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Fear Of The Poem In Edgar Allan Poe's The Pit And The Pendulum

745 Words3 Pages

The theme of the fear of the unknown is developed in “The Pit and the Pendulum” by Edgar Allan Poe and “The Minister’s Black Veil” by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Not knowing what can happen triggers mixed emotions of fear, anxiety, and anxiousness. Humans tend to fear the unknown because life never follows through with the plans that one has in mind. Knowing that unexpected events or tragedies can occur, is what makes humans so terrified of the unknown. The narrator of “The Pit and the Pendulum” fears the possibility of a painful death and torture. In “The Minister’s Black Veil”, the main character, Mr.Hooper, fears the unknown possibility of punishment for his secret sins. Edgar A. Poe and Nathaniel Hawthorne both convey the theme of the fear of the …show more content…

The black veil that the Mr. Hooper wears during his sermons as minister terrifies the townspeople. The townspeople fear the black veil because it is a symbolic reference that symbolizes their secret sins. The appearance of the black veil makes the people feel uncomfortable and guilty for the secret sins they have committed which makes them fearful of the unknown punishments they must abide to if their secret sins are ever to be revealed. On page 246, the minister reveals his purpose of wearing the black veil, “When the friend show his inmost heart to his friend; the lover to his best beloved; when man does not vainly shrink from the eye of his Creator, loathsomely treasuring up the secret of his sin; then deem me a monster, for the symbol beneath which I have lived, and die! I look around me, and, lo! On every visage a Black Veil!” (Hawthorne 246). In this quote, Mr. Hooper reveals that he does not wear the veil for his secret sins, but for the secret sins of the townspeople. People are afraid to reveal their secret sins for the punishment they will receive like Mr. Hooper is receiving

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In the story “The minister’s Black Veil” by Nathaniel Hawthorne Mr.Hooper is judge by everybody when he shows up with the black veil for the first time. Nobody expected him to wear a black veil that cover half of his face. There are times when wearing a black

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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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Examples Of Isolation In The Minister's Black Veil

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In “The Minister’s Black Veil”, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the minister, Mr. Hooper wear a black veil which affects his relationship with his community negatively because the people distanced themselves and isolated Mr. Hooper. For example, Elizabeth, Mr. Hooper’s fiancee distances herself from Mr. Hooper. Hawthorne writes, “Then, farewell!” said Elizabeth. She withdrew her arm from his grasp and slowly departed...”. Elizabeth is heading out upset when Mr. Hooper says to her, “Oh!

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The veil can be interpreted as a symbol of the ways and practices Puritans, as well as people today, misleading others of the sins they have committed while completely and truly facing themselves. The veil is used as a daily reminder of people's sins, undeniable truths, guilt, and secrets that they are just unwilling to admit. Hooper uses a parable to influence his congregation which the community's admiration for him turns to confusion and fear, and he is forced to live a lonely, isolated life. Many people in the congregation assume that Hooper is keeping a secret sin from them and in turn and since black veils are a sign of mourning, they thus assume death. The black veil is a

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What Does The Veil Symbolize In The Minister's Black Veil

522 Words | 3 Pages

Hooper wearing the veil this makes everyone consider him an outcast to society. Before the service and old woman said “I don’t like it” and she hobbled into the meeting-house”(Hawthorne 1). As a result of Hooper wearing the veil he makes this old lady avoid his service because she is scared of him. At the close of the service many people went straight home by themselves and the other huddled in small groups and ignored Mr. Hooper and instead talked about him. Nothing, not the pleas of the elders, nor the nudging of Elizabeth , nor his own loneliness can persuade Hooper to remove the piece of black crape that separates him so dramatically from society (Boone).

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The people isolate Reverend Hooper because he reminds them of their own sins. When Reverend Hooper first preaches after donning the veil, his sermon references secret sins, and the ensuing effect of the veil causes the people to feel as though he “discovered their hoarded iniquity of deed or thought” (Hawthorne 2). Because of this terrible effect of the veil and the exposure of sin through the veil, the parishioners alienate Reverend Hooper. By isolating and avoiding the veil, people hope to forget their secret sins.

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Many people of the community were afraid of Reverend Hooper and his black veil. “But from the...over his face” (Hawthorne 2-4). Although Hooper’s empirically observable behavior is uniformly kind and gentle, he remains unloved and dimly feared. Later on, the community realized that the veil was not a symbol of evil and decided the effects were not all that bad.

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The wearing of the veil is a confession of guilt and a suggestion that everyone should do the same. Mr. Hooper really did not understand how much this black veil was going to affect the congregation until raising his glass in a toast for a newlywed couple and catching a glimpse of himself in the looking glass. Right then and there is when Mr. Hooper realized, "the Earth, too, had on her black veil” (Hawthorne 2145). This means that everyone is hiding; most people would not wear a black veil and have no reason in doing so. Is it that the people afraid of what the veil represents to Mr. Hooper or are they afraid of what it represents to themselves?

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The Ministers Black Veil is a short story written by Nathaniel Hawthorne that causes readers to question the true nature of humans beneath their surface. The story begins with Mr. Hooper, a minister of a town, sparking interest when he arbitrarily appears wearing a black veil covering most of his face. After he appears Mr. Hooper says nothing when questioned about the veil. Throughout the story he continues to wear the veil, causing, anger, gossip, and even betrayal. Hawthorne displays an extremely didactic story after his congregation, and even fiancé turn on him for simply wearing a black veil.

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Isolation In The Minister's Black Veil

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Mr.Hooper new that throughout his life of trying to get many people to understand why he did such thing like of the black veil. They would never understand why so and/or overpass through the negative reactions of the people towards him for wearing the

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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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1239 Words | 5 Pages

(Hawthorne 8). Mr. Hooper is saying that he is being punished, and as a result, the world has alienated him. Despite becoming separated from the world, he still refuses to remove the veil and is firmly resolved to face penance for his sins, since he is riddled with guilt. The black veil constantly shrouding his face symbolizes that nobody can be pure, and that everyone has the capacity for evil. Moreover, an example of personification in The Wedding Knell is when the bridegroom appears, but it is said that “No garb but that of the grave could have befitted such a deathlike aspect…

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