The Tell-Tale Heart and The Minister’s black Veil: Character study
By this well-known quote of Mark Twain, it is clearly depicted that humans have a dark side that is mysterious. This dark side, not so rarely can take us to erroneous and threatening path that can end many times even to fatality. This is where we meet the concept of Anti- Transcendentalism. It is generally known as dark and ambiguous and most of the times something disastrous happens at the finale stage of the story and these concepts of writing are identified as Anti-Transcendentalism. This elucidation way of conveying the story to the reader sometimes leads to critical thinking of what the story’s connotation was and even scariness. This is where we face two dark-romanticists stories that are ambiguous and have the significance of the human dark side. On one side we have the story of The Minister’s black Veil by Hawthorne, where Mr. Hooper decides to put a veil on his face for unidentified motives. On the other hand we have the story of The Tell-Tale Heart by Poe, where an unnamed narrator starts telling us about a crime he has committed. I will argue the motives behind the black veil and the old mans paled eye, the assassination of old man and the death of the young lady, and finally the endings of both characters.
Motives of the black veil in the story of ‘The minister’s black veil’ and the old man’s paled eye in the story of ‘The Tell-tale heart”, appear to ensue possibly because of the sins that Mr. Hooper and the unnamed narrator had made in the past. At one side, in of story of Hawthorne, it is conveyed that almost a same situation as Mr. Hooper’s that happened 8 years ago where a clergyman had covered his face for a sin he committed. Therefore, we can conn...
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...ke the veil off. Here Hawthorne delivers us the message of what we feel and how much we regret when we do hurt to the people that we love, especially with no intention of doing it. Hawthorne indicates the repentance and shame that Mr. Hooper feels about his shameful sin. Thus, the similarities between the unnamed narrator in the story of Poe, and Mr. Hooper is that they both felt regret about their actions and they make some decisions that lead to harming people they love and care about. The minister decides to put a black veil about his sin and the unnamed narrator ends up admitting the assassination of the old man. The similar connotation of both Poe and Hawthorne is that if we harm people that we love without intention or even with purpose, our voice of consciousness will always recall us to that sin and it will eventually lead to insanity or ambiguous behavior.
Nathaniel Hawthorne in “The Minister’s Black Veil” is able to show the hypocrisy and the overemphasis of the Puritan people and their beliefs by engaging the reader in this short story by using “a gentlemanly person” (409) who decides to start wearing a black veil over his face. As Milford’s finest gather on “the porch of [the] meeting house” (409) and enjoy the hope of another Sunday service, the townspeople’s sunny disposition and picturesque setting soon changes as Parson Hooper emerges with a “simple piece of crape” covering his face. This unusual appearance of the Reverend to the townspeople even has some of them feeling faint and forcing some women “of delicate nerves to leave the service” (410). Even though Parson Hooper’s demeanor and his polite and gracious behavior is the same as always, and his preaching is much more interesting and entertaining, the townspeople perceive their minister far differently. As Parson Hooper continues to don the veil, people start to stare at him and rumors begin to fly, especially since his sermon dealt with the topic of secret sin. As the people make him a social pariah, Parson Hooper becomes a representation of hidden sin and an object of dread. Even as death knocks on his door, Parson Hooper still will not allow himself to be unveiled, in fact, Hooper finally reveals that no one should be afraid of him, but of one another because “men avoided me, and women shown no pity, and children screamed and fled” (417) all because of a simple black veil. Through the use of symbols, Hawthorne is able to use this short story to prove that the community people and the Puritan’s religion and their beliefs are hypocritical and over zealous.
The gothic characteristics that are found in Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Fall of the House of Usher” and Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Minister’s Black Veil” delve into the dark side of the human mind where secret sin shrouds the main characters in self anguish and insanity. Both Poe and Hawthorne focus on how much of a burden hiding sins from people can be, and how the human mind grows weak and tired from carrying such a burden. Poe illustrates that with his perturbed character Roderick Usher who was rotting from the inside like his “mansion of gloom” (Poe 323). Hawthorne dives deep into the mind of one Mr. Hooper, a minister, a man admired by all, until he starts wearing a black veil to conceal his face because “ The subject had reference to secret sin” (Hawthorne 311) . An analysis of both Mr. Hooper and Roderick Usher show through their speech, actions, behaviors, and interaction with other humans, the daily strain of hiding sin from one another.
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.
During his life, Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote many stories that delved into the psychology and the reality of what it is to be a human being. Although considered a most private person, which even Hawthorne himself once said that he wanted to keep, "the inmost Me behind its veil" (Norton 369), his writings are so vivid in both characterization and details that there is no doubt that he was a very perceptive and smart man. Examples of his insight-fullness appear within stories such as The Scarlet Letter, Young Goodman Brown, The Haunted Mind, and The Minister's Black Veil. One of his short stories, The Minister's Black Veil, uses symbolism and people's actions to reveal human nature.
In “The Minister’s Black Veil”, the opening scene is placed at a church in a Puritan society. The people of the town are filing into the church when their minister walks in with his face covered by a black veil. The veil, in the story, symbolized two different pieces. ‘Hiding your face under the consciousness of secret sin’ was the first p...
In “The Minister’s Black Veil,” for example, Hawthorne describes how, “perhaps the palefaced congregation was almost as fearful a sight to the minister, as his black veil to them”(2). This directly contrasts the “light” faces of the members of the congregation with the darkness of the minister’s veil. By stating that the minister was just as afraid of the people as the people were of him, Hawthorne indicates that the people fear the minister due to the abrupt reveal of his mysterious sin, but the minister also somewhat fears the people and the secrets they hold deep within their hearts. The people of the town are supposedly pure and innocent, yet it is clear that many of the citizens carry the burden of their own evils. Although the minister boldly comes forward with his own sin, he still feels the pain of the loneliness, scorn, and spite that has come with his statement. Hawthorne represents the discomfort the guilty townspeople feel when in the presence of Mr. Hooper when he describes how they were, “conscious of lighter spirits the moment they lost sight of the black veil” (3). Once again, this use of light and dark imagery supports Hawthorne’s argument that people, even those who claim to be pure and innocent, are capable of sin. The townspeople in Mr. Hooper’s community feel the burden of their own sins when they come in
In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story “The Minister’s Black Veil”, the reader is introduced to Parson Hooper, the reverend of a small Puritan village. One Sunday morning, Hooper arrived to mass with a black veil over his impassive face. The townspeople began to feel uneasy due to their minister’s unusual behavior. When Parson appeared, “Few could refrain from twisting their heads towards the door; many stood upright….” (Monteiro 2). Throughout the story Hooper does not take off the black veil and the townspeople, including Reverend Clark from a nearby village, treat him as if he were contagious disease. A veil typically is used to represent sorrow, but in this story it is used to represent hidden sins. No one exactly knows why he
The Minister's Black Veil By Nathaniel Hawthorne Anti-Transcendentalists believed that everything has a good or evil side, and that the truths about these matters would be terrifying and disturbing. Both of these views are represented in the story, The Minister's Black Veil, where Mr. Hooper wear's a black veil to conceal his hidden sin. He can't understand why everyone judges him differently just because of his black veil. These contrasting views help us view ourselves and how we should view others. In the story, one day out of the blue Mr. Hooper just starts wearing this black veil and the people have no idea why he is wearing this piece of crape. They then start treating him different because they don't like the black veil. They also can't see his face and that bugs them. They feel that their minister has gone mad. All the congregational members can do is sit and whisper among themselves and try and figure out what Mr. Hooper is trying to accomplish by having this covering on half of his face. What they really don't know is that Mr. Hooper has this veil on half of his face because he is trying to hide his secret sin. He doesn't want to look the world with his face because he doesn't want them to see him and look in his eyes and be able to tell that he is hiding something that he doesn't want anyone to know about. Even his fiancé tries to get him to remove the horrid veil and he said he would when the hour is to come.
Gothic Literature is a style of writing that Hawthorne and Edgar Allan Poe excelled at. This type of writing showcased elements of fear, mystery, and horrifying events that were meant to leave you with chills. And of course, to express death. These two authors knew what they were doing when it came to conveying all those elements. Nathaniel Hawthorne’s writing represents the mysterious side of Gothic literature and incorporates some fear. Within the story of “The
In “The Minister’s Black Veil” Nathaniel Hawthorne conveys the idea that sin, whether it be your sin, secret sin, or a known sin, can sometimes lead to isolation and gives insight into people’s true character. The main character Parson Hooper was met with many confrontations in his literal representation of secret sin by wearing a black veil. In the beginning of the story, as Hooper leaves the church he dreadfully realizes the darkness and effect of the black veil which would soon lead to his own isolation. Hawthorne writes, “catching a glimpse of his figure in the looking-glass, the black veil involved his own spirit in the horror with which it overwhelmed all others.” Parson Hooper was so hurt by the people’s reaction and afraid of the black
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.
Anti-Transcendentalism is most notably associated with the literature written during the nineteenth Century. It is often referred to as Horror or Gothic novels these days. Two of the pieces showcasing Anti-Transcendentalism are Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Fall of the House of Usher” and Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment”. “The Fall of the House of Usher " and “ Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment” show the elements of Anti-Transidentalism by the elements of disturbing setting, madness and the destructive nature of the humans.
Of the Romantic Movement, two of the most well-known Gothic literature writers were Nathaniel Hawthorne and Herman Melville. Gothic writers mainly wrote about themes that showed that they did not believe that people were ‘good’ by nature and the stories they wrote focused on the evils and flaws of mankind. These two authors presented their respective stories “Bartleby the Scrivener” and “The Minister’s Black Veil” as novels that explore the lives and behaviors of other human characters. Although the stories have different perspectives and settings, they both reveal more about how the other human characters are and what dark or unusual traits and motives they have.
Writers during the ‘Dark Romantics’ period took a close, in-depth look at the flaw in human nature. Authors such as Edgar Allen Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Herman Melville, use feelings, imagination, and nature to show a different vision of the individual than that of the Transcendentalists. The work produced by the ‘Dark Romantics’ suggests that human beings are not divine. Poe’s ‘The Tell-Tale Heart,’ Hawthorne’s ‘The Birthmark,’ and Melville’s ‘Benito Cereno’ all support this idea by showing the dark side of humanity through their characters’ evil doings.