Essay On The Minister's Black Veil

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The Minister’s Black Veil by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Nathanial Hawthorne was born in 1804, in Salem, Massachusetts and he died in 1864. Hawthorne became the "most valuable example of American genius" as stated by Henry James, another author in 1879 (Hawthorne 603). Hawthorne's short story The Minister's Black Veil was first printed in The Token. The themes of The Minister’s Black Veil include the symbol of ambiguity (Emmett) and Mr. Hooper’s alienation (a state of isolation because of self-cause, or societal cause, or a combination of both).
There is a mystery behind Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Minister’s Black Veil that leaves critics wondering what the significant meaning could be. The writer tells of how Mr. Hooper, the minister, dawned this black veil covering up the top part of his face. This left his perish wondering and scared that the symbolism of the veil meant he had created a horrible sin. Many critics feel as if that Hawthorne is insinuating a sexual sin in the story, while others like Nicolas Canaday believe “Hawthorne is not stressing secret sin in this tale, especially sexual sin” (143) (Emmett) at all. …show more content…

Including his own mistress, she questions why he is wearing the veil and explains to him that it is causing a lot of turmoil among his perish and followers. They begin to doubt the truthfulness of his actions. Eventually, his mistress leaves him and most of the followers either mock him or shun him due to his persistence in wearing the black veil. W. B. Carnochan claims that there a couple different views to which critics are troubled by. On one side, they see Mr. Hooper as a saintly figure, one without sin; on the other side, he represents one of Hawthorne's unpardonable sinners (Carnochan

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    Hooper’s black veil also creates separation between him and happiness. “All through life that piece of crape had hung between him and the world: it had separated him from cheerful brotherhood and woman’s love, and kept him in that saddest of all prisons his own heart; and still it lay upon his face, as if to deepen the gloom of his darksome chamber, and shade him from the sunshine of eternity” (Hawthorne 417). He can never receive sympathy or have conversations with people because they are always perplexed by the veil. Children in the town run from him because of his appearance. Even his wife, Elizabeth, leaves him because she does not understand the meaning of the black veil and she cannot bear to look at it for the rest of her life. The separation that the veil causes between Mr. Hooper and happiness symbolizes how sin can easily separate people from good things in life. Just like the black veil, some sins can even destroy relationships or a person’s dreams. Sin can overall control an individual’s happiness like the veil did to Mr.

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    From the beginning of the story, Mr. Hooper comes out wearing a black veil, which represents sins that he cannot tell to anyone. Swathed about his forehead, and hanging down over his face, Mr. Hooper has on a black veil. Elizabeth urged, “Beloved and respected as you are, there may be whispers that you hid your face under the consciousness of secret sin” (Hawthorne 269). His fiancé says that in the black veil there may be has a consciousness of secret sin. Also, he is a parson in Milford meeting-house and a gentlemanly person, so without the veil, Hooper would be a just typical minister, “guilty of the typical sins of every human, but holier than most” (Boone par.7). He would be a typical minister who is guilty of the typical sins of every human without the black veil. Also, Boone said, “If he confesses his sin, the community can occur” (Boone par.16). If he confesses his sin about the black veil, all of the neighbors will hate him. Last, he said, “so, the veil is a saying: it is constantly signifying, constantly speaking to the people of the possibility of Hooper’s sin” (Boone par.11). Mr. Hooper’s veil says that he is trying to not tell the sins about the black veil. In conclusion, every people have sins that cannot tell to anyone like Mr. Hooper.

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