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Symbolism In The Raven And The Minister's

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What kind of stories can come from the dark minds of writers during the Dark Romantic Era? One’s similar to Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Raven” and “The Black Cat” and Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Minister’s Black Veil” and “The Scarlet Letter.” In these short stories and poems, you find a lot of symbolism that was popular during this time. Symbolism is an artistic and poetic style using symbolic images and indirect suggestion to express spiritual ideas, emotions, and states of mind. In all stories and poems, the use of symbols are what make the story feel so real to the audience. A symbol as simple as a bird can mean so much more then what you see, whereas a symbol as complicated as the sea, can mean so much less then what you thought. It all depends …show more content…

In “The Minister’s Black Veil,” Nathaniel Hawthorne used the black veil to cover Mr. Hooper’s face to symbolize his sorrows or secret sins. Hooper said, “I, perhaps, like most other mortals, have sorrows dark enough to be typified by a dark veil” (641). The black veil also becomes a symbol of Hooper's sin of excessive pride when he continues to wear it and gets caught up in thinking that he is morally superior because he is the one who conveys such a significant message. The greatest criticism of Hooper, leveled by those who see the veil as a symbol of pride, is that he is a bad shepherd to his flock because he neglects them as he becomes more and more preoccupied with his moral mission. Symbolically, the veil denies him meaningful and complete admission to God's presence in both Scripture and prayer and realizing that he can never be certain whether God has elected or damned him to hell, he taints a clear and uncomplicated view of worldly and spiritual things. The veil could also symbolize the lack of connection between religious leaders and those whom they lead. The funeral and wedding could also be considered symbols of life and death and life and the evil that resides in the human heart pervades even the most sacred

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“The Minister’s black veil” The relationship between Mr. Hooper and the Black veil is that Mr. Hooper never takes off his black veil. He always takes it around with him, the Black Veil covers his body except for his mouth and chin. No one knows why he takes it around with him but it was rumored that Mr. Hooper was wearing the black veil for his own secret sins or that he made a commitment to a young woman , He is known as death. Mr. Hooper is known as a mysterious and an evil character in the story. He’s a tormented soul and feels the need to let everyone know by veiling his face, Mr. Hooper wants to keep his identity a secret from other people.

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1053 Words | 5 Pages

In The Minister’s Black Veil, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, tells a story about Reverend Hooper, he lives in a small town in New England, called Milford. One Sabbath morning, Reverend Hooper chooses to give a sermon while wearing a black veil. Rumors instantly started to go around among his Puritan audience about reasons for him for wearing the veil. The story is developed around a specific symbol which, in this case, was the black veil that the Reverend wears to cover his face from the world. The Minister's Black Veil shows the mindset that Puritans had toward human nature in a way that shows it is loaded with pessimism.

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In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Minister’s Black Veil, Hawthorne reveals how sacrifice illuminates a person’s values by allowing Mr.Hooper to lose his dignity to prove a point to his community about his beliefs, through wearing a veil over his eyes to symbolize not only his sin but the sin of his community.

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Hooper is sacrificing his life by ruining his reputation of his as a minister and as a person. People start to look at Mr. Hooper as a different and changed person; this is shown when the congregation says, “He has changed himself into something awful, only by hiding his face” (Hawthorne 176). The congregation also mentions “ The black veil, though it covers only our pastor’s face, throws its whole person, and makes him ghost-like from head to foot” (Hawthorne 178). Mr. Hooper’s veil that he wore was seen as if it took over his whole demeanor and made him into a whole new person. Mr. Hooper’s finance, Elizabeth, knew that people would view him differently and that the veil was not a good look for his reputation.

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853 Words | 4 Pages

The Dark Truth “The Raven”, by Edgar Allen Poe, and “The Minister’s Black Veil”, by Nathaniel Hawthorne are two stories that show the dark and twisted side of humanity. Edgar Allen Poe is best known for writing his stories about death and the darkness of death. This in turn makes all his seem to be this style where as “The Raven” is a creation of humans seeking hope in a situation that is hopeless. Hawthorne writes about the good and bad in the choices we choose. In “The Ministers Black Veil” Hawthorne confronts a touchy subject by displaying how the congregations covers their sin like a veil covers the face.

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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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560 Words | 3 Pages

By reading the text, you can tell that Reverend Hooper has done something that he awfully regrets and he is wearing this veil out of shame and to detach himself from society and people seeing him. I think he feels like he has let his God and the people of his congregation down and to make up for it, he should use this as a lesson and platform to preaching to his congregation. This is where irony can be picked up on in the story because the reverend is preaching a sermon to the congregation when he is battling his own demons and issues related to the sins he preaches about. The wearing of the black veil also makes me think about those who put on a poker face for people everyday and you never really know what they have going on in their life, good or bad. Many people are good at smiling everyday and pretending everything is okay when deep down they have personal issues or they are hiding secrets like the reverend did.

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470 Words | 2 Pages

In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s parody “The Black Veil,” the reader is introduced to Minister Hooper as he steps out with a black veil over his face to begin a church service. The immediate response of confusion and fear takes over his congregation. Minister Hooper uses the veil as a symbol for the hidden/secret sins that each one of us carries. The irony in this is that the veil is just that, a double folded crape. Hooper’s congregation proved to be harsh and judgmental of the minister not fully understanding why he was veiled.

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641 Words | 3 Pages

Symbolism allows the author to create a story that would otherwise be bland and monotone. Without this dark romantic element, books, short stories, and poems would not have as much meaning nor appealing detail. Symbolism in "The Raven," "The Devil and Tom Walker," and "The Minister's Black Veil," creates layers of meaning and interesting characters. Symbolism has been used for centuries to spice up the literary world. Sometimes it is used in obvious ways, but other time it has to be thoroughly studied to be imperturbably understood.

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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.

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957 Words | 4 Pages

As stated best in the Minister's Black Veil, “Swathed about his forehead, and hanging down over his face, so low as to be shaken by his breath, Mr. Hooper had on a black veil” (Hawthorne 3). A black veil that covered all of his face. Something so unusual cast upon his face. At first glance, people started whispering between each other about Mr. Hooper’s mysterious black veil. Mr. Hooper had a purpose for this black veil, but no one knew what that

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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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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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1494 Words | 6 Pages

During the 1800s Dark Romanticism, sometimes referred to as Gothic Romanticism, entered the world of literature. Unlike the writings before this time, Dark Romanticism showed the sinful thoughts that had not been previously shown in the world. Unlike the previous fiction stories or novels such as fairytales that used creative, positive stories to escape reality, these dark and sometimes supernatural writings eluded reality by taking its readers into disturbing and sometimes sacrilegious situations. Edgar Allan Poe and Nathaniel Hawthorne both used symbols to illustrate elements of Dark Romanticism. The symbols within the stories of these great writers revealed the impending darkness and gloom that characterized Dark Romanticism.

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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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