Images And Symbols In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Minister Black Veil

The ambiguity of the symbolism of the veil in Nathaniel Hawthorne's parable of The Minister's Black Veil, not only leaves the congregation guessing what the veil means, but it leaves the reader wondering what exactly the veil represents too. While giving a sermon on secret sins that people hide away, minister Hooper wears a black veil that conceals his face. He then wears it to a funeral and a wedding, making his congregation question what his motive is. The minister never takes off the veil even refusing to take it off at his death-bed. Throughout the story, Hawthorn offers indications of what the veil could symbolize, but there is never full disclosure of what exactly the veil represents, leaving readers to come up with their own hypothesis

After Meursault murders the Arab, a curious magistrate examines him about his reasoning. The magistrate tries to convert Meursault to Christianity by showing him a silver crucifix and telling him that God will forgive him if he repents. When the magistrate asks him if he believes in God, Meursault continually says that he does not. The magistrate then tells Meursault that he has “never seen a soul as hardened as [his]” (69). The magistrate cannot understand how Meursault does not believe that God suffered for his sins.

Here readers are shown that Goodman Brown is trying to stay and stick with Puritanism. Goodman Brown seems to be trying to get over what he witnessed in the forest, and continue on being a good Puritan. Yet when the first holy psalm is being sung, he cannot bring himself to do so and only remembers the sins he has done. Proving that he can not long follow Puritanism and may have joined the religion of Satanism while he was in the forest. In brief, Goodman Brown undergoes a religious revelation while in the forest and must choose between staying a Puritan or becoming a

God does not need myname nailed upon the church! God sees my name: God knows how black are my sins are!” (P.132) Under those circumstances, both of which will ruin his life completely and others. If he his name gets nailed by the church wall, when he is freed from jail, he will be isolated

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

As he entered the church people became disturbed. He wanted to see how people would react when he did something he normally wouldn’t do. “The next day, the whole village of Milford talked of little else than Parson Hooper's black veil. That, and the mystery concealed behind it, supplied a topic for discussion between acquaintances meeting in the street, and good women gossiping at their open windows. It was the first item of news that the tavern-keeper told to his guests.

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?

When Dimmesdale is walking to the scaffold a man stops him urging him not to “blacken” his “fame”. This old man embodies the hypocrisy so deeply embedded in the minds of the Puritans that when Hester committed the sin she was damned for life but since he is a minster there is no need for punishment. Dimmesdale always needing support, begs Hester to “support” him up on “yonder scaffold”. Hester had to stand up on the scaffold with nothing but a red letter marking her chest, an illegitimate baby, and the judgment of the townspeople to keep her company but Dimmesdale is now asking for support after doing nothing to help her so many years before. By putting Dimmesdale in Hester’s position the hypocrisy of the Puritans can no longer be

The narrator realizes that Bartleby’s “body did not pain him; it was his soul that suffered” (Melville par. 93). The power to heal Bartleby’s leprosy is vested in the narrator as he is a boundary keeper of society: “Bartleby’s depiction as a leper – his isolation and rejection – that must be healed” (Zlogar 517). Bartleby’s isolation and rejection from society characterize him as a leper. The narrator can bring change in society that would accept Bartleby, who is unclean, as clean which would heal

His rhyme scheme changes after the first stanza - from the children’s story pattern of the first poem to a more jarring form - and he no longer tries to communicate with named characters and little stories. There is no more little Tom Dacre, only “A little black thing among the snow. (Blake 1)” There is no more figuratively corrupt Angel, only a very blunt “God and his Priest and King, Who make up a heaven of our misery. (Blake 11-12)”

The black veil demonstrates something very powerful concerning human nature. In this story Mr. Hooper’s veil spark curiosity in the towns

Salem is a town that is centered on their religious beliefs. The church is the basis for their morals and ethics, but discovery of the actions of the town’s girls impacts the entire town. Reverend Parris discovers the girls along with Tituba conjuring up spells, singing Barbados songs, and dancing naked. This begins a series of events in The Crucible by Arthur Miller where he uses irony to show that guilt can cause the most upstanding men to act uncharacteristically. Hale is invited to town to prove that there is no witchcraft in the town.

Because I cannot have another in my life!” and to rip up his confession paper, because he put a lot of respect to his name and did not want the confession hung on the door of the church. In the Crucible, John Proctor tries to save everyone from the vendetta of the afflicted girls by admitting his

What do the words demeaning, direct, empathetic, enthusiastic and derisive all have in common? Although the words' meanings span across a large spectrum, they are all words that could be used to describe the tone of an author's writing. In The Minister's Black Veil by Nathaniel Hawthorne, tone plays a tremendous role into how the story eventually sends its message to the reader. The tone that The Minister's Black Veil is trying to project is wretched. This is because of two contributing messages that come across during the story: how the characters associated with Mr. Hooper and him himself feel sorrowful, and how distressed Mr. Hooper, his wife, and even the townspeople become.

During the 17th century, the Puritans crossed the sea to grace America with their presence. In an astounding example of foreshadowing, the Puritans set up a patriarchal, semi-authoritarian society based on strangely unforgiving laws interpreted from the Holy Bible. Generations later, Nathaniel Hawthorne is raised in a post-Salem witch trial society amongst Puritans. Hawthorne is devout; however, the unjustifiable actions of his ancestors disturbs him. Hawthorne grew to have deep criticisms of Puritan society, and this became evident in his works.