People from other places wanting to see him just to see the “minister with the black veil”. Many other dying sinners were always welcoming him to preach all their sins to him before they left their dying beds. “In this manner, Mr.Hooper spent a long life, irreproachable in outward act, yet shrouded in dismal suspicions; kind and loving, though unloved, and dimly feared; a man apart from men, shunned in their health and joy, but ever summoned to their aid of mortal anguish.” (14, Hawthorne) Eventually, all those stares and reactions towards his black veil made his life miserable and everywhere he sees himself in the glass mirror Mr.Hooper is unable to see himself again like he uses to do before. Among his death bed, his beloved Elizabeth came to take care of him and Reverend Mr.Clark to seek him into conclusion and to help him leave those sins so much he had attached himself to liberate him to the spiritual light. 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
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! 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,
In a quote by Andrew Lansley, it states, “Peer pressure and social norms are powerful influences on behavior and they are classic excuses.” This quote ties in perfectly with the story, The Minister’s Black Veil by Nathaniel Hawthorne. In the story, the main character, Mr. Hooper, lives a somewhat normal life as a priest, until one day, he decides to wear a black veil over his face. After that day, everything completely changed as he was treated differently by his community. The adults began taunting and spreading rumors about him and the children ran away from him as if he were a monster, all because of the black veil on his face. His soon to be wife even broke up with him because he forbid to take off the black veil. As he was near death,
The Minister’s Black Veil by Nathaniel Hawthorne tells the story of a clergyman and a black veil that scares all who see it.
Have you ever judged someone,but said you don’t judge people on the way they look. I’m going to be getting examples from “The Minister’s Black Veil” that will show when people judge others. In the story Mr.Hooper began to wear a black veil and people began to judge him. In real life when someone does something out of the ordinary people begin to judge them. The moral of the story is that everyone is judgemental. We all put on a facade to hide our true selves.
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. The three levels in this parable of understanding the symbolism are to first understand what the author is objectifying the most in the parable. And in this case, it is a black piece of clothing that is covering his face. When an author keeps on repeating the same thing over and over again, it has to symbolize something. Secondly, the black veil got in the way of people. Such as, his soon to be wife. Just because he didn’t show his bare face to Elizabeth, she ended their relationship. “...material emblem had separated him from happiness, though the horrors, which it shadowed forth, must be drawn darkly between the fondest of lovers.” (Hawthorne 12) Hooper is thinking about what he has done but still doesn’t do anything about it because the black veil signified something more important to him. “Each character, then, is faced with the prospect of assuming mature responsibilities, and each story is an account of how he responds to this crucial psychological situation.” (Askew 2)
Hooper is sacrificing his life by ruining his reputation of his as a minister and as a person. People start to look at Mr. Hooper as a different and changed person; this is shown when the congregation says, “He has changed himself into something awful, only by hiding his face” (Hawthorne 176). The congregation also mentions “ The black veil, though it covers only our pastor’s face, throws its whole person, and makes him ghost-like from head to foot” (Hawthorne 178). Mr. Hooper’s veil that he wore was seen as if it took over his whole demeanor and made him into a whole new person. Mr. Hooper’s finance, Elizabeth, knew that people would view him differently and that the veil was not a good look for his reputation. Elizabeth tries to explain this to Mr. Hooper when she says, “But what if the world will not believe that it is the type of an innocent sorrow … Beloved and respected as you are, there may be whispers that you hide your face under the consciousness of secret sin. For the sake of your holy office, do away this scandal!” (Hawthorne 182) People are starting to not want to be around Mr. Hooper anymore because of the vibe that is given off when he approaches. At the funeral, everyone feels like his demeanor is only acceptable for a funeral based on the feelings that are brought to others when he is around (Denies 179+). Denies also mentions “The Hooper-- Hooper before the veil-- had been adored on such occasions for he had always exhibited “a placid cheerfulness,” but
“Beloved and respected as you are, there may be whispers, that you hide your face under the consciousness of secret sin. For the sake of your holy office, do away this scandal!” This quote is very important as it mentions Reverend Hooper’s problem with sins and sinners. The short story, “The Minister’s Black Veil” was written by Nathaniel Hawthorne. 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.
Throughout the short story, Hooper feels as if the veil projects his sin rather than keeping it secret; “...[A]lthough its function is concealment of sin, it actually, in the minister’s case, functions to expose sin” (Boone 1). Sin is displayed in many ways, some ways are stranger than others. It is up to the sinner to decide if they are willing to protect themselves through withdrawal from society, or by exposing themselves freely to the world while there is something symbolizing their sin on their body. In the midst of Hooper’s alleged sin, individuals became obsessed with what he was hiding, rather than the sins they have been committing. One tends to shun another to take away attention from their own sins; “...they should see their own veils instead of fixating on what is possibly behind his” (Boone 1). It is inevitable for an individual to lose hold of their intimate issues while fueling the negativity of others. More would love to see their fellow brethren fall into the hands of the enemy, rather than uplifting them with powerful words of encouragement. Although the minister felt as if the sin was revealed, his congregation still followed the belief that he was hiding something direful. The veil constantly reminded Hooper’s congregation and the actual reader that something was hidden, as said continuously throughout the short story. Hooper also tries to express how everyone
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
Hooper had on. People would try to get him to take it off as it was the gossip of the town. It is stated, “ He could not walk the street with any peace of mind, so conscious was he that the gentle and timid would turn aside to avoid him, and that others would make it a point of hardihood to throw themselves in his way.” Some people were scared of Mr. Hooper and others just wanted to make a scene, but soon after he felt sad that people would run off when he was seen, he had a kind heart but no one could see that. In Paragraph 16 of the parable, it explains, “It grieved him, to the very depth of his kind heart, to observe how the children fled from his approach, breaking up their merriest sports, while his melancholy figure was yet afar off.” The black veil seemed to be taking his life away from him, causing him to be
The way a person dress may or may not be connected to the type of person you are, In “The Minister’s Black Veil” by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Mr. Hooper wore a black veil to hide his sins. The appearance of someone may or may not be linked to personality because it could be based on religion and environment. The people from the church were judging Me. Hooper because it wasn't normal for people to wear that all day everyday. The people didn't take the time to listen to him and ask questions about it. The black veil seemed scary for the people because they didn't understand why he was wearing it. It doesn't matter because he is still the same person just wearing something different that people didn't understand why he wore the black veil. People were scared of the veil they were confused by the black veil.
It is presented in the veil and the effects it has on its surroundings. When there are others in Mr. Hooper’s presence, they feel the veil as if it’s a storm cloud approaching on what would otherwise be a sunny or cheerful day. This is most prevalent in the situations of the marriage and the funeral. The funeral is the only part of the story where the veil seems to be appropriate and would seem ordinary to one who is not part of the community. Though it may be appropriate, others still see it as a bad omen and claim to see even the corpse shudder under it. At the wedding, it’s a joyous occasion that is quickly thrown off as it is delivered by Hooper. The townspeople are in hopes that he will cast away the veil and join them in that momentous occasion but are deterred from this mentality as Hooper provides an atmosphere of seriousness and
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
The black veil in the story symbolizes a great thing that everyone carries with them, secret sins. Mr. Hooper being the only one to wear one and show the true nature of human. That is why many people are scared of him because they know that he has a secret sin that he will not tell to anyone. In reality everyone wears a black veil they just don’t want to admit it, because it is in humans nature to do something wrong and have sins. You walk around and everyone, on the inside, wears the black veil going about their day normally like if they never created that