A regular sinful nature is when someone is admitted to a unholy event or character, it is not a sinful nature to but a piece of clothing on. As Hooper puts on the black veil everyone in society looked at him more of a sinner than a respectful clergyman. Hawthorne uses his thoughts of Puritan ideas to create his stories like The Minister’s Black Veil, where the Puritans believed everything happened for a reason. As shown in The Minister's Black Veil, Hawthorne uses symbolism for Hooper’s characteristic to show how Hooper was alienated, what specific role he played in the story, and how he was revealed to alienation. When the black veil was starting to disturb the society, the veil made Hooper being treated as an outcast to society. “Swathed about his forehead, and hanging down over his face, so low as to be shaken by his breath, Mr. Hooper had on black veil” (para.3). as soon Hooper put on the veil, Hawthorne showed how …show more content…
much of the veil changed the appearance and different ways on how Hopper's character was to society. ‘He has changed himself into something awful, only by hiding his face” (para. 3). As now as the readers begin to realize how society feels on Hooper’s change of appearance because of the veil, people have come to believe Hooper has done something terrible. “..the community comes to believe Hooper is somehow guilty of a dark sin..” (source: Boone N.S.). Boone explains Hawthorne’s character,(Hooper) about being alienated to society because of the black veil, because of his change of appearance. Hawthorne explained different types of alienation and he used a veil for the change of appearance. Hooper changed while he puts on the veil because of Hooper’s changes in society from their point of view, of Hooper’s characteristics. As the story continues to show alienation for Hooper, there were many proofs of him being isolated from society. “A rumor of some unaccountable phenomenon had preceded Mr. hooper into the meeting-house and set all the congregation astir” (para. 4). Hawthorne now puts in rumors to show the readers that, Hooper’s unholy characteristics is getting spread out from society making everyone believe in the same belief. “Such was the effect of this simple piece of crape, that more than one woman of delicate was forced to leave the meeting-house” (para. 5). The readers see a totally ridiculous way of everyone treating Hooper as an ungrateful sinner. “Hawthorne portrays him as one of abject humility, the humility he experiences in his isolation and agony of doubt” (Source: Timothy Montbriand). Timothy Montbriand has used Hawthorne’s idea of isolation as abject humility to Hooper as Hooper experience. Hooper played a part of being a kindful minister or clergyman until he puts on the veil to reveal everyone his true darkful nature, which is what everyone thinks. Hawthorne still was making remarks on how Hooper was alienated and also, Hawthorne made remarks on how people were so hypocritical to Hooper.
hereafter there shall be no veil over“Do not desert me, through this veil must be between us here on earth. Be mine, and r my face, no darkness between our souls” (para. 12). Now wants Elizabeth starts to tell on what she will do Hawthorne enlighten us on how the society actually felt about him. “...for the symbol beneath which I have lived, and die! I look around me, and lo! on every visage a Black Veil” (Para. 23). Now since everyone around Hooper’s death bed had a black veil now Hawthorne is letting the society look hypocritical. “...Hypocrisy--they should see their own veils instead of fixating on what is possibly behind his” (Source: Renascence: Essays on Values in Literature). As they tell us what is the difference between them wearing the veil, and Hooper wearing the veil. As Hawthorne describes at the end the townspeople are hypocrites of thinking that they have the right to wear it and not
Hooper. In the short story, The Minister’s Black Veil Hawthorne use of isolation brought the readers to believe on how Hooper was alienated from society. As Hooper puts on the veil the townspeople look at him as an ungrateful sinner, and isolated him, as Hawthorne later shows how hypocritical they were by putting on the veil near Hooper’s death. As we are shown in the short story how can it be when life in the Puritan lives is similar to our lives.
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
Mr. Hooper in “The Minister’s Black Veil” puts on a veil to symbolize “those sad mysteries which we hid[e] from our nearest and dearest, and would fain conceal from our own consciousness, even forgetting that the Omniscient can detect them” (Hawthorne 310). From the moment the townsfolk see the black veil they become very frightened and intimidated by Mr. Hooper, the citizens felt that “the black veil seemed to hang down before his heart” (Hawthorne 308). People became very frightened even the “most innocent girl, and the man of hardened breast” (Hawthorne 312) Mr. Hooper puts this crape on as a “symbol of a fearful secret between him and them” and because of this society chastises him and makes him out to be a...
In “The minister’s black veil” The black veil Mr.hooper puts on is to prevent people from spying on his private life. The veil symbolized that human nature is blinded by sins and they way the town treated him after he started wearing the veil shows that there faith is blind they couldn't understand where he was coming from. “ Mr. Hooper's conscience tortured him for some great crime too horrible to be entirely concealed, or otherwise than so obscurely intimated. Thus, from beneath the black veil, there rolled a cloud into the sunshine, an ambiguity of sin or sorrow, which
Hawthorne's parable, "The Minister's Black Veil," uses symbols to illustrate the effect of shame and guilt. In the story, Mr. Hooper represents the average Christian with a deep longing to be holy, and have fellowship with man. However he allows the cross that he bears to come between himself and the latter. His secret is represented by the veil he wears. The veil itself is black, the color of both secrecy and sin. Spiritually, the veil embodies the presence of evil in all of mankind. In the physical realm it serves as emotional barrier between himself and everyone else (Timmerman). During his first sermon after donning the veil, it is observed that, "... while he prayed, the veil lay heavily on his uplifted countenance. Did he seek to hide it from the dread Being whom he was addressing?" (par 10). The veil made Mr. Hooper a powerful preacher. But even the people his messages touched the most would shudder when Mr. Hooper would move close to comfort them, his veiled face making them tremble (par 45). His personal relationships all but ceased to exist. Outside of church, he was seen as a bugbear, or monster. (par 44). Seemingly, the only one that did not fear the veil was his loving fiancée, Elizabeth. Elizabeth symbolizes purity. She is innocent and...
“Mr. Hooper had the reputation of a good preacher, but not an energetic one: he strove to win his people heavenward, rather than to drive them thither,” states Hawthorne. The sermon he gives with the black veil on his face, is the same style and manner he gave the last sermons. Although, this one was dark, and Mr. Hooper had a gloom temperament. The subject for that sermon was about secret sin. When Mr. Hooper greeted people, they returned with strange and bewildered looks.
In conclusion Hawthorne has created an another allegory. By using the symbolism of the actual meaning of the black veil, he created Hooper as an alienated character to give the moral teaching. He also uses the values of a culture or a society such as the Puritans to show everyone not to
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.
Throughout Nathaniel Hawthorne 's literary work, The Minister 's Black Veil, the sensation of the veil, the separation it creates from good things in life, and the persistence of the black veil on earth symbolize sin in mankind. During the whole parable, Mr. Hooper is restrained by the black veil and cannot live a free, enjoyable life. Also, people around him cannot tolerate the overwhelming, dark feeling that the black veil generates. Similarly, sin can take over people’s lives and create a feeling of hopelessness and gloom. Hawthorne’s parable overall demonstrates power and impact of sin on
Nathaniel Hawthorne has always been [caracterizado] for using symbols and ambiguity on all of his stories. This is the case in “The Minister’s Black Veil” where he introduces the story of Minister Hooper, a religious man that starts wearing a black veil on his face until the day he dies. While re reading the Ministers Black Veil it is impossible just to come up with one conclusion of the motives why Minister Hooper puts on the veil. Since Hawthorne uses the act of ambiguity in this parable for the reader to come to their own conclusion, there are a significant amount of interpretations of the Minister’s black veil. The reader becomes acquainted with the protagonist at the crucial moment of his life, the moment in which he decides to wear a black veil on his face. But every reader encounters the same question, why did Minister Hooper put on 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.
An analysis of the reading reveals that Hawthorne presents human nature as obsessive. The story tells of a respected Puritan minister, Mr. Hooper, who decides to wear a black veil over his face. He refuses to tell his congregants his reasons for wearing the veil, and he never removes the garment. His congregants and his fiancée, Elizabeth, become fixated upon the mask and what he might be hiding underneath it. The congregants proceed to alienate Mr. Hooper. Later, Elizabeth breaks off her engagement with the minister and leaves him after he denied her request to remove his black veil. As she is about to abandon him, he says, “It is but a mortal veil – it is not for eternity! Oh! You know not how lonely I am, and how frightened to be alone behind my black veil. Do not leave me in this miserable obscurity forever!” (22). In other words, Mr. Hooper entreats Elizabeth to stay with him and tells her how he is suffering from the alienation that his former congregants forced upon him. The words “lonely,” “frightened,” and “miserable” all work to convey the depression, fear, and anguish that he felt since his ex-congregants shunned him. The phrase “mortal veil” is a metaphor that compares the veil to a human, a being who is also known as a “mortal.” It implies that, like a human, the veil is impermanent, making it a minor object that doesn’t have much importance in “eternity,” a word that emphasizes the vastness of time. This shows that the congregants and Elizabeth caused Mr. Hooper to suffer by obsessing over an insignificant object, his black veil. Thus, Hawthorne supports his claim that human nature is obsessive and that obsession creates tragedy and suffering. A book that shares Hawthorne’s view on human nature is Song of Solomon by Toni
In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Minister’s Black Veil, Mr. Hooper’s black veil symbolizes sin and how awful human nature truly is. It may even symbolize a specific sin that Mr. Hooper has. He refuses to take it off for the sake of his reputation. “If it be a sign of mourning,... I, perhaps, like most other mortals, have sorrow dark enough to be typified by a black veil.” (Hawthorne 9). The veil is representing his sin so that he does not have to say it himself. Toward the end of his life, he still refuses to take it off. That is a great example of how the two stories are connected. John Proctor in The Crucible would rather be hung by a thick rope then to have his confession written out and put on the church doors for everyone to see. He has a reputation to maintain and he refuses to let anything ruin it; even if that means that his death is on the other
416), while it gave Hooper a more intimidating, enigmatic and somewhat inhuman demeanor that isolated him from the community his services were still available for his community. The book even says that it “enabled him to sympathize with all dark affections” (pg. 416) as many people, particularly the ones who were guilty of ‘secret sin’ felt comfortable and/or compelled by Hooper into confessing their sins. The people felt that they could tell him everything they kept secret, because the veil’s “gloom” and foreboding aura gave him the same aura of mystery. The black veil kind of symbolizes a cover-up that humans use every day to hide their real feelings and thoughts, as many people are never truly honest with others and each convey some sort of secret. It appears that the idea in this story is that humans by nature are sinful and are all guilty of some hidden sin that they try to keep in the dark because having sins is not considered human or moral. It’s not a very positive outlook on humans, but the book does seem to convey that idea, as Reverend Hooper himself is a flawed man guilty of secret sin as revealed in the end, making him no different from the rest of the townsfolk who have their own sins that they hide. However, it also shows that humans are hypocritical by nature because they are so flawed as in the end Hooper proved that he did exactly practice what he
Throughout the story, Hawthorne’s depiction of Mr. Hooper encapsulates his heavy and mysterious aura, despite his “kind dignity” to the congregation (Hawthorne 4). The veil creates an immediate barrier between Hooper and his congregation when “a cloud seemed to have rolled dusky from beneath the back crape, and dimmed the light of the candles.” Disregarding his act of holy prayer, the community is unable to see past their perception of the veil and formulate their own flat characterizations of Hooper. Moreover, Hawthorne highlights Hooper’s isolation with his use of dramatic irony when Squire Saunders, “doubtless by an accidental lapse of memory, neglected to invite Mr. Hooper to his table” (Hawthorne 4). Hooper is acutely aware of the town’s mistreatment of him, but stays true to his purpose and principles.
The veil also makes his sermons far more dark and ominous, which he imposed to try and harp on the idea that sin is wrong, and though most people have hidden sin, that doesn’t make their sins any more justified. Hooper is often hypocritically criticized for his veil, which is strange as true Puritans who truly want to better themselves and their connection with God should not be against Hooper’s analogy and emphasis on sin. This criticism is a clear representation of the hypocrisy of the Puritan church that Hawthorne hoped to critique. Hooper even directly states this while on his deathbed when he says, “When a man does not vainly shrink from the eye of his Creator, loathsomely treasure the secret of his sin, then deem me a monster, for the symbol beneath which I have lived,”. Hawthorne 13.