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How Does Nathaniel Hawthorne Use Darkness In The Minister's Black Veil

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No matter how hard one tries, one will always carry darkness. This statement is clear in Nathaniel Hawthorne's ‘The Minister’s Black Veil’ many times. The first time I felt as if it was clear is when Hooper says to Elizabeth, “Do not desert ment, though this weil must be between use here on earth. Be mine, and hereafter there shall be no veil over my face, no darkness between our souls!” Though it is clear one will always have darkness in their souls, people still believe things can be pure. Despite knowing the Pastor Hooper for a long time, the people of the town turn their backs on him because of the ‘unsightly veil’ that he would wear.” “I don’t like it,” muttered an old woman….”He has changed himself into something awful, only by hiding his face.” (Hawthorne). Lastly, when Hawthorne …show more content…

First, the minister started wearing a black veil and pushing people away, thus; making the people of the town exclude him and after church the people would, “gather in little circles, huddled closely together with their mouths whispering…(Hawthorne).” Another way the people handled Hooper drawing away from them was, “...neglect to invite Mr. Hooper to his table, where the good clergyman had been wont to bless the food, almost everyday SUnday since his settlement. (Hawthorne)” They didn’t want him to be apart of something he’s always been apart of because of the veil. Finally, another way this was shown is the way Hooper lived his life when he moved to the small town. “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.” Hawthorne explains that Hooper didn’t really look like a man you should be approaching, thus; he kept to himself and isolated himself from the town after wearing the veil. In this story the minister keeps to himself and doesn’t open up to his fiance or his people causing them to neglect

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Hooper, “a gentlemanly person of about thirty, though still a with clerical neatness, as if a careful wife had starched his band and brushed the weekly dust from his Sunday's garb”. In this story, author describes characters very specifically so that it is easier for readers to know how they look like and their reaction about the situation. This help readers to get more focus into the story and ultimately, it add more calmness, darkness and mysteriousness of the story. “Its [the veil's] gloom, indeed, enabled him to sympathize with all dark affections. Dying sinners cried aloud for Mr. Hooper, and would not yield their breath till he appeared; though ever, as he stooped to whisper consolation, they shuddered at the veiled face so near their

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After reading the Ministers Black Veil we cannot assume that Hooper, the main character, has committed a dark and secret sin. We are, however, free to assume that Hooper is wearing the veil for a reason, one that may be greater than himself. The veil is a symbol of many things, all revolving around public hypocrisy. The townspeople are quick to judge The Minister for wearing such a sinful crape but they themselves overlook their own sins amongst the chaos of speculating the different crimes he must of committed to be wearing the veil.

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After reading both of the text “The Minister 's Black Veil” by Nathaniel Hawthorne and “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” by Jonathan Edwards they’re various similarities and differences can be noted, especially toward the attitudes of sin and guilt. In the story’s the are just portrayed a little bit different. In both stories the feel that sinning is horrible and should be frowned upon. In the story the “Minister 's Black Veil” Nathaniel Hawthorne wants the reader to know that Reverend Hooper is wanting to hide his past sins.

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He no longer fit in with the people in the village and he didn’t meet their expectations of what a minister should be like so they started saying things about Mr.Hooper. At the beginning of the story when they were in the church and Mr.Hooper began wearing the veil a person

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279 Words | 2 Pages

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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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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Hooper negatively not only excluding him from events, but also talking about him with others as well as being afraid of him when they knew him for years. An example of the negative judgement being directed towards Mr. Hooper can be seen when Mr. Hooper’s parishioners “neglected to invite Mr. Hooper to his table” (Hawthorne 7). You can already see how Mr. Hoopers friends are excluding Mr. Hooper from events such as not inviting him to sit with them and eat. By Mr. Hoopers friends doing this, you can see how they have taken into consideration only the appearance of Mr. Hooper thinking he is hiding something dark and sinful, in which led them to excluding and being afraid of Mr. Hooper. Another example of appearance defining who you are can also be seen in the parable,“The black veil, though it covers only our pastor's face, throws its influence over his whole person, and makes him ghostlike from head to foot” (Hawthorne 7).

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Hooper was wearing the veil to make people that actually did sin feel better about themselves. He was looked at as an idol by everyone so why would he wear a veil for people who did wrong? Mr. Hooper did something someone of his position was sacred to do and he was scared for his fiancée and his church to find out. As a reverend he was not supposed to sin, and that is why everyone looked at him differently and judged him without knowing why he wore the veil. By wearing the veil, he had to commit another sin and lie to his fiancée about why he was wearing it and he broke their vows as a result.

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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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664 Words | 3 Pages

Taking place in a small Puritan village, “The Minister’s Black Veil'' allows for readers to interpret from this Puritan standpoint. A speculation of the veil that Hooper wears is that it represents the Puritan faith. Puritan faith in Hawthorne’s eyes was stripping joy and happiness from everyone’s lives. While the true meaning of the veil in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Minister’s Black Veil'' is unknown, there are many ways to interpret it. One interpretation is that the veil represents human feeling and emotion.

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1158 Words | 5 Pages

Mr. Hooper was forcing all of the people to look deeper within themselves and try to understand the veils true meaning “Such was the effect of this simple piece of crape, that more than one woman of delicate nerves was forced to leave the meeting-house. Yet perhaps the pale-faced congregation was almost as fearful a sight to the minister, as his black veil to them.” (Hawthorne 707) In reality, the veil represents the secrets everyone is hiding within himself or herself. The theme of the veil is the conflict between the dark, hidden side of man.

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668 Words | 3 Pages

What can you expect from a minister from changing persona where people use to see him as a “gentlemanly men, of about thirty, though still a bachelor, was dressed with due clerical neatness.” Then have a change in his appearance where it drastically changes his life. By a piece of cloth over his head accounts reactions of the congregation to it, the veil, a black veil that changed the image and the reactions of the people from Westbury. It is just a man, Mr.Hooper, who Hawthorne is modulating between dramatic incidents involving the black veil and Mr.Hooper approaches dramatic reactions towards it, in the short story the “Minister’s Black Veil”. The key symbol of the short story is the black veil it represented the spiritual isolation between

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1358 Words | 6 Pages

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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993 Words | 4 Pages

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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