Nathaniel Hawthorne is one of the most recognized authors during Dark Romanticism for its authentic stories of gothic fiction. One master piece of Nathaniel Hawthorne is the short story, “The Minister’s Black Veil” where Hawthorne introduces Mr. Hooper the protagonist as a clerical man who gives its sermon at a funeral in Milford, England with an unexpected change of physical appearance. In the short story “The Minister’s Black Veil,” Nathaniel Hawthorne illustrates the negative impact of the black veil in Mr. Hooper’s life because he becomes isolated from society. In addition, Mr. hooper is giving its sermon while he is covering his face with a black veil. People from the village, who are part of the church start to react about the black veil. For instance, “...more than one woman of …show more content…
hooper is giving his sermon illustrate the commence of how the black veil is starting to interfere in his life. The women left church indicating they could not resist to see something unusual in Mr. Hooper. Although, his personality is the same still his appearance changed because of the black veil. When people are leaving it can be inferred that Mr. hooper might feel isolated because no woman left if not women more than one. In particular, appearance tells nothing about who they are because usually society focus more on the appearance than what is in the inside leaving people isolated. In this case, the people at church are leaving instead of comprehend and support his decision of wearing the black veil. Furthermore, it is noticeable that the black veil still is intervening in the life of Mr. hooper's because the veil provokes people to leave the meetinghouse. Moreover, in the short story, the fiancée of Mr. Hooper is persuading him to remove the back veil. As a result, Elizabeth separates from Mr. Hooper. To illustrate, “Then, farewell!” said Elizabeth. She withdrew her arm from his grasp and slowly departed…” (lines
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
In the story “ The Minister’s Black Veil,” Nathaniel Hawthorne is trying to reveal that Mr. Hooper plays a significant role in the story and shows alienation and his moral values. Mr. Hooper was a new minister in a new town and people wondered about him because he constantly wore a black veil over his face. They wanted to know what was being hidden under the veil. Mr. Hooper is trying to reveal that the black veil is representing that he is sinful, depressed, mysterious and secretive.
In the short story “The Minister’s Black Veil,” Hawthorne introduces Mr.Hooper as a minister in the Puritan time who is wearing a black veil. In the beginning of the short story, the minister is being judges on a daily basis by the townspeople and eventually dies. Despite how bad the people want Mr.Hooper to remove the veil, he continues to hide his sins behind it. Rverend Hooper is sacrificing everything wearing the black in order to conceal his sin. The prompt asks to analyze and tell how the sacrifice illuminates the character’s values.
In addition, when Mr. Hooper attends a funeral someone claims to see the spirit of the young dead maiden and Mr.Hooper spirit walking hand in hand.(Pg 7) Another example is how he is referred to as a bugbear and how the children would always flee from him. (Pg 12) Mr. Hooper is an example of this period because he rejects society by wearing the black veil. In the same way, the people seem to be more distant towards him because of how he has seemed to be different and act very cold towards him. As well as becoming more isolated he starts taking a good look at himself and notices how the veil is an accurate representation of himself and the world and the deeper meaning of secret sin. In the same Mr.Hooper returns from his dark night of the soul to show, not understanding and compassionate brotherhood, but melancholy, asceticism and the
In the book “The Minister’s Black Veil” is an American Romanticism story written by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Mr. Hooper is the main character of this story. Mr. Hooper is the minister but there's something suspicious about him. He wears a black veil everyday, for couple years, and also when he died. He want to keep it on and wanted no one remove it after he died.Nobody knew why the minister would wear the black veil or why he would never take it off. May clues and reasons but none knew right. This story shows a lot of moral and religious lessons.
The behavior of the Puritan people changes during the time while Mr. Hooper wears the black veil. At first, they are just curious and uneasy about the veil; Hawthrone wrote, “... strange and bewildered looks
In the story “The Minister’s Black Veil” by Nathaniel Hawthorne it's about a man named Mr.Hooper and he decides to wear a black veil over his head and doesn't state why he wears it and during his time the fellow people from the church create many reasons onto way he could be wearing it for. Throughout the story the fellow people from Mr. Hooper’s church begin to not care for the reason he is wearing the black veil. As well Mr.Hooper doesn't let his wife into the reason on why he is wearing the black veil and he wears it everywhere and even sleeps with it on. The only thing Mr. Hooper says about his black veil is that everyone wears a black veil his may be visible but everyone else has a veil as
Hooper and his plighted wife, Elizabeth, portrays how serious he is about the matter of his veil. He wants people to understand why he is wearing the veil, and not even his fiancé understands the symbolism. “Oh! You know not how lonely I am, and how frightened to be alone behind my black veil”(71). After Elizabeth’s departure he fears that no one will comprehend the meaning of the veil while he is on earth. If his lover does not show empathy and try to understand the purpose of the veil there is little hope for the rest. He is alone, masked behind his veil, until his death. “In this manner Mr. Hooper spent a long life, irreproachable in outward, yet shrouded in dismal suspicions; kind and loving, though unloved and dimly feared; a man apart from men, shunned in their health and joy, but ever summoned to their aid in mortal anguish” (72). Mr. Hooper spent most of his life alone, but was called upon at the time of someone’s death because the people felt they could not rest in peace until they confessed to him and he gave them a final blessing. They felt confident after this because they trusted what was behind the black veil only until moments before their
They had no idea what to think of the veil. They wondered if he was hiding from a terrible sin or from God. The mystery of the veil almost drove everyone crazy such as when the woman who gets up and leaves while in the middle of a sermon. When the parishioners see his black veil they think of some of their darkest thoughts. They let their own thoughts run wild and spread rumors as if they really knew why he wore it around the church and everywhere else. Mr. Hooper comes out as a romantic character in the story because he rejects the rules of being acceptable to society, whereas he continues to wear the veil whether it pleases the town or not and because he is isolated from everyone else which is generally a cause of romantic characters. Because of the wearing of the black veil, it intensifies his sermon over “secret sin” and causes more questions from the people, wondering if this was the reason the pastor wore it. (Hawthorne 3)
“The Minister’s Black Veil” has received critical attention since its publication in 1832. Its ambiguity has given rise to heated debate over the religious and societal messages promoted in the story. Hawthorne’s veil has been seen as a symbol of shame, isolation, and even enlightenment by various scholars. Most of these readings contextualize the story in the time period of its writing and setting, but few look at its modern implications. We plan to reinterpret Hawthorne’s tale as a commentary on modern isolation as it relates to social media usage.
As the minister was reading the bible to the church goers, Hawthorne examines their feelings by stating, “ They longed for a breath of wind to blow aside the veil, almost believing that a stranger's visage would be discovered” ( pg.472). In Puritan culture, a minister represents heavenliness, light and purity. Mr.Hooper's appearance is the opposite of that, which only sparks panic within the community, making them hope that this is not their beloved minister. Since the principles used in Puritan culture have been drilled into Puritans, they don't know anything other than these principles, thus creating their responses to the Minister's different persona mostly logical. The parishioners responses after the church service are full of hushed voices, shock and fear. The community has never seen anything out of the normal before, so it is a natural reaction uncertainty and tension begins to rise. Once the minister arrives at the wedding, it is if a wave comes in, crashing on this happy occasion. Worry is their first instinct when they seeing him. His simple black veil creates a sense that the husband and bride’s marriage will be doomed because it is dark, which represents death. After the wedding, there were attempts to confront the minister as to why he was wearing this black veil. After the delegation failed, the attempts were mostly done by his wife, Elizabeth. After learning that he can not take the veil off because he is bound to wear it in lightness and darkness, she eventually gives up. Hawthorne explains , “ From that time, no more attempts were made to remove the minister's black veil; and the minister could not walk about with a peace of mind.” ( pg.480). Once the news of the Minister's black veil begins to simmer down, the community begins to forget about the
As a minister Mr. Hooper’s role in the short story is quite literally a messenger whose role is to teach the congregation that sin must be accepted in life and can only be judged by God. “Good Mr. Hooper” is completely dedicated to teaching this moral in his own way by wearing the veil which is severely misunderstood by those around him. Even so, the benefit of Mr. Hooper’s attempt is clear as he is the only one to accept that all of his secret sins will be judged at one point. “There is an hour to come,’ said he ‘when all of us shall cast aside our veils.” Mr. Hooper’s words express a careless attitude towards what others think about his actions with the quote “I, perhaps, like most other mortals, have sorrows dark enough to be typified by a black veil.” Because he knows that everyone is trying to judge him, while they themselves also have secret sin. Mr. Hooper’s message
"The Minister's Black Veil" by Nathaniel Hawthorne is a story about one clergyman's alienation due to his outward dressing. Reverend Hooper was a well-respected preacher who got along well with the townspeople until one day when he appeared wearing a black veil over his face that consisted "of two folds of crape, which entirely concealed his features, except the mouth and chin" (Hawthorne 253). From that day onward, he was alienated both socially and physically from his community and from himself due to his inability to remove the veil.
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.
Hooper becomes socially isolated due to an obsession of purity. He wears a black veil to examine the sin of others. “I look around me, and, lo! On every visage a Black Veil!” (35). The sight of black veils on all illustrates sin of the individuals in the community. His obsession with sin, represented by the veil, socially ostracises Hooper from society. Hence, he wears the veil, and members of the community detach him from society. “She withdrew her arm from his grasp, and slowly departed, pausing at the door, to give one long shuddering gaze, that seemed to penetrate the mystery of the black veil” (32). His wife, Elizabeth, “walks out on him” due to the black veil. As she walks out Hooper thinks “that only a material emblem had separated him from happiness, through the horrors, which it shadowed forth must be drawn darkly between the fondest of lovers” (32). Hooper concludes that his wife leaving is better than to be with someone who bears sin. Hence, he continues to wear the veil and the public continue to judge him. On his deathbed, a minister requests to remove his veil to see his pious face. However, Hooper responds “Have men avoided me, and women shown no pity, and children screamed and fled, only for my black veil?” (35). Hooper accuses the public of not focusing on their own sins. During his final hours, Reverend Hooper insists that he still judge the sin of others through the veil. Reverend Mr. Clark says “my soul hath a patient weariness until that veil be