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Shame In The Minister's Black Veil By Nathaniel Hawthorne

660 Words3 Pages

Wearing a black veil is almost never positive, especially when a minister is the wearer. Why would any minister wear a veil? The reason for Mr. Hooper’s veil goes deeper than just sadness. Hooper conveys a sense of deep regret behind the mysterious black veil. In Hawthorne’s, “The Minister’s Black Veil”, Hawthorne uses the veil to illustrate shame, the “mask” of society, and the fear of past sins. Shame is one of the main reasons for the minister’s black veil. The veil signifies a sense of deep regret and shame. Mysterious sin can be symbolized through the veil as well; the minister is judged as soon as he is seen. In society, people are quick to judge if someone is wearing something out of the ordinary. “There is nothing terrible in this piece of crape, except that it hides a face which I am always glad to look upon ,”(page). This quote …show more content…

Unwanted memory of past sin is seemingly catching up to the minister; the minister is scared of the things he has done previously. Using the black veil as a cover gives the minister a hiding place from his dark past. “Beloved and respected as you are, there may be whispers that you hide your face under the consciousness of secret sin. For the sake of your holy office, do away this scandal,” (page). Removing the veil of fear can do away with lots of confusion; as expressed in this quote. Present day government can show a fear of the past. Government spending can easily be the scariest thing our country faces today, yet the government still puts on a “mask” and acts as if everything is fine. But society knows something is truly wrong, and our government should be scared of its past “sins”. Fearful memory of sin, which is debt in this case, is the motivation for todays “masks” worn by our political leaders. Asking for forgiveness is an easy way to escape from your sin. Forgiveness can set one free from all past anti-moral

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The symbolism of the black veil gives a eerie, mysterious tone in the minister’s black veil. As story goes on, the meaning of the black veil becomes clear. Mr. Hooper suggested that every mortal people should cover their faces with the black veil because everyone has a secret or sin behind them. Covering face with the black veil also meant that it is revealing their short come to the others that will make them lonely or fall in sorrow. It also represents scary feeling to the others.

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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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Which allows me to signify that another theme that this story hides is sorrow, there’s a lot of sadness and grief throughout the story. “Have patience with me, Elizabeth!” “ Do not desert me, though this veil must be between us here on earth” (242). “The black veil separated him from cheerful brotherhood and woman’s love.” Hence, one of the major themes of “The Minister’s Black Veil” is that those who acknowledge the secrets of their hearts and those who choose to stand apart from their fellows will often find that they are ostracized and may well lead lives of loneliness, prisoners in their own hearts”( Reed 3 ).

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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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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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In The Minister’s Black Veil, the veil holds different meanings for the minister and for the people in his congregation. The congregation starts out confused about the meaning, and even though they get hints of the meaning over the years, they never understand it fully, and their obsessive fear of the minister continues even though he remains a good and harmless person. The minister seems to know what the symbolic meaning of the veil is, although he only reveals it slowly in bits and pieces until the climactic scene on his deathbed. He, too, views the veil with fear, because he sees it as a symbol of the secret sin in himself and everyone. In addition to the meaning the veil holds for the congregation and for the minister, it is important to consider the effect of the veil on the relationship between the two.

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As it is shown in The Minister’s Black Veil even those that are deemed holy are marked. Similarly to “good Mr. Hooper” we strive to portray an image of innocence (1253). We hide everything behind a black veil, “forgetting that the Omniscient can detect” all of the misdeeds that our hearts bear (1254). Nonetheless, though our minds conceal “those sad mysteries which we hide from our nearest and dearest” are hearts fell the heavy weight they carry (1254). Consequently, “the most innocent girl, and the man of

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Minister’s Black Veil Symbolism In the short story The Minister’s Black Veil, Nathaniel Hawthorne proposes that people are hiding their sins and not accepting them through the symbolism of the black veil. People are uncomfortable by Mr.Hooper’s veiled appearance in the church because they feel he knows their sins. Everyone has hidden sins and now with the company of the veil, scandals seem to be out in the open. Hawthorne describes the disgust of the veil, “They shuddered at the veiled face so near...”(Hawthorne 63).

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In the story of The Minister 's Black Veil occurred various of dramatic problems. There were multiple situations of things that were going on and that people won 't know the reasons why was that happening. Like the Minister that had the black veil multiple of people were judging him just because of his appearances and they didn 't eve knew the reasons why was he wearing the black veil. "I don 't like it," muttered an old woman, as she hobbled into the meeting-house. "He has changed himself into something awful, only by hiding his face” (Hawthorn 2 .

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In "The Ministers Black Veil" by Nathaniel Hawthorne "The reason that it is difficult for the congregation and even his fiancée to look upon him is that they only see the veil. " The minister is hiding his face because he is afraid that what he is hiding will show to the people of the church and his fiancée. Mr. Hooper is wearing the veil because he committed a sin; and is hiding it from the town and his church First of all, Mr. Hooper is hiding behind the veil to ensconce his sins is because it is bigger than all the other sins everyone else has admitted. The article said that it could be him hiding a inclination he is having for a female.

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The veil that the minister wears in "The Ministers Black Veil", by Nathanial Hawthorne represents both the minister’s isolation from society and also his connection to society through sin. This symbolism of the veil is no immediately obvious, but later on throughout the story becomes noticeable. In the story when the minister, Mr. Hooper first walks out of his house wearing the black veil, everyone was startled. No one quite understood why the minister would be wearing this veil for no specific reason.

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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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In the Minister’s Black Veil, the black veil has a great significance to the story. The black veil symbolizes the secret sin in society. The sins of humanity are the greatest sin which society hides and ignores. People do not take account of the bad deeds that are going on every single day. This Parable does an outstanding job of doing that because Mr. Hooper goes on with his day normally, but by having that veil on his face it exemplifies that sin is occurring.

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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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However, true Christianity comes with knowing that we are and never will be perfect, but that God is strong in our weaknesses. Therefore, there is really no reason for the minister to be hiding behind his veil. Another example of irony in “The Minister’s Black Veil” comes with the initial reaction of the people. At first, they look at their own minister and the veil he is wearing in horror (Hawthorne 281).

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