Assumptions In The Scarlet Letter And The Minister's Black Veil

Assumptions Lead Nowhere

An assumption is a thought or opinion that is accepted as being true, without enough or any proof. In The Scarlet Letter and The Minister’s Black Veil, this occurred a lot in their community. Both stories were solemly based on this theme. Judgment went along with assumption. The people of the community in The Scarlet Letter used assumption as a way to justify an excuse of judging Hester Prynne. The people of the community in The Minister’s Black Veil, used assumptions to think of ways to describe how minister, Mr. Hooper, has changed. Punishment leads to judgment, false facts, confrontation, and change.

In The Scarlet Letter, the beginning started with people judging Hester the minute she came out of the prison door. One of the females in the community announced,

“‘This woman has brought shame upon us all, and ought to die.’” (Hawthorne 45). This shows the actions that Hester did, which was adultery, were unacceptable in this community. In comparison, the minute the minister, Mr. Hooper, in The Minister's Black Veil, walked into church with his veil over his head, people started to think very poorly of him and were terrified. An old women in the town claimed that the minister converted himself into something fearsome by covering his face with a black veil. (Kinsella 338). In both stories assumptions led to judgement and false ideas. All these assumptions were later more elaborated as the story went on.
The scarlet letter owned by Hester Prynne was confirmed to be a punishment of sin. (Hawthorne 59). Citizens in the community started to think badly of Hester and her daughter, Pearl. They called Pearl and elf child. (91) Everyone started to assume false facts by saying that Pearl was from a demon origin. They didn't believe that Pearl should be under the hands of Hester. These false facts led to people believing Pearl was “capable of moral and religious growth.” (83). On the other hand, in The Minister’s Black Veil, it is never officially revealed that the black veil had any specific meaning, but Mr. Hooper mentioned that, “‘my soul hath a patient weariness until that veil be lifted.’” (Kinsella 347). In other words, the minister is saying that he isn't fine with the veil being lifted because he hasn't confessed on what he did. Both main characters created a bad future for themselves and committed to something big in their lives. The minister, in The Minister’s Black Veil, can be compared to Dimmesdale, in The Scarlet Letter, because both of them were ministers and were highly appreciated throughout the whole community. The only difference is, in The Scarlet Letter, Dimmesdale confesses to his sin and dies peacefully. In The Minister’s Black Veil, Mr. Hooper never confessed to his sin or what the sin was. Mr. Hooper died when he wasn’t at peace with the world or himself. All these false facts eventually were confronted.
Chillingworth, Hester Prynne’s husband, indirectly confronted Dimmesdale on his affair with Hester. One day, Dimmesdale questioned Chillingworth about a herb. The physician answered that he found it near a tombstone, which signified sin that the person never confessed. He had an assumption that Dimmesdale was the father of Pearl. In order to figure this out, he tried to indirectly confront Dimmesdale into telling him. (Hawthorne 108,9). Confrontation could be a good thing, but sometimes people don’t seem to want to accept it. When Dimmesdale died, people had a hard time retelling what they saw. There were many different versions of the stories. One of the stories being that they saw a scarlet letter, the same as Hester’s, on his chest. Another being, that he tortured himself. It was believed that Chillingworth poisoned him. The people who found it the most hard to accept reality and what happened, were those who said they saw nothing. (211). Similarly, before Mr. Hooper died, he didn’t want his black veil to be taken off. Mr. Hooper confronted all the people of the town before he died and got across to all their assumptions. It was argued that everyone started to look down at the minister for his black veil. No woman showed any sympathy, men were avoiding the minister, and children ran away in fear. The minister assured that everyone wears a black veil. (Kinsella 348). This is to say, every person attending the funeral, going to church, living in that community have committed some sort of sin. No one should be pointing fingers at anyone because all of them had done something equally as bad.
In The Scarlet Letter, people assumed that Hester was a bad person, but she was just like everyone else, and they realized that towards the end of the whole book. Hester started to do deeds and helping those in need. Hester brought food to the poor, took care of the sick, and helped those who needed any type of advice. (Hawthorne 133). People stopped assuming and started to accept her for what she was. She created a huge impact on their society. Before, she was only used for making of clothing. Besides that, no one cared about her as an individual. The town finally saw her for what she was, and stopped seeing her for what they thought she was. In The Minister’s Black Veil, people assumed that Mr. Hooper was a very scary and intimidating person. (Kinsella 338). Towards the end of the short story, when he's close to death, everyone starts to mourn and grieve over it. The people start to feel bad. They felt bad for judging someone who was equally shameful as everyone there. Mr. Hooper was known as Father Hooper in this town. (346). Naming him Father Hooper shows how important he was to the community and the people. Positive change didn’t occur for Mr. Hooper, but rather for the community. When he died, he announced that every individual has a black veil and holds sin. (348). This opened the eyes of all the humans that witnessed the event, because it changed their views. Assumptions led to a change in Hester and a change in the people of the village.
In conclusion, both stories connected in a completely different way.

Both involved how assumptions can create judgement, false facts, confrontation, and change. People make assumptions every day, but no assumption should have the power to affect an individual unless if the individual allows it. Assumption was an important theme in both The Scarlet Letter and The Minister’s Black Veil. In The Scarlet Letter, assumptions led to people judging Hester for her sin which dragged along throughout the entire book. It’s important because it created an image for Hester, and it was dependant on how she would handle it. The community had a hard time accepting Dimmesdale’s death and the reality of what happened, and it's important because it showed how people in that community had thoughts. in The Minister’s Black Veil, assumptions led to people believing that Mr. Hooper was frightening, but it was important because they were all being hypocritical to each other. The people that got affected the most in both stories were the townspeople because it opened up a new world and possibilities for them. Their opinions didn’t affect anyone but themselves. Which is why assumptions lead

nowhere.