To begin with, in order to understand that Mr. Hooper knew he was dying, we must first understand that he was using the veil to hide something. The veil was used to represent that Mr. Hooper was hiding something with the veil is because, as stated in articles 1 and 3 “…to hide…”” …to hide…” it shows that he is hiding something. Others may argue that he was wearing the veil in order to hide his face, not a secret, for example, “He wore the veil to hide his face from the world ...” This quote was found in article three written by Searis West. It is important, however, that we understand he was hiding a secret, not his face, from the world. We know this because he wouldn’t let anyone remove his veil. As an example, he wouldn’t even remove his
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.
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
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.
In the Article Two it supports the fact that Mr. Hooper wears the veil to signify the sins of the puritans. In Article Three is states; "people have speculations that Mr. Hooper committed adultery with the young girl that died at the beginning of the story. The black veil was simply Hooper's admission of his own humanity, that he was not a perfect, sinless being". This meaning he could be wearing the veil to show he his not perfect and that he has his own sins. "He wore the veil to hide his face from the world and what he did".
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
The community then proceeds to treat him as an outcast of society; nobody will talk to him, and everyone avoids him out of fear. However, they continue to talk about him behind his back (Hawthorne 282). They want to know things such as why is he even wearing the veil, what their own minister is trying to hide,
Hooper understands that in life people sin. Everyone has something in their past, they are not proud of. He placed the veil as a symbol of this. He tried to explain his reasoning behind wearing it to the people, and his Fiancée. They could not see his face any longer and felt there was something wrong with him.
Elizabeth warns Mr. Hooper that she will not marry him if he wears the veil; however, he does not take it off even for love. “It had separated [Mr. Hooper] from cheerful brotherhood and woman’s love, and kept him in the saddest of prisons, his own heart ;…”( 312) is a quote that justifies how the veil caused him great grief. His secret beneath the veil had restricted him from loving again. Elizabeth
(Article 3) In conclusion Mr. Hooper was hiding something he did and that’s why he wore the veil. The articles mainly had reasons why he would wear the veil and they were mostly because of possible sins. The evidence shows that he wore the veil the day of the maiden's funeral. There were only a few examples that supported him wearing the veil, but not because of
In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s parody “The Black Veil,” the reader is introduced to Minister Hooper as he steps out with a black veil over his face to begin a church service. The immediate response of confusion and fear takes over his congregation. Minister Hooper uses the veil as a symbol for the hidden/secret sins that each one of us carries. The irony in this is that the veil is just that, a double folded crape. Hooper’s congregation proved to be harsh and judgmental of the minister not fully understanding why he was veiled.
He no longer fit in with the people in the village and he didn’t meet their expectations of what a minister should be like so they started saying things about Mr.Hooper. At the beginning of the story when they were in the church and Mr.Hooper began wearing the veil a person
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.
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
Nancy L. Bunge is talking on the topic of how the veil was seen to others, Bunge says, “His veil shuts out happiness, giving a darkened aspect to all living and inanimate things” (Bunge-19). This quote shows that Hooper’s veil brought darkness and unhappiness to many people. In life, we naturally want to be happy, but if something or someone is making us unhappy then we naturally alienate that someone or something from our lives. The veil’s darkness and unhappiness play a big role in the cause of Hooper’s alienation by his surrounding
Hooper is the main character of the story and he is the one who represents a Romantic character in this story, he experiences sadness and depression. Mr. Hooper represents secret sin and humans’ fallen nature. Even if people are scared of him wear the veil, Mr. Hooper never takes it off, he even wears it to his funeral. All he goes through is truly is what the other people also look like, whether they acknowledge it or not. Mr. Hooper uses the veil to hide his face from the world because he knows the sin he did was wrong and if people were to find out, people would look at him and he would be full of more shame.