Hawthorne’s Use of Allegory

Yet, what is crucial to note are Mr. Hooper's last words to those surrounding his deathbed. Mr. Hooper tells them in anger that all of them wear black veils: “I look around me, and, lo! on every visage a Black Veil!” (Hawthorne). 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 using agents of symbols, setting, characters, and actions in a coherent way to represent non-literal and metaphorical meanings about the human character (Abrams 7).

Throughout The Scarlet Letter a character experiences public humiliation. Nathanial Hawthorne uses Hester Prynne as an example of this. “To those who would condone Hester’s sin, on the grounds that she knew love, Hawthorne presents the painful reality of the evil that arises from breaking the laws of the society” (Stromberg 275). Stromberg states that that author makes a clear illustration of the consequences one has to embrace if he or she ever breaks the laws written for society. Throughout the book, Hawthorne mentions idea of the Black Man, symbolizing Satan.

Poe is most famous for his psychological thrillers where he reveals his thoughts that all human nature is dark and malicious. He expresses dark and gloomy ... ... middle of paper ... ... symbol for the secret sin that all people carry within themselves. At the end of the story, on his death bed, the minister says that he sees “on every on visage a Black Veil” (End of book). The minister is saying that all men hide behind their sin and it causes people to examine their own lives and guilt for their own sins. Another symbol is the Puritan interest in the concept of “sin”.

Struggle between Good and Evil in The Scarlet Letter and Macbeth It is said that “all conflict in literature is, in its simplest form, a struggle between good and evil.” Indeed, the fundamental conflict of human nature is that of darkness and light; and as a mirror to life, the conflicts in literature is not different from those in human nature. The struggle of good and evil is shown in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, which portrays the spiritual battle between and evil man and a sinned minister, as well as the minister’s internal turmoil. William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, similarly describes a man’s moral decay and the vengeance of the wronged good people. Both authors use various literary elements and techniques such as symbolism, metaphor, theme, and characterization to illustrate the struggle between good and evil in their works. The Scarlet Letter, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, is a story of damnation and redemption.

unforgettable case histories of men and women afflicted by guilt, or, as he called it, by “a stain upon the soul” (43). Sculley Bradley, Richmond Croom Beatty and E. Hudson Long in “The Social Criticism of a Public Man” state: “He was absorbed by the enigmas of evil and of moral responsibility” (47). Using an assortment of literary critical opinion, this reader considers that the central conflict in the tale is an internal one - the conflict in the mind and soul of Goodman Brown between joining the ranks of the devil, and remaining a morally good person, and the extension of this conflict to the world at large represented by the villagers of Salem. It is a difficult personal journey for Young Goodman Brown, a young Puritan resident of Salem, Massachusetts, in the 1600’s to say goodbye to Faith on that fateful night and to keep a prior commitment made with an evil character (the devil) in the woods.

Hester is partially exposed—although she reveals her sin for everyone to see through the scarlet letter and she allows the dark and serious mannerisms of Puritanical soc... ... middle of paper ... ...t-ridden victims of Puritanism could not look forward to the kind of transformation that Hester underwent and, instead, they were doomed to a lifetime of misery. Thus, through the brilliant and vivid use of colors from light to shade, from the startling to the colorless, Hawthorne builds his characters, explains their strengths and weaknesses, and shows how they react and live in a Puritan world full of dark intrigue, concealment, and hypocrisy. As characters change and evolve, so do the colors in which they are draped, yielding ultimately the lesson that brightness and openness in character will always triumph over the dark sordidness of repression and concealment.

It’s as if Roderick knows that his time has come and decides to go along with it in a self destructive manner. If Roderick Usher and Mr. Hooper have anything in common it is that they both share the burden of hidden sin. Both Poe and Hawthorne use gothic elements to emphasize the human mind that is put through anxiety and depression because of their guilty conscience. Through body language and social interactions the reader becomes aware of the internal conflict that is going on inside a mind that is hiding a secret sin. It is apparent that the authors wanted the audience to put secret sins in perspective by examining an individual in society that has a secret sin.

His characters, Hester Prynne, Arthur Dimmesdale, and Chillingworth represent the power of blackness and how everyone is naturally evil. These characters have brought the evil in each other. Hawthorne also shows an uneven balance between the views of a transcendentalist and the Puritan society. Works Cited Lauter, Paul, and Richard Yarborough. "The Scarlet Letter."

How is it, Hester? Doth thy sentence bid thee to wear the token in thy sleep? Art thou not afraid of nightmares and... ... middle of paper ... ...upon by all, making this sin the ultimate act of betrayal of Puritanical values. Imbedded in the title itself, the whole book revolves around the Scarlet Letter, a universally-known product of the nature of human sin; Hawthorne demonstrates many sins through the use of characters and their many faults, which include vengefulness, corruptness, and the most obvious example of sin: adultery. Not only through the narrator’s eyes, but also through those of the characters, the myriad examples of the pure nature of sin are found in the dialogue, events, and narration of Chillingworth, Hibbins, and Hester.

Even after Aylmer has “persuaded a be... ... middle of paper ... ...John. “Nathaniel Hawthorne.” In Leading American Novelists. New York: Books For Libraries Press, 1968. Hawthorne, Nathaniel. “The Birthmark” Electronic Text Center, University of Virginia Library http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/etcbin/toccer-new2?id=HawBirt.sgm&images=images/modeng&data=/texts/english/modeng/parsed&tag=public&part=1&division=div1 McPherson, Hugo.