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What Does The Mirror Symbolize In The Minister's Black Veil

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The Minister’s Black Veil Hawthorne's The Minister's Black Veil is judged as one of the greatest examples of American short fiction. Like many of Hawthorne's stories, the story is created around symbols. These symbols tie together what Hawthorne is trying to say. The Minister’s Black Veil illustrates symbolism using the black veil, The Minister’s wife Elizabeth, and the mirror. In The Minister's Black Veil the Minister wore a black veil throughout the entire story. This causes the town mad. Everyone is trying to reflect and understand what the black veil means. The black veil takes a toll throughout the entire town without the town realizing this. This Black Veil is the man piece of the entire story. The black veil symbolizes the secret sins of all humans. “How strange, said a lady, that a simple black veil, such as any woman might wear on her bonnet, should become such a terrible thing on Mr. Hooper’s face”(Hawthorne). The black veil became a terrible thing like a sin. It was a simple black veil …show more content…

He was startled because he realized how scary he looked, and he realized why everyone else looked at him differently. He has the same response to the sight of himself wearing the black veil that everyone else does. His own antipathy to the veil is so intense that he avoids mirrors or other reflecting surfaces. This reflects that he has become completely isolated. It would be hard to guess what this eccentric minister sees when he looks in the mirror. It is hard for any of us to see our "real" face in a mirror because we automatically assume an expression that we want to see but the minister see’s what he truly is on the inside, not what people think of him. Mirrors symbolizes as your true self or the truth. The irony in this story is that the minister is only able to show his true face because he has it concealed behind a veil. The minister cannot even see his real face in a

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The people were frightened because the veil made them look at the minister in a dark way wondering what secrets he might be hiding behind the veil. The Minister was trying to get the people to look at there own secret sins for one reason. He wanted the people to seek forgiveness for these sins. He wanted them to remove there own personal veil and realize the

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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.

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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 ).

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“He has changed himself into something awful, only by hiding his face” (Hawthorne XXX) The Minister’s Black Veil by Nathaniel Hawthorne tells the story of a clergyman and a black veil that scares all who see it. Hawthorne’s short story pushes the theme that “Everyone has a black veil and hides who they really are” through dialogue and character’s action. This means every person either hides their unpopular opinions/beliefs or is hiding a secret sin.

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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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761 Words | 4 Pages

In The Minister’s Black Veil, the veil holds different meanings for the minister and for the people in his congregation. The congregation starts out confused about the meaning, and even though they get hints of the meaning over the years, they never understand it fully, and their obsessive fear of the minister continues even though he remains a good and harmless person. The minister seems to know what the symbolic meaning of the veil is, although he only reveals it slowly in bits and pieces until the climactic scene on his deathbed. He, too, views the veil with fear, because he sees it as a symbol of the secret sin in himself and everyone. In addition to the meaning the veil holds for the congregation and for the minister, it is important to consider the effect of the veil on the relationship between the two.

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Throughout it all, there is this mysterious feeling created by the black veil and this is a great way for Hawthorne to bring symbolism into the story. Even though there are other ways to create a feeling without directly coming

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The author uses a lot of symbolism to represent things as in contrast to the Edwards’ text. As an illustration, one thing that the author uses in the Minister’s Black Veil , was the black veil, the black veil represented a lot of things like darkness, evil, and wickedness. In the text the church’s pastor came out like a normal sunday but on this Sunday he had on a black

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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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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?

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“I don’t like it, . . . He has changed himself into something awful, only by hiding his face" (Hawthorne 2). The Minister's Black Veil by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the way one man is perceived is changed because of one factor. Mr. Hooper, the town’s minister puts on a black veil so that no one may see his face, but he can still see out of it. Although the parishioners are terrified of the black veil, thoughts arise as to why Mr. Hooper is wearing it, “Yet perhaps the pale-faced congregation was almost as fearful a sight to the minister, as his black veil to them” (Hawthorne 3).

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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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1113 Words | 5 Pages

(Nathaniel Hawthorne Biography). One such story, The Minister’s Black Veil, captures Hawthorne´s unique style and background. The setting of The Minister’s Black Veil is Milford. It’s is a small town in New England with a close-knit community.

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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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The Story Behind the Veil “The Minister’s Black Veil” is arguably one of the most famous short stories in the history of American Literature. The author, Nathaniel Hawthorne, is an extremely well known writer who is recognized for his many works. From The Scarlet Letter to The House of the Seven Gables, Hawthorne’s exceptional literary skills are portrayed in each and every one of his stories.

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