Irony In The Minister's Black Veil

The Minister’s Black Veil is a story written by Nathaniel Hawthorne. It tells the story of a minister named Parson Hooper. He shows up to church on the Sabbath with a black veil covering his eyes. The townspeople begin to spread rumors about Mr. Hooper. They assume he is wearing the black veil due to sorrow or a secret sin. Hooper tells his girlfriend that the veil is for neither of those reasons; the veil must never come off, not even for her. Hooper continues to do what he always does, such as: preach sermons, greet the children, and chat with the neighbors. The veil gets Hooper some weird looks and the people that once adored him, now avoid him. The only thing seen under the veil is a sad smile that creeps its way in.

"The Minister's Black Veil" by Nathaniel Hawthorne is a parable written to ponder the mind of the reader and to make them realize many aspects of life. A parable is a simple story used to illustrate a moral or spiritual lesson. This early American Romanticism story is about a Minister named Parson Hooper who, wore a black veil on his face, covering it entirely. He lived in a small little village, where he was the Minister and soon he started to wear a black veil for the multiple reasons but the most important reason is articulated several times in the parable.

Irony is a literary device used to indicate that a character’s choice of actions or words bring a certain implication to the reader or audience but quite unknown to the characters themselves (Wellek & Warren, 1956). In the story, the aspect of irony had been expressed at the start of the story the narrator says, (...long before I learned to be ashamed of my mother…) This is an aspect of irony because when we analyze the story, we get to understand that both the mother and the daughter lived a similar life before she went to school and became educated (Edward, 1950). Also when she was a small child, she depended on her illiterate mother for everything without being shameful. It is also ironic because the same mother she feels ashamed of is the one who helped her go to a school that in the end helped her shift her class in the society.

Judgement causes people to wear masks. In The Minister’s Black Veil by Nathaniel Hawthorne, people in the community judge Mr. Hooper for wearing a veil. Since he lives in a Puritan community everyone knew everything about each other, and if anyone misbehaved everyone would know about it. Hawthorne makes this evident in the first paragraph when he describes the way the town reacted when he wore the veil to a funeral sermon. In his sermon Hooper states that God is always watching, but the truth is that the townspeople are always watching and judging their peers. ” 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 children babbled of it on their way to school. One imitative little imp covered his face with an old black handkerchief, thereby so affrighting his playmates that the panic seized himself, and he well-nigh lost his wits by his own waggery.” Hoopers appearance leads the town to believe their own interpretations of why he chose to wear the black veil.

American Romanticism has been around for many years now. Many authors expand their ideas to make the story more interesting. It is a form to express themselves as writers. American Romanticism contains many characteristics such as intuition, imagination, and exaggeration. The Minister’s Black Veil demonstrates all these characteristics in the story. This story has a profusion of symbols and hidden meanings that have to do with the reason why the black veil is so important. The author is competent to take a certain idea or object and expand the story or idea to make it have a greater meaning to get the reader thinking of the real reason behind it. American Romanticism is a form of creativity, imagination, intuition, exaggeration and expression. There is significant meaning behind each story that these Romantic authors write about that's why it is so interesting to read these stories.

The Minister's Black Veil by Nathaniel Hawthorne takes place in New England in the 18th-century. Mr. Hooper, who is the reverend in the Puritan town in New England, causes a stir amongst the community when he begins wearing a black veil everywhere he goes and exhibits unusual behavior and speech. This story reminds me of one that I read in high school called The Scarlett Letter. There is a theme and interpretation behind a certain object or person in both stories. The story never really tells the real reason behind the minister wearing the black veil, but it is definitely a point of interest while reading the story. Stories like these can be somewhat mysterious because it allows the reader to come up with their own ideas and brainstorming as

In the movie, Easy A by director Will Gluck and the short story, “The Minister’s Black Veil”, by Nathaniel Hawthorn, both the main characters step outside what is normal to gain something in return, and therefore cause rumors about them to spread. For Olive Penderghast, telling a little white lie to her best friend, Rhiannon Abernathy, ends up being found out by another female, Marianne Bryant, by overhearing the two friends talking. While Minister Hooper, one day decides to start wearing a black veil over his face, that has everyone in the town questioning him and his motives behind the veil. In both cases, rumors are soon spread around about the main characters. A simple rumor can start by just asking a question or simply telling something

Nathaniel Hawthorne's, " The Ministers Black Veil", is regarded to one of the first and greatest examples of American Short Fiction. Like many of Hawthorne's novels and stories the story is developed around a single around a single symbol; in this case, the black veil. There are ambiguous ways of explaining why Mr. Hooper wears the black veil?

In a community of metaphoric veils only the veil seen by the public eye is known as obstructive or harmful. Throughout the story, Hooper was portrayed as a monster for publicly wearing the veil as a symbol of his sins. “To surrender or give up, or permit injury or disadvantage to, for the sake of something else” (Dictionary.com). “The Minister’s Black Veil” by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Reverend Hooper sacrificed his love, his dignity, his own happiness, and his position in the community by wearing a veil, which led to his alienation.

“Minister’s Black Veil” reveals the theme of secrecy and grief among people. The main character, Mr. Hooper, wears a black veil over his face like a blanket of secrets. 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

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

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

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.

The main character in “The Minister’s Black Veil”, Mr. Hooper represents how everyone carries a sin with them but some choose to acknowledge it, while others choose to hide them.

“ We magnify the flaws in others that we secretly see in ourselves” -Baylor Barbee. In “ The Minister’s Black Veil” by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the main character Reverend Hooper is alienated by his community because he is the wearer of a mysterious black veil. Reverend Hooper is the reverend of his community’s church and has always been well respected by his surrounding peers. One day, Hooper shows up to his church and preaches the sermon wearing a mysterious black veil causing his peers to alienate him. Throughout the story, Hooper’s actions portray just how judgmental our society really is. 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.