In the story we read during class, “The Minister’s Black Veil” by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the author used the black veil in many different ways. He used it in a positive, negative, and neutral way in his story. As we read the text we noticed that the meaning of the black veil had changed drastically from good to bad. Of course, the black veil was a very important factor to not only the story, but also Mr.Hooper who is the main character in the story. According to Hawthorne in the beginning of the story the veil was used with a neutral connotation for example, on line 41 it states, “...piece of crape…”. To me this wording of the veil is used to just plainly say it’s an object there is nothing special about the veil, it’s just a veil with no meaning. Another example you can find is in line 95 it states,”.... the veil….”. This again shows that there is no meaning to the veil yet it is just an object which Mr.Hooper has decided to stow upon his face which nobody really knows why yet. …show more content…
Furthermore the congregation does not like this odd phase that Mr. Hooper is going through. They are judging him and not even knowing why he is wearing this veil. Another illustration in line 108 says,”...require a shade..”. To me an explanation for that is very dark and mysterious. In line 181 it talks about how the veil is now a “...black crape..”. That is a very dark and negative descriptive word to use for the veil. While Mr.Hooper didn’t think the veil was a bad thing the church people did and treated him very differently after he started wearing it. My analyzes of the different connotations of the veil are mostly neutral from what I gathered from the
“Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” by Jonathan Edwards and “The Minister’s Black Veil” by Nathaniel Hawthorne are both 1700s Puritan works of literature with similarities, as well as differences, from their theme to tone and to what type of literary work they are. Edwards and Hawthorne are both expressing the topics of how people are all sinners, especially in regards to their congregation and that questions their congregation’s 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
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.
Hooper wears the veil to symbolize his mourning for the secret sins of many of the Puritans who fear the severe punishments for transgressions and live as hypocrites become apparent in the denouement of Hawthorne’s story. “This is stating that Mr. Hooper wears the Black Veil to show his sorrow for the towns people’s sins.” Mr. Hooper wishes to teach a moral lesson to his congregation by wearing a veil that only each man and woman can interpret according to their own consciences.” Basically what that quote suggests is that Mr. Hooper is to carry the burden of their sins; learn from their mistakes. Mr. Hooper says in the story “The Minister’s Black Veil” he is aware of their sins.
Mr. Hooper in “The Minister’s Black Veil” puts on a veil to symbolize “those sad mysteries which we hid[e] from our nearest and dearest, and would fain conceal from our own consciousness, even forgetting that the Omniscient can detect them” (Hawthorne 310). From the moment the townsfolk see the black veil they become very frightened and intimidated by Mr. Hooper, the citizens felt that “the black veil seemed to hang down before his heart” (Hawthorne 308). People became very frightened even the “most innocent girl, and the man of hardened breast” (Hawthorne 312) Mr. Hooper puts this crape on as a “symbol of a fearful secret between him and them” and because of this society chastises him and makes him out to be a...
"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.
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
Now Hawthorne titles this short story as a parable which leads one to conclude that the veil is used a not only a symbol of "secret sin" but a paradox. His congregation is so concerned and obsessed with his personal sins that they forget about their own; this was the intent of Mr. Hooper's veil: to cause them to reflect upon their own spiritual status and to confess their sins. But the Puritans, notorious for their pride within practice and fallacy within faith, ignore this allegorical costume and sensationalize his message. Because, after all, Mr. Hooper must be hiding SOMETHING underneath that veil of his... The second character under scrutiny by their community and this English major is Hester Prynne, a young woman forced to don a scarlet letter "A" to signify to herself and to her community that she is a marked sinner. The letter, much like the veil, is an exterior symbol of appearance which is a popular device of Hawthorne; the outward appearance is an important aspect of the Puritan faith in that it reflects upon the interior climate. Interestingly, these symbols and their stewards are instituted for the benefit of the community.
Hawthorne uses this is to show how the judgment of others can change the character’s view of them. The most obvious place see in the story is between Mr. Hooper and his fiance Elizabeth, “Beloved and respected as you are, there may be whispers that you hide your face under consciousness of secret sin. For the sake of your holy office, do away with this scandal” (479). This shows Elizabeth getting mad because she wants to protect her husband from the judgment. While this can be seen as true she is also doing it for her own benefit. She doesn’t like being associated with all of the words coming out about this veil. While she feels this way, Mr. Hooper still loves her and can understand her frustration. He still adores her and doesn’t want her to go. Mr. Hooper knows she wants to leave, but he wants to resolve the conflict, “Do not desert me , through this veil over my face, no darkness between us here on earth. Be mine and hereafter there shall be no darkness between our souls!” (479). Though he pours his heart out to her yet she doesn’t care He knows she will not understand, but wants her to know the veil is just a clothing item and that when their in heaven it will be gone. Even after doing this she is still stuck in her ways. Elizabeth states,””Lift the veil but once, and look me in the face,” said she. “Never! It cannot be!” replied Mr. Hooper. “Then farewell!”said Elizabeth.” (479). Though
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
Hawthorne provides tales of symbolism and romanticism that the element focuses more on the veil than handling the secondary characters in the story. The veil is used as catalysts by which other morals and perceptual are examined. The story by Hawthorne includes romanticism on how Mr. Hooper wears the veil for the rest of his life until death. The way the whole town reacted by the veil on Mr. Hooper's face was that they were very afraid and concerned to find out the reason why Mr. Hooper is wearing the veil. " I don't like, " muttered an old woman as she hobbled into the meeting house.
The Minister's Black Veil is one of Nathaniel Hawthorne's most famous and beloved works. The story introduces us to a small, seemingly peaceful Puritan town. Most of the townsfolk go about their business on what seems like a normal Sunday morning. The peace is shattered when Reverend Hooper is seen wearing a black veil that covers his face. Though some may wonder why he chooses to wear the veil, that is not the point of this story.
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