ipl-logo

The Black Veil In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter

767 Words4 Pages

In this essay characteristics that are shown are twisted and grotesque. They have mystical vibes. like on page 2 paragraph 2 she explains how he walks into the room. "Mr. Hopper walked onwards , at a slow and quiet pace, stooping somewhat, and looking on the ground, as is customary with abstracted men, yet nodding kindly to those of his parishioners who still waited on the meeting-house steps. But so wonder-struck were that his greeting hardly met with a return." in the same way that he is a mysterious man. To elaborate, a lady said "I don't like it," muttered an old woman, as she hobbled into the meeting-house."he has changed himself into something awful, only by hiding his face." they described how he looks and how he has changed. The minister has something to hide so he hides it behind the black veil and he acts differently. Mr. Hooper shows romanticism characteristics because he is so much more focused on feelings and emotional truth than …show more content…

Equally, important the black veil, the minister wears a symbol of the sin of man and of the minister himself, and it is a symbol of the natural sign people have. The veil is a visual reminder of the sins of people. the reason the people at the church being to feel uncomfortable around Mr. Hooper is because he is physical, with his veil, confronting them with their sins that have committed. Also, it symbolizes a crutch in the minister's life. He wears the black veil to hide his sins from his townspeople because he is seen as a good person and now that he wears the black veil everyone is scared to be around him or even confront him. The belief that he is some type of creep. like shown on page 5 "When Mr. Hooper came, the first thing that their eyes rested on was the same horrible black veil, which had added deeper gloom to the funeral, and could portend nothing but evil." they explain how everyone just stares at him with

Show More
Related

  • Character Analysis: The Ministers Black Veil

    390 Words  | 2 Pages

    “He has changed himself into something awful, only by hiding his face”. It is possible that no crime was committed but rather the veil was worn to show how unfaithful they truly were to their religion. The

    Read More

  • 'Symbolism In Minister's Black Veil'

    754 Words  | 4 Pages

    It is a close knit town where everybody knows each other. As the story progresses, it is seen how people will avoid even the most loved friends and family once there is a mysterious barrier in between them. So, throughout the story, the minister’s black veil symbolizes a variety of things such as: secret sins, a barrier, and even sorrow. First off, I think that Father Hooper’s black veil symbolizes everyone’s secret sins. In the beginning of the story, church begins and Hooper appears concealed by a black veil, and everybody is mystified.

    Read More

  • The Minister's Black Veil By Nathaniel Hawthorne

    1191 Words  | 5 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • What Does The Veil Symbolize In The Minister's Black Veil

    522 Words  | 3 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Irony In The Minister's Black Veil

    1499 Words  | 6 Pages

    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,

    Read More

  • The Minister's Black Veil Rhetorical Analysis

    469 Words  | 2 Pages

    The black veil is thought to represent secret sin. Hooper exposed himself through the veil which caused him to banish himself because he upholds the community's sins. Hooper upheld the sins for the entire community and felt it would be seen as an ethical fluctuation by wearing the veil. He does not give specific reason into why he refuses to remove the veil but imagery used in the parable convinces readers that Hooper has beliefs that he is some kind of

    Read More

  • Nathaniel Hawthorne: The Ancestor Of Salem Witch Hunts

    166 Words  | 1 Pages

    How strang, said a lady that a simple black veil, such as any woman might wear on her bonnet, shold become such a terrible thing on Mr. Hoopers face!"(411) The veil covered the pastors face showing that the pastor is hiding his face because of something he has done. It got around that the minister had done something with the a young female and that the funeral he had to attend and thats also the reasoning behind why

    Read More

  • Similarities Between Sinners In The Hands Of An Angry God And The Black Veil

    831 Words  | 4 Pages

    The reader knew how Mr. Hooper felt, while they also knew how the congregation and Elizabeth felt. The congregation didn’t like the veil. “Have men avoided me, and women shown no pity, and children screamed and fled, only for my black veil” (Hawthorne 485-486). This quote is explaining how the people reacted when they saw the minister. He felt like everyone was avoiding him.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Minister's Black Veil By Nathaniel Hawthorne

    1358 Words  | 6 Pages

    Throughout the story, Mr. Hooper is covered by a black veil which masks his face. He continuously prevents anyone from seeing his face or persuading him to take it off. Through the use of the veil, Hawthorne paints a picture which shows how sin ruled over the Puritan communities and controlled each person among them. The veil itself becomes the center of attention for all members of Hooper’s Puritan congregation. The entire population of the town become scared of Hooper and believe that this man who was so high among their values, now has a horrid sinful past that he is trying to hide.

    Read More

  • What Is The Reason In The Minister's Black Veil

    559 Words  | 3 Pages

    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 First of all, Mr. Hooper is hiding behind the veil to ensconce his sins is because it is bigger than all the other sins everyone else has admitted. The article said that it could be him hiding a inclination he is having for a female.

    Read More

  • Essay On The Black Veil

    433 Words  | 2 Pages

    Hooper began wearing the veil, the congregation deeply respected him but after seeing him their thoughts of him immediately changed. This topic concerns the congregation who fear for their own secret sins as well as their minister's new appearance. The townspeople grow uncomfortable with him because they start to become aware of their own sin. I look at the black veil in two ways, meaning that he could be mourning her death or he actually did commit adultery and feels bad, but wants everyone to know that even though he may be a leader he is also still a human, meaning humans accidentally sin by nature.

    Read More

  • Judging Others In The Minister's Black Veil

    977 Words  | 4 Pages

    We all put on a facade to hide our true selves. People are constantly being judged by others on anything and everything people find strange. If you look different from everyone else they will begin to judge you. In the story “The Minister’s Black Veil” the people in the village started to judge Mr.Hooper because of the veil. They all wanted to know why their minister suddenly began to wear a black veil hiding his face from them.

    Read More

  • Isolation In The Minister's Black Veil

    668 Words  | 3 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • The Minister's Black Veil Literary Analysis

    993 Words  | 4 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Significance Of The Parable In The Minister's Black Veil

    1277 Words  | 6 Pages

    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.

    Read More

More about The Black Veil In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter

Open Document