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The Minister's Black Veil By Edgar Allan Poe Analysis

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Poe vs Hawthorne According to the online Oxford English Dictionary, romanticism is defined as “a movement in the arts and literature which originated in the late 18th century, emphasizing inspiration, subjectivity, and the primacy of the individual.” Romanticism can also be described as writing that finds it’s inspiration from nature. It focuses on emotions with more of a deeper and darker feel to it. Edgar Allen Poe and Nathaniel Hawthorne are two talented Romanticism writers. Edgar Allen Poe wrote “The Fall of the House of Usher,” and Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote “The Minister’s Black Veil.” Edgar Allen Poe and Nathaniel Hawthorne do share similarities such as their use of symbolism and imagery. Both writers also possess many writing characteristics that individualizes the two from each other, for instance, their philosophical beliefs/personalities. …show more content…

“...’The House of Usher’- an appellation which seemed to include, in the minds of the peasantry who used it, both the family and the family mansion.” (The Fall of… 415). The mansion and the Usher family essentially are one, and resemble each other. When the family falls apart and Roderick dies, the house does the same. “Be mine, and hereafter there shall be no veil over my face, no darkness between our souls!” (The Minister’s… 479) The veil that Mr. Hooper wears symbolizes sins that he has committed, and is not afraid to show them, without going into detail. Both Poe and Hawthorne include symbolism in their writings to add to the effect of the

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330 Words | 2 Pages

A Sinner Black Veil In the story “The Minister’s Black Veil” by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the reader can infer that Mr. Hooper teaches his community the lesson that everyone wears a black veil and has secret sins that are hidden from others. The author states that “if I cover it for secret sin, what mortal might not do the same?” In addition, Mr. Hooper wearing the black veil puzzles his community. The reason for that is that a priest does not wear a black veil and preaches in front of everyone in an act of betrayal of the belief in Jesus.

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540 Words | 3 Pages

Hawthorne's story proves that the veil dramatizes that everyone has a secret sin and we should not judge others when analyzing Mr. Hooper’s dialogue and the feelings of the townsfolk. Analysis of Reverend Hooper’s character clearly indicates that he feels that everyone has a secret sin and we should not judge others. Hawthorne states that, “‘If it must be a sign of mourning,’ replied Mr. Hooper, ‘I perhaps like most other mortals, have sorrows deep enough to be typified by a black veil” (477). In stating this Mr. Hooper implies that everyone has a secret sin, or what he calls “dark sorrows.” He is also implying that since all mortals have secret sins we should not criticize others for it.

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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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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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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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1616 Words | 7 Pages

During the early and mid-19th Century, a literature type known as Romanticism evolved in Europe, creating many works of poetry and literature that are still in use presently. Through Romanticism, poets wanted to shed the light on the beauties or the darknesses of human nature and humans themselves with different characteristics that define Romanticism. ¨Dr. Heideggar´s Experiment¨ by Nathaniel Hawthorne and a short story, Nature, by Ralph Waldo Emerson both present the Romantic Characteristic of preferring youthful innocence over educated sophistication. Both pieces advocate a preference for youth, but ¨Dr.

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1943 Words | 8 Pages

Hooper’s sacrifice acknowledges that sin comes at a high price, as he wore the veil, he isolated himself from the Puritan society and no longer accepted him as that was advent. The theme of the Minister’s Black Veil is that everyone has a secret sin, dying from others and that no one person can escape sin. “The subject had reference to secret sin, and those sad mysteries which we hide from our nearest and dearest, and would fain conceal from our own consciousness, even forgetting that the Omniscient can detect them” (Hawthorne). Reverend Hooper wears the black veil to communicate to his congregation and acknowledge that he has sinned. He sacrifices himself by wearing the black veil to recognize the sins committed by himself and the others townspeople; coming to terms with bad sins and remaining as part of humanity.

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735 Words | 3 Pages

“And the revel went whirlingly on, until at length there commenced the sounding of midnight upon the clock. And the music ceased, as I have told; and the evolutions of the waltzers were quieted; and there was an uneasy cessation of all things before. When people are dancing and having fun they don’t stop because a clock rang; this shows that there is something dark like death on the guests mind. In “The Fall of the House of Usher,” the narrator’s thoughts set a dark mood. “...I feel that the period will sooner or later arrive when I must abandon life and reason together, in some struggle with a grim phantasm, FEAR.”

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559 Words | 3 Pages

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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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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433 Words | 2 Pages

Henry David Thoreau and Edgar Allan Poe Henry David Thoreau and Edgar Allan Poe have some characteristics in common. Their writings also have similar aspects which relate to how we see things in the world. Thoreau expressed the way he felt, and the way he saw things through nature.

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956 Words | 4 Pages

The veil represents the transgressions that the minister, Reverend Hooper, and his congregation carry with them. As Hawthorne writes, "The black veil, though it covers only our pastor's face, throws its influence over his whole person, and makes him ghost-like from head to foot" (Hawthorne 3). The veil not only affects the minister, but also has a profound impact on his community, causing fear and suspicion among the townspeople. Additionally, other symbols such as the corpse-like appearance of the veil and the wedding ring that the minister refuses to remove, add to the complex layers of meaning within the story. Overall, the symbolism in "The Minister's Black Veil" is essential to understanding the deeper themes and messages conveyed by Hawthorne's

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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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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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