Comparing the Judgmental Society in Ministers Black Veil and Scarlet Letter

A Judgmental Society in Ministers Black Veil and Scarlet Letter

Our society is too judgmental and it always has been. Even in the time

Hawthorne wrote of in The Scarlet Letter and in "The Ministers Black Veil"

people judged before they knew the truth.

Objects were judged even though they had no relevance on what really

happened. In "The Ministers Black Veil" no one knew why the minister wore

the veil but everyone assumed it meant shame and that he had something to

hide. I think that the minister thought that it was his mission to show

how superficial the people were. The ministers own fiancee left him

because no one knew anything about the veil he wore. Again in The Scarlet

Letter, I can think of two more major examples where an object was used

as a sign or omen. The first is of course the letter, it meant evil,

shame, and sin to the townspeople. All it was, was a letter nothing more,

nothing less. The second object that people took as a prolific sign was

the weeds on a grave. They reasoned that the weeds were there because of

the sins of that person, and that the weeds grew because flowers could not.

People then and now take symbols too deeply and meaningful.

People often take events to be meaningful and supernatural. In The

Scarlet Letter the meteor meant some great act of God or the Devil was

about to take place. All a meteor is, is a chunk of rock of that is being

incinerated in our atmosphere. As a second example, when a person was up

on the scaffold it meant that they deserved scorn and ridicule and no

mercy. The scaffold meant you had shame and guilt and it was for all the

others to see.

In those times people were taken to mean things as well. Hester was

good hearted and almost clean but was seen as a sinful evil person, to be

avoided at all costs. Chillingworth was seen as a kindhearted doctor only

there to help people when in actuallity he was an evil, sadistic man

concerned only with his complete revenge on Dimesdale. The minister, or

reverend, is seen as a holy reverent person, to be looked upon as a level

of holiness to achieve.