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Nathaniel hawthorne literary criticism
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Nathaniel hawthorne literary criticism
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In his short story, The Minister's Black Veil, Nathaniel Hawthorne conveys the greater meaning of the veil through multiple symbols throughout the text. Hawthornes' story suggests that the minster wears the veil to bear the dark sins of the community over his face, to hide his personal sorrow and shame over something he has done in his past, and that he wears the veil to illustrate a parallel of how the townspeople are strangers to themselves, as the minister is a stranger to them. Hawthorne incorporates these symbols into a dark narrative that leaves the reader questioning the greater good of society. One of the biggest symbols that the veil serves is to represent the sins of the townspeople across the ministers face. In the story, we …show more content…
see that the congregation is visibly upset with their minister for wearing this back veil, one woman going as far to say “he has changed himself into something awful, only by hiding his face”. In a small religious town, something as small as a minister wearing a veil becomes the talk of the town. The people of the church and the village surrounding the church immediately begin to voice their speculations over this veil phenomenon. Hawthorne states that the minister “strove to win his people heavenward by mild, persuasive influences, rather than to drive them thither by the thunders of the Word.” Hawthorne is giving the reader information on the ministers reason for wearing the mask; Hawthorne is suggesting that the minister uses the veil to persuade the people of the town to accept God, but remind them that they are all sinners by using the veil as a persuasive influence. Hawthorne hints at this again when he describes how the minister addresses the congregation. The minister finds it hard to even look at the members of his church because of the immense amount of their guilt he bears within his soul; Hawthorne asks the question “ did he seek to hide it from the dread being whom he was addressing?” The suppressed guilt he has over their sins affects him in such a way that he hides his face from the members of the church, and instead of his face they can only see their sins. Readers have speculate that the veil is not directly symbolic to the church or the people in the town, but is a symbol for the minister himself- concealing a dark secret of his past.
Mr. Hooper, the minister shares very little of the reason behind the veil. Even to the woman who loves him, and yearns to marry him the minister only explains “ I perhaps, like most other mortals have sorrows dark enough to be typified by a black veil.” Hawthorne now indicates that the minister himself has a dark secret to hide, to show that people all holy as men of God can be sinners too. The minister goes on to explain even more about the severity of the veil when he explains to his lover, Elizabeth “ know, then this veil is a type and a symbol, and I am bound to wear it ever, both in light and darkness, in solitude and before the gaze of multitudes” at any given point it time the minister is adamant that he must wear this veil to cover whatever he has done. On his death bed, Mr. Hooper is speaking with another minister, when Mr. Hooper refuses to take the veil off the reverend exclaims “ Dark old man! With that horrible crime upon your soul are you now passing judgement?” Hawthornes' purpose here is to show that none of the other people in Mr. Hoopers life assume the reason he wears the veil is because of something they have done; but that it is because of something he has done and can never repent. Even if Mr. Hooper has sinned and wears the veil for that reason, it is the only thing the …show more content…
townspeople see in him and will remember him for, this typifies how people are very hesitant to ever see the bad in themselves, only in others. Hawthorne also uses the veil as a symbol to indicate the parallel between the townspeople and the minister.
Everyone in the town has sinned at some point in their life, and may or may not know it. They also may not know of the dark sins of the other people in the town. On the other hand, Mr. Hooper knows of all of their sins, but is not self aware – this creates a distance between the minister and his parishioners. The members of the church are so quick to talk about the minister, but never revel anything about themselves: “ at the close of the services, the people hurried out with indecorous confusion, eager to communicate their pent up amazement, and conscious of lighter spirits the moment they lost sight of the veil.” When they are not in front of the veil ( their sins on display) they all want to talk about the minister; but when they are in church they all follow along with the given sermon making no remarks, and asking no questions. To juxtapose this position, the minister feels completely alone under the veil. Through what the veil has done to his reputation he has been left completely isolated with no one left to turn to. In an argument with Elizabeth the minister says “O! Do you not know how lonely I am, and how frightened, to be alone behind my black veil. Do not leave me in this miserable obscurity forever!” this gives us a view into the minsters dark, and solemn life behind the veil. The minister does not truly know himself in the truest form because he has been
hiding behind this veil for so long in denial. Hawthorne incorporates this into the story to convey the ability for people to assume so much about one another, yet know so little. This point also illustrates how knowing too much about a functioning society-like the minister does-can ruin someones outlook on life. Hawthorne's purpose in creating a story based off of the sins of humanity is to show the reader how to accept those sins. The story shows how people do or do not accept and face their sins. The black veil shows us how awful human nature can be, and how human nature affects different types of people. The many different symbols help shape the way we view other people, and show the concept of the natural human tendency to want to know more about others around us.
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
Minister Hooper is a very good man, believes solely in Christ, and throughout the story we come to see how his views on religion reflect his humanity and humility. In “The Minister’s Black Veil,” Minister Hooper dons a black veil that causes an eruption of gossip in his community. The townspeople do not have any clue as to why he is wearing this black veil and see it as scary and devilish. The people in the community believe that Minister Hooper is wearing the veil to cover up a horrible sin. This may not be the case, however, because he may be wearing it as a symbol of his faith.
Mr. Hooper the minister’s is perceived to be a “self-disciplined man”. When he was wearing the veil people in his village believed that he went insane and is guilty of a dark and terrible sin. “He has changed himself into something awful, only by hiding his face” (1253).The author explains how Mr.Hooper would wear a mask to hide his sins and face which cause people to believe he was awful. The veil becomes the center of discussion for all of those in the congregate the mask all the people wore around others to hide their sins and embraces there guilty. Elizabeth in the story ends her relationship with Mr. Hooper because he will not remove the veil that he's wearing. The veil actually symbolize for the puritans belief that all people souls are black from
In the short story “The Minister’s Black Veil”, fear of the unknown is used by the main character, Mr. Hooper, to draw attention to what he believed was a necessary in order to achieve salvation. He believed people should be honest and forward with God, and should avoid wearing a “veil” to hide their true faces when speaking with God. He wore the veil to symbolize the indirectness most people use to cover themselves when speaking to God. Hooper refused to remove his veil, saying he would cast aside his veil once everyone else did, Unfortunately, Hooper never explained why he choose to wear his veil, which led to an uproar of confusion in the community. The community members looked for a simple explanation for his actions. For instance, some believed he had relations with a young girl who recently died, and he was in mourning, or committed a sin so severe he refused to show his face. The community began to avoid Hooper and fear the Reverend they once respected, just because of his one unexplained action. The community began to fear him in such a way that he losses almost all the respect he held within the community, and dies without his betrothed by his side. Even upon his deathbed he refuses to share, with the community, why he chose to wear his veil. Hawthorne reveals in this short story how people crave an explanation for the abnormal, and when they fail to find a satisfactory answer, they will reject and fear the
The minister’s friends and neighbors are so upset by the veil because the veil becomes a wall between himself and his congregation. The first response is one of curiosity which then turns in suspicion. They cannot understand the meaning for the wearing of the black veil and in turn the people become very uncomfortable around him. The veil and it color ...
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...
Throughout his literary endeavors, Nathaniel Hawthorne utilizes symbolism to present a certain theme that pertains to human nature and life. In his works, The Scarlet Letter and "The Minister's Black Veil", Hawthorne uses symbolism to present a common theme pertaining to religion; that though manifested sin will ostracize a person from society, un-confessed sin will destroy the soul.
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
In “The Minister’s Black Veil” Mr. Hooper shocks his townspeople by putting a veil permanently on his face. The veil is a paradox of concealment and revelation (Carnochan 186). Although it is concealing Mr. Hooper’s face, it is made to reveal the sins in society. The townspeople first believed that the veil was being used to hide a sin that Mr. Hooper had committed. Mr. Hooper says that the veil is supposed to be a symbol of sins in general, however the townspeople ignore the message and still focus on his sinfulness. The townspeople know that they have sinned, but they use Mr. Hooper as their own “veil” to hide their sins. Because the townspeople are so caught up on his sins, they fail to figure on the message behind Mr. Hooper’s action and
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...
The black veil signifies sin. The minister’s veil acts as a reminder to individuals that everyone commits sin, has sins, and need to accept it. The black veil acted as a reminder that people cannot hide from the corruption of their
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.
Next, the minister’s black veil symbolizes darkness around his face and neighbors. His frame shuddered; his lips grew white, and rushed forth into the darkness. He said, “Know, then, this veil is a type and a symbol, and I am bound to wear it ever, both in light and darkness, in solitude and before the gaze of multitudes, and as with strangers, so with my familiar friends” In this light and darkness black veil, he is bound to wear it ever.
"The Minister's Black Veil" is an allegorical narrative in which the agents of setting, symbols, characters, and actions come in a coherent way to represent non-literal and metaphorical meanings about the human character. The black veil is without doubt the most important symbol used in the story. It comes to represent the darkness and duality of human nature, adding thereby a certain undeniable psychoanalytical angle to the short story. The black veil represents the sin that all men carry secretively within their heart as M...
In The Minister's Black Veil Hawthorne incorporates a formal tone and uses complex vocabulary this along with long descriptive sentences help to paint a very clear picture of the story in the readers mind. For example, when describing the appearance of Reverend Hooper in The Minister's Black Veil Hawthorne writes: “The cause of so much amazement may appear sufficiently slight. Mr. Hooper, a gentlemanly person, of about thirty, though still a bachelor, was dressed with due clerica...