarlet Letter and is created through the character types of several characters in the novel.