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.
The veil is causing him to be lonely and no one to talk to him, but he believes that everyone has a black veil. In “The Minister's Black Veil”, Hawthorne uses alienation to illustrate how the community around you can affect you as a person. Mr.Hooper wears a black veil as a punishment for his hidden sin and believes everyone has their own veil representing their own hidden sin, but the ignorance throughout the town is abundant due to the fact that they are puritans and believe that they cannot be touched by sin. That is what Hawthorne wanted to show, that no matter who they were, they cannot escape
In my opinion, it seems throughout the story that Hooper is seldom joyous or happy, and he is always miserable and sorrowful. It is first shown when Elizabeth, his soon to be wife, threatens to abandon Hooper and their marriage if he does not remove the dark, black veil. He practically begged her to stay, but she ultimately refused because he did not remove the veil. Also, going back to the children, it is obvious that Hooper is devastated when he cannot even watch the children romp around. Likewise, Hooper can also not have ordinary conservations with people throughout the town.
This was really important during this time because of all the racism and judgment going on. Scouts intelligence, innocence, and friendliness shaped her view of the events in To Kill a Mockingbird. Just because someone is intelligent doesn’t mean that they will always be respected. Scout was often put down for her intelligence.
However, even with his claims of holiness, he puts on the veil; this is ironic, because the veil symbolizes the opposite of holiness. Also, the Minister shows that he has very limited understanding of true Christianity (Freedman). It is ironic that Parson Hooper tears his face and makes such a big scene about the secret sin we are all hiding. Yes, this sin is bad, and no, we should not hide it.
The Alienation of Reverend Hooper It is never fun to be a stranger in one’s community. Some people know this better than others. Reverend Hooper, a character in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Minister’s Black Veil,” is one of those unfortunate people. Mr. Hooper wore a black crape over his face.
“‘On every visage a Black Veil!’” (Hawthorne 188). The majority of people prefers to keep their secrets hidden from others, but they do not mind passing judgment onto someone else. Writers often highlight the values of a society or community by using characters who are alienated because of gender, race, or creed. In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Minister’s Black Veil,” Reverend Hooper is subjugated to alienation from his community because of the black veil that covers their minister’s face.
Is there no good penitence but it be public? God does not need my name nailed upon the church! God sees my name, God knows how black my sins are! It is enough” (Miller 142). John decided he would rather die an honest man rather than selling himself out even at the loss of his life.
His despair was inflicted upon him once he committed adultery with Hester Prynne and decided to keep it secret. “While thus suffering under bodily disease, and gnawed and tortured by some black trouble of the soul…”(Hawthorne 117). The pain came from deep within Dimmesdale, and he believed that one sin can destroy his whole life. Puritanism is now looked upon as one of the hardest religions because of their strictness in their ways of life. They truly believed that if they sinned they would be looked at as if they were scum in the eyes of the church, and this was exactly how Dimmesdale saw himself.
The major theme in “The Minister’s Black Veil” by Nathaniel Hawthorne is that everyone has sins or sorrows they try to hide but can’t never escape. For instance, Elizabeth claims the Minister “hides his face under the consciousness of secret sin”. This statement shows she’s determined he wears the black veil; to hide his immoral actions. We all have secrets and sins we try to hide from one another, as well as ourselves. Later, the Minister asks to “to not be left alone in the miserable obscurity forever”.
Unlike the townspeople, Atticus doesn’t use discrimination to Tom Robinson for being black. Because Atticus respects Tom Robinson, Atticus strives to bring civil rights to Tom Robinson while people are not respecting Tom. Accordingly, Atticus’s reverence to other people represents that he is respectful. In conclusion, Atticus is stiffly determined, vigorously bold, and extremely respectful.
In both “Young Goodman Brown” and “The Minister’s Black Veil”, Hawthorne attempts to evoke the truth of the human heart. In “Young Goodman Brown”, Goodman Brown lives in Salem where everyone is considered to be pure and holy. During Brown’s journey to the forest, he runs into a man who is revealed to be the devil. “The devil!” Screamed the pious old lady.
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.
Mr. Hooper wore the veil for his own sin but tried to use it to make people realize the deep sins that are kept within themselves that need to be shown. When Mr. Hooper first show cases the black veil he opens his most significant sermon by discussing "secret sins" which makes the congregation speculate as to what his sin might be. However, the impact of his sermon made with the presence of the veil gives it a powerful meaning. The black veil will soon turn on Mr. Hooper, everyone that loved him and cared for him will turn on him.
“The Minister’s Black Veil:” The Morals of Sinning The central themes of The Minister's Black Veil by Nathaniel Hawthorne is presented with a parable, a simple story illustrating a moral or religious lesson that makes the truth have a deeper meaning and easy to understand. Having to read both Nathaniel Hawthorne and Edgar Allen Poe was very interesting but, I decided to choose Nathaniel Hawthorne, "The Minister's Black Veil" because Nathaniel's story was more interesting, mysterious, and easier to understand than The House of Usher in my opinion since Nathaniel's character, Mr. Hooper, was mysterious throughout the whole story and had many different themes to his parable that involves his veil that can symbolize many reasons. There is an American