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.
Two topics that heavily relate to the outcome of “The Ministers Black Veil” are Secrecy and Forgiveness. Reverend Hopper seeks to teach his congregation a lesson. He uses the secrecy of the veil to teach them this. What they do not realize is what the veil might actually symbolize, the secret sin of behind each person. This secrecy was what the Minister was trying to teach them about.
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.
Sinner’s in the eyes of One “The Minister’s Black Veil,” by Nathaniel Hawthorne uses a black veil to symbolize the sins that the human may carry throughout their entire life. “ At the end of the story, as he lies dying, the Reverend Mr. Hooper says that he sees a veil on all the faces of those who are attending his deathbed. In this way, the major theme of the story is developed; that is, it is suggested that everyone wears a black veil, that everyone has a secret sin or sorrow that is hidden from all others. Everyone could, like the Reverend Mr. Hooper, cover his face with a black veil.” ( Reed 3 ).
In the movie, Easy A by director Will Gluck and the short story, “The Minister’s Black Veil”, by Nathaniel Hawthorn, both the main characters step outside what is normal to gain something in return, and therefore cause rumors about them to spread. For Olive Penderghast, telling a little white lie to her best friend, Rhiannon Abernathy, ends up being found out by another female, Marianne Bryant, by overhearing the two friends talking. While Minister Hooper, one day decides to start wearing a black veil over his face, that has everyone in the town questioning him and his motives behind the veil. In both cases, rumors are soon spread around about the main characters. A simple rumor can start by just asking a question or simply telling something
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!
Austin Scott Mrs. Spampinato English III – Period 8 8 December 2014 The Power of a Black Veil Mr. Hooper enters the church wearing a black veil covering his face. The town’s people are unsure and freaked out by Mr. Hooper. He’s trying to hide something within himself and only himself. While wearing the veil he keeps to himself most of the time and avoids contact with others.
Nathaniel Hawthorne's, " The Ministers Black Veil", is regarded to one of the first and greatest examples of American Short Fiction. Like many of Hawthorne's novels and stories the story is developed around a single around a single symbol; in this case, the black veil. There are ambiguous ways of explaining why Mr. Hooper wears the black veil? Mr. Hooper wears the black veil to signify he is wearing the sins of the puritans in the village. Mr. Hooper is a reverend, making one of his roles to listen to the puritans sins.
Also the Minister’s Black veil show another common trait that intuition over logic and reason were valued. In addition, Mr. Hooper can be seen as a romantic character because of his misleading ways. As mentioned in Ironic Unity in Hawthorne’s “the Minister’s Black Veil” by Earle Stibitz, that Mr. Hooper’s sin may be hidden one keeping it from himself and the parishioners. By doing this he is either misguiding his followers to learn a lesson or he is hiding a secret of his own. “This irony is compounded in that Hooper’s sin is a hidden one-hidden not only from his fellows but from himself”(Stibitz 182).
“Most dangerous is that temptation that doth goad us on to sin in loving virtue,” wrote William Shakespeare in describing the threat of falling into sin while seeking to do good. In “The Minister’s Black Veil,” Reverend Hooper dons a black veil and sins against his social responsibilities as a role model and alienates his congregation while attempting to make them more virtuous. Hooper’s choice highlights the ambiguity of sin and sorrow which is present in the reactions of Hooper’s community towards the veil, Hooper’s fiancée’s reaction to the veil, and Hooper himself, all of whom have difficulty grasping the truth and reality of another person. While I have never literally worn a black veil, I can see how I view the world through the “veil”
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.
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.
People from other places wanting to see him just to see the “minister with the black veil”. Many other dying sinners were always welcoming him to preach all their sins to him before they left their dying beds. “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, shunned in their health and joy, but ever summoned to their aid of mortal anguish.” (14, Hawthorne) Eventually, all those stares and reactions towards his black veil made his life miserable and everywhere he sees himself in the glass mirror Mr.Hooper is unable to see himself again like he uses to do before. Among his death bed, his beloved Elizabeth came to take care of him and Reverend Mr.Clark to seek him into conclusion and to help him leave those sins so much he had attached himself to liberate him to the spiritual light.
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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