ipl-logo

Similarities Between The Scarlet Letter And The Minister's Black Veil

642 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Ministers black veil compared to scarlet letter

Guilt: God’s Gift that Keeps on Giving The Puritan religion’s view on sin consists of the belief that all puritans should live a sanctified life. In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s works, The Scarlet Letter, and “The Minister’s Black Veil”, Reverend Dimmesdale (The Scarlet Letter), and Minister Hooper (“The Minister’s Black Veil”) are both leaders in the Puritan church. Amongst their superior roles, they both committed sin against God’s will. Consequently, for their inappropriate acts, Dimmesdale and Hooper both live the rest of their lives striving for redemption. Dimmesdale and Hooper might show several similarities, but on the aspects of publicity, contrition, and the symbolism of the sin itself, they have incredibly distinct qualities. To start off, in The Scarlet Letter, Reverend Dimmesdale commits the …show more content…

In The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne makes the reader fully aware of Dimmesdale’s relations with Hester by dropping important hints. For example, in chapter three, when Dimmesdale speaks to Hester, Pearl who is clutching to Hester’s breast “turns her gaze towards Dimmesdale, and holds up her littler arms with a half pleased, half plaintive murmur” (The Scarlet Letter 47). This reaction indicated that Peal had been held by him before; she seems to be acquainted with the minister. However, the sin committed by Hooper is not disclosed to the readers, instead, they are left with a short story and an imagination to come up with it on their own. In “The Minister’s Black Veil” the veil is meant to symbolize a secret sin and conceals the true face of all men from God. It has the purpose of conveying the theme that “there is an hour to come when all of us shall cast aside our veils” where the veil in its purest form is merely a representation of dishonesty and wickedness that stops all individuals from truly coming to terms with themselves (“The Minister’s Black Veil”

Show More
Related
635 Words | 3 Pages

The Puritans arrived in America in the 16th and 17th centuries hoping create a purified version of the church as they believed the Church of England had still had too many components of catholicism. Humans are also invertly evil and this wickedness is displayed throughout many stories. Finally, moral values are also a central conflict to many stories. Puritanism, the evils of all humans, and moral conflict are a central themes to all three of The Crucible, “Young Goodman Brown”, and “The Minister’s Black Veil”. Although these stories are seemingly unrelated stories on the surface however when considering the under-the-surface meanings of these stories many similarities appear including the impact of Puritanism, the wickedness of all humans, and moral conflict.

Read More
354 Words | 2 Pages

“Love, whether newly born or aroused from a deathlike slumber, must always create sunshine, filling the heart so full of radiance, that it overflows upon the outward world.” That is a quote the novel, The Scarlet Letter, a novel written during the Romanticism era of literature. Nathaniel Hawthorne is the author of The Scarlet Letter and the Minister’s Black Veil. The Scarlet Letter takes place in the 1600s in the Puritan town of Boston. Hester Prynne is the main character, and the subject of humiliation after she is caught committing adultery and gives birth to a child, Pearl.

Read More
140 Words | 1 Pages

Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, one of the protagonists of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel The Scarlet Letter, stands as a highly conflicted character. The source of his divide stems from the consequences of private sins, and is prevalent within the first paragraphs of Chapter 12, “The Minister’s Vigil,” where the narration chronicles Dimmesdale’s surroundings as he dream walks through the town in a state of limbo. He is portrayed as a model citizen who lacks moral imperfections to the general public yet suffers privately from the juxtaposition of his sins to his position within the community. In this specific passage, Hawthorne uses somber diction and imagery to illustrate Dimmesdale’s strife, while portraying his internal conflict through the formation

Read More
1606 Words | 7 Pages

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 ).

Read More
119 Words | 1 Pages

In the short story “The Minister’s Black Veil” and the novel The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne tells the stories of two men who keep their sins secret and are hurt deeply. In The Scarlet Letter, Reverend Dimmesdale does not reveal his sin to the community and experiences far more pain than Hester, whose sin is revealed. Years after the original sin, Hester has healed and is accepted by the community, while Dimmesdale still feels guilty, as can be seen when he mounts the scaffold. Dimmesdale’s experience is similar to that of Reverend Hooper, who covers his face after a secret sin and is eschewed by the community. When we refuse to admit our faults, we will feel guilty

Read More
540 Words | 3 Pages

Everyone's a Sinner! “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!” This quote is very important as it mentions Reverend Hooper’s problem with sins and sinners. The short story, “The Minister’s Black Veil” was written by Nathaniel Hawthorne.

Read More
615 Words | 3 Pages

“Know, then, this veil is a type and a symbol, and I am bound to wear it ever, both in light and darkness, in solitude and before the gaze of multitudes, and as with strangers, so with my familiar friends, no mortal eye will see it withdrawn, the dismal shade must separate me from the world" (336) Hawthorne’s them through out the Ministers Black Veil and many more of his works, resemble innocence, guilt and secret

Read More
1792 Words | 8 Pages

In the novel The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale suffered greatly from his internally kept sin of adultery. One of the most prominent themes in this novel seems to be the struggles an individual has with his/her identity, when faced with society’s harsh judgements. The declination of Dimmesdale’s physical and mental state throughout the novel is a prime example of this effect of society on an individual. His internal suffering damaged him more than it would if he were to announce his sin to society; this was detrimental to him—he needed to confess his sin before it could internally destruct him any more, but could not bring himself to tell this judgmental society. His position, as a young minister who is known

Read More
655 Words | 3 Pages

The Scarlet Letter’s Development The Scarlet Letter is written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, and has many different central ideas. Some of those central ideas are hypocrisy, sin, revenge, guilt, and conformity. Dimmesdale, the town being full of hypocritical individuals, and Dimmesdale committing adultery to reveal how Dimmesdale has to conform to how the town sees him, while the guilt is ruining his health. Hawthorne conveys the central idea that sin creates guilt, which creates secrets and conformity by Dimmesdale being a minister who has committed adultery and will not confess that he did.

Read More
1338 Words | 6 Pages

The adoration for the young minister is conveyed in a scene wherein Dimmesdale encounters a young woman while walking through town. In the scene, Hawthorne reveals, “The minister knew she had enshrined him in her heart, where she hung pure white curtains around his image—giving religion the warmth of love, and love the purity of religion” () While one could argue that this view of Dimmesdale is evidence that revealing sin is not

Read More
1158 Words | 5 Pages

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.

Read More
531 Words | 3 Pages

Dimmesdale was described to be a saint and savior, but really he was like the others. “Oftentimes, this Protestant and Puritan divine had plied it on his own shoulders, laughing bitterly at himself the while, and smiting so much the more pitilessly because of that bitter laugh.” (Hawthorne 136) Dimmesdale had to hide his pain and guilt. The townspeople knew Dimmesdale as the non-sinner, a perfect somebody, but really he was just like everyone else. Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale had to live up to the expectations of the townspeople and that made it harder for him to come clean because everyone expected him to be better.

Read More
895 Words | 4 Pages

However, the minister hurt himself in the process, as he feelst unworthy due to his inauthenticity. Hawthorne also depicts the Puritan people as rigid, and unable to accept the world as it truly is. Although Dimmesdale demonstrates an altruistic motivation in concealing his sin, Hawthorne uses the community’s stubborn manipulation of perspective and Dimmesdale’s continuous suffering to argue that no matter the intention, concealment is pointless. As Dimmesdale conceals his sin to protect the Puritan people, he suffersed for years and hurts himself continuously, portraying the negative effects of concealment.

Read More
921 Words | 4 Pages

Dimmesdale submits to his wrongdoing by wearing “one face to himself and another to the multitude” and reaches a point where he does not know “which may be true” because of the frequent changes in his personality due to his surroundings (Hawthorne 206). Dimmesdale's difficulty compensating for both of his facades develops an internal conflict. Devoting much of his time pretending to be somebody else, the different masks within himself clash, and he can no longer keep track of himself or the person he wants to become together. As an act of penance, Dimmesdale “piled [a whip] on his shoulders… but rigorously, and until his knees trembled beneath him” as a different outlet to release the guilt he associates with his sin. Engaging in this form of self-punishment, he attempts to relinquish the repentance he undergoes, but this action does not satisfy his sin.

Read More
604 Words | 3 Pages

Penance vs. Penitence In the novel, The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne writes of the hypocrisy of the Puritans in the 1600’s. He expresses the hardships of Hester Prynne and her adulterous lover, Authur Dimmesdale, who is also the town’s preacher. Because Reverend Dimmesdale is a very noble preacher, he has to persist with the guilt of his sin and continue to preach how one should live a holy and pure lifestyle.

Read More

More about Similarities Between The Scarlet Letter And The Minister's Black Veil

Related Topics

Open Document