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The Minister s Black veil
The symbolism of NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE
The Minister s Black veil
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The book The bedford introduction to literature holds three stories by Nathaniel Hawthorne. The first story ‘young goodman brown” is about a man who travels into the forest to observe a satanic ritual. He rejects the offer to join in and lives disconnected from the others since they were part of the ritual. The next story “The minister 's black veil” is about a man refusing to take off a veil even upon death which results in the people of the village judging him. Finally in “The birthmark” a man of science is trying to remove a mark from his wife cheek which is the only thing keeping her from being perfect. The man succeeds in removing the mark but results in killing his wife. Even Though all three of the stories have different details, they …show more content…
One day on the way to a meeting, Mr.hooper is wearing a black veil and the people are quick to judge. As mr. hooper is preaching the author mentions how “the pale faced congregations was almost as fearful a sight to the minister, as his black veil to them”(409). The black veil on the minister displays his secret sin. Although the veil makes him more powerful as a preacher many people didn 't like it including his wife. After a while Elizabeth asks his husband mr.hooper to remove the veil and he refuses, so “she withdrew her arm from his grasp and slowly departed’(413). Just like that the long relationship between Mr.hooper and Elizabeth wes terminated because of hooper 's black veil. After that one moment no one questioned his black veil and he went on to become a powerful clergymen until the day of his death. When the day comes mr.hooper is insulted for not wanting to remove the veil and hooper responds “Men avoided me, and women shown pity, and children screamed and fled only for my black veil?”(415). Mr.hooper unfolds that the people are quick to judge and avoid him just for wearing a black veil. All the people have in that room have a black veil because they to have sinned too but fail to see it on …show more content…
Aylmer is a man of science who marries a beautiful woman named georgina who is almost perfect. She has a tiny mark in the shape of a hand which the author describes that “many a desperate swain would have risked life for the privilege of pressing his lips to the mysterious hand”(427). Even Though the tiny hand on georgiana cheek is her only defect aylmer can 't accept it while other man will die just to kiss it. Aylmer says it shocks him as “being the visible mark of earthly imperfection”(417). Aylmer can 't accept her to have a small imperfection instead he wants her perfect. As Georgiana only care for what her husband thinks of her, she accepts aylmer suggestion to remove the mark. During the making of the poison to remove the mark georgina finds out their is a chance she could die and agrees to proceed. In the the potion worked in removing the birthmark but it caouse her to die. Before Georgiana dies she tells Aylmer he has “rejected the best earth could offer”(427). Aylmer tried to change what made her human and that got her killed. Aylmer couldn 't accept human imperfection to the point where it got her wife
In the novel The Scarlet Letter and the short story “The Minister’s Black Veil”, Nathaniel Hawthorne incorporates romantic elements, such as beauty, truth, innocence, and sin, in his criticism of Puritan societies. In both texts, Hawthorne argues that all people, even those in strictly religious societies with corrupted standards, are capable of sin. Hawthorne uses symbolism and light and dark imagery to convey his argument.
Both of these stories revolve around a lot of symbolism. These stories, since they really don't make a lot of sense on their own, force the reader to look deeper in an attempt to understand the ideas that Hawthorne tries to get across.
The story “The Minister’s Black Veil” is symbolic of the hidden sins that we hide and separate ourselves from the ones we love most. In wearing the veil Hooper presents the isolation that everybody experiences when they are chained down by their own sins. He has realized that everybody symbolically can be found in the shadow of their own veil. By Hooper wearing this shroud across his face is only showing the dark side of people and the truth of human existence and nature.
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...
Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Minister's Black Veil" illustrates the dangers of secret sin. Allowing guilt from things done in the past, things that cannot be changed, can ruin lives. The life of the secret-carrier will be devastated, along with the lives of that person's most loved ones. Hawthorne uses various types of figurative language in his works to portray his message. "The Minister's Black Veil” is no exception; Hawthorne uses symbolism and suggestion to add depth and mystery.
There is no end to the ambiguity in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Minister’s Black Veil”; this essay hopes to explore this problem within the tale.
In the short story The Birth-mark, Aylmer: scientist, philosopher and perfectionist, is married to Georgiana, a woman of unthinkable beauty and possibly the closest woman to ever reach perfection. However, the tiny hand shaped mark that lay on the surface of her cheek aggravates Aylmer and he thinks day and night of how he may get rid of it in order to help Georgiana reach the perfection that he longs for. The actions that he proceeds to take, prove that he is indeed the villain and the one to blame for Georgiana’s death. He does so by tearing her down with crude words, making Georgiana feel insecure and self-conscious about her outward appearance as well as keeping his failed experiments a secret to her.
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.
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.
History has underrepresented females throughout countless centuries. In contrast, Hawthorne allows them to take on essential roles in “Young Goodman Brown,” “The Minister’s Black Veil,” “and “The Birthmark.” The way he presents them distinguishes his stories from others at his time. He proves all of his female characters almost flawless, deeply connects the male protagonists to them, and uses them to reveal the males’ hidden sides.
The story of the black veil is about a man with is the minister of a the village of gives speeches in their church. On a horrible day a maiden had died and mr hooper, the minister had to give a speech to the departed but to every ones surprise he was wearing a black veil covering his face expect is lower chain. After that mr. hopper added more by talking to the people about secret sin and that each and every one of them has one.
“The only difference between him and his congregation was that he was looked at as an idol and leader, and in their minds he was not supposed to sin.’ (Article 3, Sedaris West) This quote supports my argument that Mr. Hopper wore the viel for his personal sins. Throughout the story everyone had judged him, thinking he was a bad person because of him wearing the veil. No one was aware that even ministers have sin themselves and nobody considered that Mr. Hooper was wearing it for his personal issues.
Every man before has always complimented Georgiana on her sweet imperfection. People would tell her all the time that true beauty was in that little blemish. Aylmer, being the man of Science wanted to change what nature had created. Typically, we all know better than to go against Nature, but not Aylmer. Georgiana finally agreed to let her husband remove the birthmark due to a frightening dream Aylmer had encountered. Aylmer started working on a potion to remove Georgiana 's birthmark. As soon as Georgiana sipped the potion, she suddenly falls into a deep coma-like state. The birthmark magically disappears from Georgina 's face. However, as the birthmark fades away, so does Georgina 's life. Hawthorne uses Georgiana 's character to symbolize beauty in this story. Georgiana is already made perfect in the eyes of Nature and all other men, expect Aylmer. Aylmer, representing Science, tries to change Georgiana 's beauty that Nature has created. Aylmer was successful in removing the birthmark, but unsuccessful in keeping Georgiana alive. Aylmer was too intertwined in Science to realize that Georgiana was perfectly made by Nature. Nature paid Aylmer back for trying to correct Georgiana 's face by taking the life of his beloved
The tone adopted by Hawthorne from the inception of the narrative toward Aylmer urges the reader to respect Aylmer’s scientific ambition—directly his triumph of head over heart, but indirectly his objectification of Georgiana and subsequent attempts to fix something that she never thought was a flaw. Not only is Aylmer’s obsession with getting rid of her birthmark selfish in that he does it for “the sake of giving himself peace” (647) rather than any desire to make his wife happy, he also admits to feeling guilt over his tyrannical treatment of her. For example, his “horror and disgust” in response to her facial blight rarely escapes her notice, and when she reacts poorly to his “convulsive shudder,” he attempts to soothe her and “release her mind from the burden of actual things” (650) as if she is an empty-headed infant in need of a pacifier. Furthermore, in response to her desperate request for its removal, he isolates her from humanity, administers potentially harmful concoctions into her rooms and body without her knowledge, and ultimately—and rapturously—succeeds in shrinking the mark at the cost of her
We are all flawed, perfection is an impossible standard for any human to achieve. Some of us are closer than others and this couldn't be more true for Aylmer's wife Georgiana. Her only flaw is a single birthmark upon her cheek, shaped to look like a tiny hand. As a scientist, Aylmer believes he can remove her birthmark, thus making her perfect. He sees the birthmark as simply a symbol for human imperfection, and wishes to make his wife perfect.