The Minister’s Black Veil: The Mysterious Veil In the short story “The Minister’s Black Veil” by Nathaniel Hawthorne , identifies a minister who was notorious among many people as well as recognized and also paid much attention to all because of a black veil. The question in this short story is why wouldn’t he remove the black veil? People created rumors of this veil which concerned “ secret sin , and those sad mysteries which we hide from our nearest and dearest and would fain conceal from our own consciousness, even forgetting that the Omniscient can detect them” (Hawthorne 4 ). The key symbol in this short story reinforce its main theme : people should be less concerned of others sins and attend to redemption for their own sins. There were …show more content…
First off , you can not hide your secrets from God. For instance, you may be able to hide all your secrets from others , but one thing for sure is that you will not hide them from God himself. Secondly , the minister is to carry the sorrows of sins committed by others like Jesus died for our sins. By this, I mean that Mr.Hooper carries sins that others committed because after all , he is a minister and others vent to him which can relate to how Jesus died for our sins. Lastly , the sins of humanity is the greatest sin which society hides and ignores. This means that no one really pays attention to the sins that society makes , they would rather ignore it. The theme in this story is that people should be less concerned of others sins and attend to redemption for their own sins. The black veil symbolized sin including that no one is perfect. Additionally , each of us hide behind a symbolic veil to hide our sins. It was not until the end of the story when Mr.Hooper dies and he then sees that the people are all wearing black veils to cover their secret sin or sorrow. Each individual carries some sort of sin but yet , they act as if they are guileless. As I stated above , this veil could symbolize perhaps adultery as well as the secret sin we all carry in our …show more content…
Although he is described as wearing a smile, it is always a mysterious one, sometimes described as sad or melancholy, reflecting more pessimism than peace, more morbidity than light.” I feel like by this statement this could possibly mean that this description describes how Mr.Hooper views things behind the veil. She comes to explain how as a teacher , she has her students try an experiment. She demonstrates that “They all put on veils made of black netting fabric (an easy thing to construct in large quantities), or they can be instructed beforehand to come to class that day prepared to put on dark sun glasses. “ I think from this experiment this will teach her students what it was like to hide their faces in pure darkness. Cording says that some of her students came up with some interesting answers. For instance ,”....being unable to see the eyes of the person with whom one is talking creates a serious barrier to communication. “ I feel as if by covering one’s eyes , you may not be able to communicate with a person properly because looking into one’s eyes can explain a
Mr. Hooper the minister’s is perceived to be a “self-disciplined man”. When he was wearing the veil people in his village believed that he went insane and is guilty of a dark and terrible sin. “He has changed himself into something awful, only by hiding his face” (1253).The author explains how Mr.Hooper would wear a mask to hide his sins and face which cause people to believe he was awful. The veil becomes the center of discussion for all of those in the congregate the mask all the people wore around others to hide their sins and embraces there guilty. Elizabeth in the story ends her relationship with Mr. Hooper because he will not remove the veil that he's wearing. The veil actually symbolize for the puritans belief that all people souls are black from
Minister Hooper is a very good man, believes solely in Christ, and throughout the story we come to see how his views on religion reflect his humanity and humility. In “The Minister’s Black Veil,” Minister Hooper dons a black veil that causes an eruption of gossip in his community. The townspeople do not have any clue as to why he is wearing this black veil and see it as scary and devilish. The people in the community believe that Minister Hooper is wearing the veil to cover up a horrible sin. This may not be the case, however, because he may be wearing it as a symbol of his faith.
In “The Minister’s Black Veil” Mr. Hooper shocks his townspeople by putting a veil permanently on his face. The veil is a paradox of concealment and revelation (Carnochan 186). Although it is concealing Mr. Hooper’s face, it is made to reveal the sins in society. The townspeople first believed that the veil was being used to hide a sin that Mr. Hooper had committed. Mr. Hooper says that the veil is supposed to be a symbol of sins in general, however the townspeople ignore the message and still focus on his sinfulness. The townspeople know that they have sinned, but they use Mr. Hooper as their own “veil” to hide their sins. Because the townspeople are so caught up on his sins, they fail to figure on the message behind Mr. Hooper’s action and
One of the reasons behind the veil might be secret sin. Father Hooper might have committed a very bad sin, which he does not want to unveil to anyone. Instead of not telling anyone the sin he shows it clearly on his face with the aid of a black veil. This black veil might relieve tension in his body that has accumulated due to his sin. In the story, Father Hooper says that everyone wears a black veil, meaning that everyone commits secret sins without revealing them to anyone. If you do not express your secret sin you would be keeping stress and tension locked up inside you, but if you express it, the stress and tension will be relieved.
Their entire attitude changes towards him, which causes him to live his life alone. This leads into the symbolism shown in the story. In the sentence, “That piece of crape, to their imagination, seemed to hang down before his heart, the symbol of a fearful secret between him and them,” shows the symbolism of the black veil. It represents the sins Parson Hooper has. He wears the black veil to show he has sins, and he does not hide them like everyone else does in the town.
Looking back over The Minister’s Black Veil, I interpret the veil as a symbol, saying that everyone has flaws, no one’s perfect. Consequently, they judged Mr. Hooper for the unknown, Although the townspeople seeing Mr. Hooper in that veil was shocking, but he had to get a message to them. “Subsequently Over the course of the story Mr. Hooper wore the black veil over his face to obscure himself away from the towns people’s sins.
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.
The story of the black veil is about a man with is the minister of a the village of gives speeches in their church. On a horrible day a maiden had died and mr hooper, the minister had to give a speech to the departed but to every ones surprise he was wearing a black veil covering his face expect is lower chain. After that mr. hopper added more by talking to the people about secret sin and that each and every one of them has one.
In reality the black veil was worn to teach a lesson. The lesson was to show how easily people are judged when unaware of one’s true intentions. This being said, Hooper is explaining how he was judged and his life changed for the worst just because he was wearing the black veil; he was hated for something that his friends and family had no clue about, but believed it was for the
The story “The Minister’s Black Veil” is symbolic of the hidden sins that we hide and separate ourselves from the ones we love most. In wearing the veil Hooper presents the isolation that everybody experiences when they are chained down by their own sins. He has realized that everybody symbolically can be found in the shadow of their own veil. By Hooper wearing this shroud across his face is only showing the dark side of people and the truth of human existence and nature.
Mr. Hooper’s veil is very sentimental to him. His veil is looked at in different ways, it can symbolize the confession of his sins or a way to hide his sins. Mr. Hooper showed honesty toward his veil. He didn’t take it off even when people tempted him to take it off, specifically when his soon to be wife debated with him to take the veil off who was pretty much the only person who had the courage to go up and talk to him about the veil, he then rebuttled and told her he can not take it off. People around were thinking he was hiding secret sin, but we really don’t know why Mr. Hooper wore that veil, but for whatever the reason was, Mr.Hooper was being honest in whatever the reason was he wore that veil, to either show he is confessing his sins and showing that he is a sinner or a symbolic way to show that we are all sinners and we all have masks but the only difference is that his veil is
Everyone has committed a secret sin, whether it’s big or small. People usually try to hide these things so others wouldn't find out so other people would not judge them by it. The puritans have a society where people judge others based on their appearance. In “The Minister’s Black Veil”, Hawthorne uses the symbolistic meaning of the black veil, and the values of a culture or a society to create a moral about how everyone wears a black veil from a secret sin, and people shouldn’t just judge people by their appearance.
The Minister’s Black Veil, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne in 1836, is a parable about a minister, Mr. Hooper, who constantly wears a mysterious black veil over his face. The people in the town of Milford, are perplexed by the minister’s veil and cannot figure out why he insists on wearing it all of the time. The veil tends to create a dark atmosphere where ever the minister goes, and the minister cannot even stand to look at his own reflection. In Nathaniel Hawthorne 's literary work, The Minister 's Black Veil, the ambiance of the veil, separation from happiness that it creates, and the permanency of the black veil symbolize sin in people’s lives.
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.
416), while it gave Hooper a more intimidating, enigmatic and somewhat inhuman demeanor that isolated him from the community his services were still available for his community. The book even says that it “enabled him to sympathize with all dark affections” (pg. 416) as many people, particularly the ones who were guilty of ‘secret sin’ felt comfortable and/or compelled by Hooper into confessing their sins. The people felt that they could tell him everything they kept secret, because the veil’s “gloom” and foreboding aura gave him the same aura of mystery. The black veil kind of symbolizes a cover-up that humans use every day to hide their real feelings and thoughts, as many people are never truly honest with others and each convey some sort of secret. It appears that the idea in this story is that humans by nature are sinful and are all guilty of some hidden sin that they try to keep in the dark because having sins is not considered human or moral. It’s not a very positive outlook on humans, but the book does seem to convey that idea, as Reverend Hooper himself is a flawed man guilty of secret sin as revealed in the end, making him no different from the rest of the townsfolk who have their own sins that they hide. However, it also shows that humans are hypocritical by nature because they are so flawed as in the end Hooper proved that he did exactly practice what he