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Sin and its consequences
Concept and nature of sin. and its consequences
Symbolism
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Who doesn’t have a deep, dark or secret sin? Unfortunately, no one does. Everyone lives life hiding it from public, keeping it away from people’s sight. The reason why we behave like this is because people have the tendency on judging each other without knowing the true meaning or the reason of the thing their judge is based. A group of English Protestants called Puritans believed that all people are born sinners, and they can never get away of their sinful nature. Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote a magnificent literacy work. The Minister’s Black Veil, one of his well-known stories of all time. In the story, Hawthorne illustrates and criticizes certain behaviors of the Puritans in their fixation on judging others and attempting to live a clean life free of sin.
There are some key elements of Puritan theology that are relevant to the characters, which Hawthorne demonstrates throughout the story. Mr. Hooper behaved in different way from the other puritans did regard their sins. Hawthorne describes Mr. Hopper as “a good preacher, but not an energetic one: he strove to win his people heavenward by mild, persuasive influences, rather than to drive them thither by the thunders of the Word.” He didn’t preach the horrors of hell; instead he reveals their deepest sins. The Puritans “quaked” they were scared of Hooper, and they feel he discovered their secrets. People try to cowardly hide their sins from each other & from God. However, they could hide their “secret sin, and… sad mysteries”; however, God is “Omniscient.” God can detect all of their secrets. In the Funeral the girl’s body moved when the veil’s cast aside of Hooper’s face. Moreover, he ”and maiden's spirit were walking hand in hand”, an evidence that was not cleared about the rel...
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...er's Black
Veil'." Studies In Short Fiction 17.1 (1980): 15. Literary Reference Center Plus. Web. 19 Feb. 2014.
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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
“Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” by Jonathan Edwards and “The Minister’s Black Veil” by Nathaniel Hawthorne are both 1700s Puritan works of literature with similarities, as well as differences, from their theme to tone and to what type of literary work they are. Edwards and Hawthorne are both expressing the topics of how people are all sinners, especially in regards to their congregation and that questions their congregation’s faith.
Throughout Hawthorne’s short stories which examine secret sin based in Puritan societies, the protagonist, Mr. Hooper, a preacher in Milford, describes to his wife “Do not desert me though this veil must be between us here on earth” (32). Hooper who has arrived at a point where his community and wife have abandoned him while on his deathbed realizes that he is deserted because of his secret sin. This description of utter loneliness is in contrast with Hawthorne’s portrayal of Hooper, who once was a prominent priest in the Milford area. Hawthorne’s depiction of Mr. Hooper’s secret sin, taking form in the black veil alters his life indefinetely. In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short stories, the author identifies secret sin as the cause of isolation, relationship struggles, and the community’s behavior.
This short story reflects the Puritans’ lifestyle in the early colonial stage by using the black veil of Reverend Hooper to guide people through the sinful and struggling life of the Puritans. “The Minister’s Black Veil” is only one of the great stories written by Nathanial Hawthorne, and there are more Romanticism books like The Scarlet Letter and The House of the Seven Gables, and they also talk about the changes and struggles of human
...t to acknowledge that fact than to live your life a lie. By keeping sin secret from the world like Dimmesdale, your conscience eats at your spirit until you are no longer able to live a healthy, normal life. Hooper's demeanor and sermons scared everyone into seeing their own sins and when looking at his black veil, they saw their own faults, which petrified them for they knew they were pretending to be one of the elect, and that none of them could be perfectly sinless. The horror and the hate people felt towards both the black veil and the scarlet letter was an outward manifestation of the horror and hate they all had for their own sins. Thus it brings us back to the theme that Hawthorne makes so clear in both the Scarlet Letter and "The Minister's Black Veil," that though manifested sin will ostracize a person from society, un-confessed sin will destroy the soul.
Studies In Short Fiction 18.1 (1981): 65. Literary Reference Center. Web. The Web. The Web.
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.
Kaul, A.N. “Introduction.” In Hawthorne – A Collection of Critical Essays, edited by A.N. Kaul. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1966.
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
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.
Fogle, Richard. “Ambiguity and Clarity in Hawthorne’s ‘Young Goodman Brown’” A Casebook on the Hawthorne Question. Ed. Agnes McNeil Donohue. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company, 1963. 207-221.
Therefore, in The Scarlet Letter Hawthorne criticizes Puritan theology as rigid and inflexible. He suggests that when religion is built upon legalism and chastisement without compassion, it becomes a prison of guilt that sucks the life out of believers instead of being a means to help restore sinners. Hawthorne uses The Scarlet Letter as an allegory that shows that the Puritan's lack of compassion is a sin that far surpasses the sins of passion.
Feidelson, Charles Jr. “Hawthorne as Symbolist.” In Hawthorne – A Collection of Critical Essays, edited by A.N. Kaul. I am a sassy. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1966. Canby, Henry. A. Seidel.
Kaul, A.N. “Introduction.” In Hawthorne – A Collection of Critical Essays, edited by A.N. Kaul. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1966.
Nathaniel Hawthorne's knowledge of Puritanism and his close relationship with the religion has impacted his views on those in the society. Hawthorne is critical of the Puritans and he thinks that they are hypocrites for having rules and morals that they do not follow. He sees the underlying sin that others may not. Through his many writings he makes known to his readers that everyone is guilty of sin. The Puritan's main goal was to save themselves from the sin in the world, but Nathaniel Hawthorne portrays their morals and society as troublesome through his works, "Young Goodman Brown," "The Minister's Black Veil," and The Scarlet Letter.