Comparing Minister's Black Veil And Young Goodman Brown

“Solitary Confinement”
“Swathed about his forehead, and hanging down over his face, so low as to be shaken by his breath, Mr. Hooper had on a black veil.” Hawthorne’s “The Minister’s Black Veil” begins with a description of Mr. Hooper and his veil, but much of the rest of the short story encompasses the guilt culture of the Puritans. Hawthorne, though writing in the 1800’s, depicted the Puritans as a people with an obsession for purity and a persecuting spirit for a secret sin that every human possesses. In “The Minister’s Black Veil” and “Young Goodman Brown”, Hawthorne isolates his characters to illustrate the compulsion of judgement that the Puritan culture embodied.
Young Goodman Brown mentally isolates himself from society due to paranoia.

Brown’s rejection of Faith acts as an example of his isolation. When Brown returns from his journey, he views Faith near a meeting house. “But Goodman Brown looked sternly and sadly into her face, and passed on without a greeting” (45). Brown’s sedate tone towards his wife symbolizes his fall of a functioning member from society. However, Brown’s fall from society is due to a mental paranoia. His once jubilant life has become one of interrogation and doubt. Furthermore, Brown mentally isolates himself from the minister. While he walks through town, “He shrank from the venerable saint as if to avoid an anathema” (45). The avoidance displays Brown’s paranoia because he refuses to interact with one who he believes contains sin because he believes the minister interacted with the devil. Next, while the minister preaches, Goodman Brown is “dreading lest the roof should thunder down upon the gray blasphemers and his hearers” (45). The dreading illustrates Brown’s mental detachment from society. Even though he remains welcome with the community, he queries the purity of the people. However, Mr. Hooper becomes socially isolated from his community.
Mr.

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

lifted” (34). Hooper’s isolation from society is prevalent due to the denial to remove the veil. The denial illustrates obsession of purity. Next, one may ponder why the author isolates his characters.
Due to Hawthorne’s perspective of the Puritans, he deems the isolation of his characters a necessary response to their culture.

Through Hawthorne’s themes, one can detect his outlook of inevitable sin. His vision of the human heart as a place for sin occurs numerous occasions throughout his work. Goodman Brown has hope in the beginning. “But where is Faith? Thought Goodman Brown; and, as hope came into his heart, he trembled” (43). However, due to inevitable sin, Brown loses all hope “they carved no hopeful verse upon his tombstone, for his dying hour was gloom” (45). Since Hooper is hopeless, he falls into a moral hypocrisy which isolates himself. Also, Hawthorne had a grandfather who was a judge in the Salem Witch Trials. One can observe the shame that Hawthorne expresses towards the former judge and being related to him in his narratives. Similarly, Mr. Hooper becomes a recipient of shame. “Dark old man! exclaimed the affrighted minister, with what horrible crime upon your soul are you now passing to the judgement” (35). Hawthorne isolates his characters due to a historical occurrences and his the guilt culture of the

Puritans.
The compulsion to judge is an extensive theme in Hawthorne’s works. Additionally, Hawthorne addresses the treatment of women in his narratives. Today, the objectifying of women remains a prevalent issue. Even political figures can announce crude and objectifying comments towards women. However, the theme of isolation remains one of Hawthorne’s most frequent themes. Just as Young Goodman Brown becomes isolated from paranoia or Mr. Hooper becomes isolated from an obsession with sin, person's today can evolve into isolated beings due to the confining realm of the internet. One professional participant of video games says “Apart from sleeping, taking showers, or eating, I live in front of the computer.” Addictions such as videogames isolate copious amounts of participants. To become an exceptional society we must recognize those who are isolated and revitalize their connections with the community.