ipl-logo

The Minister's Black Veil Symbolism

1158 Words5 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. Soon assumptions began to travel around the village. All of the villagers had their own opinion on why the minister was wearing this veil. None of the villagers were trying to understand the true reasoning of the veil they had just convinced …show more content…

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. The themes that are portrayed by the veil reveals, the tension between the minister and the community. Every person has something to hide from the world, the veil is symbolic for the cover up of the people’s secrets. Although most people would not wear a veil to hide their secrets from others, the minister is proving a point. By wearing a simple black veil Mr. Hooper is making all the villagers evaluate their everyday actions closely. The symbolic value of the black veil creates a dilemma that it between the minister and his environment, and the guilt that the veil also conveys. Many people believe that the face provides information about a person's life and …show more content…

The wearing of the veil is a confession of guilt and a suggestion that everyone should do the same. Mr. Hooper really did not understand how much this black veil was going to affect the congregation until raising his glass in a toast for a newlywed couple and catching a glimpse of himself in the looking glass. Right then and there is when Mr. Hooper realized, "the Earth, too, had on her black veil” (Hawthorne 2145). This means that everyone is hiding; most people would not wear a black veil and have no reason in doing so. Is it that the people afraid of what the veil represents to Mr. Hooper or are they afraid of what it represents to themselves? It is obvious that Mr. Hooper is afraid of people's faithfulness to each one of the villagers, and also to God. It seems as Mr. Hooper is testing to see if the love and companionship of others is unreliable. By seeing the

Show More
Related
488 Words | 2 Pages

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.

Read More
155 Words | 1 Pages

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.

Read More
754 Words | 4 Pages

It is a close knit town where everybody knows each other. As the story progresses, it is seen how people will avoid even the most loved friends and family once there is a mysterious barrier in between them. So, throughout the story, the minister’s black veil symbolizes a variety of things such as: secret sins, a barrier, and even sorrow. First off, I think that Father Hooper’s black veil symbolizes everyone’s secret sins. In the beginning of the story, church begins and Hooper appears concealed by a black veil, and everybody is mystified.

Read More
831 Words | 4 Pages

The reader knew how Mr. Hooper felt, while they also knew how the congregation and Elizabeth felt. The congregation didn’t like the veil. “Have men avoided me, and women shown no pity, and children screamed and fled, only for my black veil” (Hawthorne 485-486). This quote is explaining how the people reacted when they saw the minister. He felt like everyone was avoiding him.

Read More
1191 Words | 5 Pages

Mr.Hooper wears the veil because he knows good will come out of it in the end. Mr.Hooper dedicates his whole life to this one calling. By Hooper putting on the veil he is accepting that he will never be able to participate in any joys in the world and he will have to keep an image that is appropriate with the black veil (Montbriand). He essentially gave up his whole life for this one purpose. Mr.Hooper lets his fiance hurt because she has lost the man she loves just because he will not take off the one thing that could keep them happy and together (Stouck 559+).

Read More
451 Words | 2 Pages

The Minister Black Veil Mr. Hooper put on the black veil, which changed his life until death. Although, the town knew him before the veil, their feeling changed drastically after the veil. It is human nature to judge one’s feelings by someone’s facial expressions and body language. Mr. Hooper was trying thorough symbolism to show that everyone has something to cover up. In the end, Mr. Hooper life was lonely and sacrificed, by choosing to wear the veil.

Read More
279 Words | 2 Pages

you know not how lonely I am, and how frightened to be alone behind my black veil. Do not leave me in this miserable obscurity forever!” The black veil caused for Mr. Hooper to lose his love. Both were really close but the black veil inferred in their relationship. However,

Read More
522 Words | 3 Pages

Since Mr. Hooper will not break to these cries and pleas he is only separating himself from everyone else and society. Throughout the story “Minister’s Black Veil” Mr. Hooper sacrifices many thing by him wearing the black veil. As a result of Mr. Hooper’s actions he sacrifices his social life, he sacrifices his relationship with his wife Elizabeth, and he is separating himself from society by wearing the black

Read More
468 Words | 2 Pages

In article two it states; "Mr. Hooper wears the veil to symbolize his mourning for the secret sins of many of the Puritans who fear the severe punishments for transgressions and live as hypocrites becomes apparent in the denouement of Hawthorne's story" clearly stating that he wears this black veil to symbolize the sins of the puritans rather than himself. Mr. Hooper wishes to teach a moral

Read More
476 Words | 2 Pages

The stories “Minister’s Black Veil” and “Young Goodman Brown” both portray the theme of loss and secrecy. Women, specifically Faith and Elizabeth, bring to light some of the conflicts and foreshadow the outcome of the story. The women in the stories “Minister’s Black Veil” and “Young Goodman Brown” represent the outcomes of the story with their name or their secrecy towards the main character. “Minister’s Black Veil” reveals the theme of secrecy and grief among people. The main character, Mr. Hooper, wears a black veil over his face like a blanket of secrets.

Read More
559 Words | 3 Pages

Hooper was wearing the veil to make people that actually did sin feel better about themselves. He was looked at as an idol by everyone so why would he wear a veil for people who did wrong? Mr. Hooper did something someone of his position was sacred to do and he was scared for his fiancée and his church to find out. As a reverend he was not supposed to sin, and that is why everyone looked at him differently and judged him without knowing why he wore the veil. By wearing the veil, he had to commit another sin and lie to his fiancée about why he was wearing it and he broke their vows as a result.

Read More
668 Words | 3 Pages

Mr.Hooper new that throughout his life of trying to get many people to understand why he did such thing like of the black veil. They would never understand why so and/or overpass through the negative reactions of the people towards him for wearing the

Read More
1277 Words | 6 Pages

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.

Read More
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

Read More
1730 Words | 7 Pages

More importantly is what the black veil really symbolizes, which there can be plenty of meanings behind. The meaning that makes the most sense when it comes to the black veil would have to be that the black veil is a symbol of secret sin and the darkness of humanity. This symbol can be seen in the following quote, "in addition to standing for man 's concealment or hypocrisy," (Stibitz 1), and emphasizes the idea that the veil symbolizes how there is darkness in humanity. Mr. Hooper wore this black veil to symbolize the secret sin that we all seem to carry within us, but we are all too afraid to demonstrate and let it out. The black veil has a very deep and suspenseful meaning to it when you take a more in depth view of it, because when we go just go with an interpretation it seems as if he is just wearing it for a funeral.

Read More

More about The Minister's Black Veil Symbolism

Related Topics

Open Document