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Does Nathaniel Hawthorne Use Dramatic Irony In The Minister's Black Veil

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Everyone has secrets they can hide in mortal life, but no secret is off-limits in the hereafter. In analyzing this idea, Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Minister’s Black Veil” utilizes dramatic irony to reveal the inner hypocrisy within a congregation of Puritans. The story follows a small town minister’s surprising choice to arrive on the Sabbath dressed in a black veil. There is not a word of explanation, to the congregation's confusion and fear—leading them to believe their minister possesses some secret sin. As the story progresses, it is revealed that nobody in the town is as pure as they appear. Nathaniel Hawthorne applies dramatic irony within “The Minister’s Black Veil” to prompt readers’ attention towards the hypocrisy of judgement, …show more content…

Hooper’s aim, readers can presume, was to show his followers that everyone possesses sin—the original and otherwise—but ultimately, the minister gives himself a reputation of having a scandalous secret. The townspeople fear Minister Hooper, scared that somehow if he were to come near them, their own sins would be exposed; staying away from the black veil shields them from having to confront their wrongdoings and sins. They observed that the veil “...seemed to hang down before his heart, the symbol of a fearful secret between him and them…they sat a considerable time, speechless, confused, and shrinking uneasily from Mr. Hooper’s eye, which they felt to be fixed upon them with an invisible glance” (Hawthorne 7). Hooper’s “invisible glace” from beneath the veil is representative of the eyes of God, which the townspeople feel is now upon them. Witnessing their minister’s apparent fall from grace gave the congregation a shock, and pushed their realization that there is no hiding in the eyes of God—a “secret” sin may well be public knowledge. Rather than teaching his town a lesson of love and acceptance, Minister Hooper creates an environment of secrecy, fear, and determined judgement while also embodying the very antithesis of his reasons for donning the veil. The decision to wear a black veil, as simply as the decision to wear a white one, would define Minister Hooper as a secretive, repellant, and sinful man until his

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The Minister’s Black Veil, also by Hawthorne, tells the story of Mr. Hooper, minister in another Puritan town. The minister shocks the townspeople when one day he

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In Hawthorne’s short story, the minister walks out of the rectory one morning with a black veil covering his face. In this story, it is heavily debated what that black veil actually symbolizes. Could it be a symbol of sin and guilt, or is it rather a barrier between the minister and the rest of society? The story takes place in winter at Milford, Connecticut, where it focuses on Parson Hooper, the town’s minister.

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Hawthorne depicts a community that hides its sins and ostracizes those who display them. On Parson Hooper’s deathbed he finally resolves the mystery of the black veil. He states, “I look around me, and lo! On every visage a black veil!” (Hawthorne 9) He explains that it is not he who is hiding his sins with a “black veil” but rather everyone else hiding from the fact that they have sins.

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Hawthorne's story proves that the veil dramatizes that everyone has a secret sin and we should not judge others when analyzing Mr. Hooper’s dialogue and the feelings of the townsfolk. Analysis of Reverend Hooper’s character clearly indicates that he feels that everyone has a secret sin and we should not judge others. Hawthorne states that, “‘If it must be a sign of mourning,’ replied Mr. Hooper, ‘I perhaps like most other mortals, have sorrows deep enough to be typified by a black veil” (477). In stating this Mr. Hooper implies that everyone has a secret sin, or what he calls “dark sorrows.” He is also implying that since all mortals have secret sins we should not criticize others for it.

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Throughout the short story, Hooper feels as if the veil projects his sin rather than keeping it secret; “...[A]lthough its function is concealment of sin, it actually, in the minister’s case, functions to expose sin” (Boone 1). Sin is displayed in many ways, some ways are stranger than others. It is up to the sinner to decide if they are willing to protect themselves through withdrawal from society, or by exposing themselves freely to the world while there is something symbolizing their sin on their body. In the midst of Hooper’s alleged sin, individuals became obsessed with what he was hiding, rather than the sins they have been committing. One tends to shun another to take away attention from their own sins; “...they should see their own veils instead of fixating on what is possibly behind his” (Boone 1).

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In Hawthorn’s short story of “The Minister’s Black Veil”, rumors surround Minister Hooper when the minister shows to church wearing a black veil, for unknown reasons, people start making up assumptions as to why he is wearing the veil to the point that he becomes an infamously famous outcast. The mystery behind the veil and what was beneath became the town’s “topic for discussion between acquaintances meeting in the streets, and good women gossiping at their windows” (Hawthorn 393). Everyone in the town of Milford found themselves question the mystery, always wondering and assuming what is hidden underneath or why Mr. Hooper is hiding behind the veil. These rumors continue to grow, and as he continues to wear the black veil the people start to question him, and their image of him starts to change. Not only were the townspeople’s thoughts on Mr. Hooper changed, but also his personal thoughts were affected to the point that “he never willingly passed before a mirror… least, in its peaceful bosom, he should be affrighted by himself” (Hawthorn 395).

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This being another reason he his wearing the black veil, although it is never clearly stated why he is wearing the black veil. In the "Ministers Black Veil", I believe Mr. Hooper wears the black veil to show the sins of the puritans in the village. I believe this because there are more facts to support this reason. It is stated throughout all of Article Two and throughout some of Article One.

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Hooper’s decision to don a veil and separate himself from his community, his love, and his ministry may or may not be sinful and wrong and may either cause him suffering by isolating him or may offer him a sort of perverse triumph by teaching his congregation about its own flaws. On his deathbed, Hooper speaks about the meaning of the veil to him, “‘Why do you tremble at me alone?’ cried he, turning his veiled face round the circle of pale spectators. ‘Tremble also at each other! Have men avoided me, and women shown no pity, and children screamed and fled, only for my black veil?’….I

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In a community of metaphoric veils only the veil seen by the public eye is known as obstructive or harmful. Throughout the story, Hooper was portrayed as a monster for publicly wearing the veil as a symbol of his sins. “To surrender or give up, or permit injury or disadvantage to, for the sake of something else” (Dictionary.com). “The Minister’s Black Veil” by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Reverend Hooper sacrificed his love, his dignity, his own happiness, and his position in the community by wearing a veil, which led to his alienation.

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The Minister's Black Veil is a short story by Nathaniel Hawthorne, which centers on the character of Reverend Hooper, who begins wearing a black veil that covers his face. The veil causes a stir in the Puritan community where he lives, as they view it as a symbol of sin and guilt. The story is a powerful allegory for the human tendency to conceal our flaws and faults, as the veil represents the hidden actions and regrets that people hold. It serves as a reminder that everyone has imperfections, and that acknowledging and accepting them is essential for personal growth and redemption. Through the character of Reverend Hooper, Hawthorne explores the themes of sin, secrecy, and the struggle to come to terms with one's humanity.

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People from other places wanting to see him just to see the “minister with the black veil”. Many other dying sinners were always welcoming him to preach all their sins to him before they left their dying beds. “In this manner, Mr.Hooper spent a long life, irreproachable in outward act, yet shrouded in dismal suspicions; kind and loving, though unloved, and dimly feared; a man apart from men, shunned in their health and joy, but ever summoned to their aid of mortal anguish.” (14, Hawthorne) Eventually, all those stares and reactions towards his black veil made his life miserable and everywhere he sees himself in the glass mirror Mr.Hooper is unable to see himself again like he uses to do before. Among his death bed, his beloved Elizabeth came to take care of him and Reverend Mr.Clark to seek him into conclusion and to help him leave those sins so much he had attached himself to liberate him to the spiritual light.

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Throughout the story, Mr. Hooper is covered by a black veil which masks his face. He continuously prevents anyone from seeing his face or persuading him to take it off. Through the use of the veil, Hawthorne paints a picture which shows how sin ruled over the Puritan communities and controlled each person among them. The veil itself becomes the center of attention for all members of Hooper’s Puritan congregation. The entire population of the town become scared of Hooper and believe that this man who was so high among their values, now has a horrid sinful past that he is trying to hide.

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In the “Minister’s Black Veil”, Hawthorne displays Hooper and the symbol of the veil as a representation of how judgmental society can become when faced with situations they don’t understand even though they have no right to judge. The “Minister’s Black Veil” was written as a parable in order to teach us a moral lesson stating that you should never judge someone. In Paul J. Emmett’s literary criticism he tells of a point in the story when Hooper explains his reasoning for wearing the veil, Emmett says, “After exhausting life in his efforts for mankind’s spiritual good, he had made the manner of his death a parable, in order to impress on his admirers the mighty and mournful lesson, that, in the view of infinite purity, we

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In his short story, “The Minister’s Black Veil,” Nathaniel Hawthorne uses irony, symbolism, and stereotypical Puritan beliefs and behavior to expose humanity’s hypocrisy in an effort to create change. Irony is an extremely important literary element that Hawthorne uses in “The Minister’s Black Veil.” Throughout the story, many different examples of irony are evident. First off, the

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