ipl-logo

Themes In The Minister's Black Veil By Nathaniel Hawthorne

1414 Words6 Pages

The central themes of The Minister's Black Veil by Nathaniel Hawthorne is presented with a parable, a simple story illustrating a moral or religious lesson that makes the truth have a deeper meaning and easy to understand. Having to read both Nathaniel Hawthorne and Edgar Allen Poe was very interesting but, I decided to choose Nathaniel Hawthorne, "The Minister's Black Veil" because Nathaniel's story was more interesting, mysterious, and easier to understand than The House of Usher in my opinion since Nathaniel's character, Mr. Hooper, was mysterious throughout the whole story and had many different themes to his parable that involves his veil that can symbolize many reasons.
There is an American Romanticism characteristic in this parable. …show more content…

Firstly, the black veil symbolized sin and no one is perfect meaning that no one is perfect because we sin throughout our entire life until death and that the sin is stuck with us for the rest of our life. Secondly, each of us hides behind a veil to hide our sins because we are afraid to admit our sins and we don't want anyone to find out what's our sin is because it is our responsibility to handle the consequence of the sin. Finally, people should be less concerned of others sins and focus on their own sins because it disturbing the private life of the person who committed the sin and many people don't like it when people are nosy with their life instead of focusing on their own life. Hence, there is three possible parable for the story. Firstly, You cannot hide your secret sins from God.Secondly, the minister is to carry the sorrows of sins committed by others like Jesus died for our sins. Thirdly, the sins of humanity are the greatest sin which society hides and ignores. Reading Nathaniel Hawthorne's parable was interesting as I said before and he gave out several lessons about the moral of the parable that involves our sins and humanity of how Mr. Hooper interacted with society and how the Puritan were obsessive with

Show More
Related

  • Similarities Between The Scarlet Letter And The Minister's Black Veil

    642 Words  | 3 Pages

    It has the purpose of conveying the theme that “there is an hour to come when all of us shall cast aside our veils” where the veil in its purest form is merely a representation of dishonesty and wickedness that stops all individuals from truly coming to terms with themselves (“The Minister’s Black Veil”

    Read More

  • Minister's Black Veil And Scarlet Letter Comparison

    354 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Minister’s Black Veil, also by Hawthorne, tells the story of Mr. Hooper, minister in another Puritan town. The minister shocks the townspeople when one day he

    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

  • Sinners The Hands Of An Angry God And The Minister's Black Veil

    682 Words  | 3 Pages

    In contrast, “The Minister’s Black Veil,” incorporates a narrative style, with the theme that one cannot hide from their own sins. Hawthorne writes, “There is an hour to come when all of us shall cast aside our veils.” The veil symbolizes sin, so the quote explains that one lives with their sins until death. This is a key line that ties the story’s theme

    Read More

  • And Contrast The Minister's Black Veil And Sinners In The Hands Of An Angry God

    298 Words  | 2 Pages

    After reading both of the text “The Minister 's Black Veil” by Nathaniel Hawthorne and “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” by Jonathan Edwards they’re various similarities and differences can be noted, especially toward the attitudes of sin and guilt. In the story’s the are just portrayed a little bit different. In both stories the feel that sinning is horrible and should be frowned upon. In the story the “Minister 's Black Veil” Nathaniel Hawthorne wants the reader to know that Reverend Hooper is wanting to hide his past sins.

    Read More

  • Minister's Black Veil Essay

    828 Words  | 4 Pages

    This shows how 1 small piece of cloth that you are wearing can make a huge impact on the type of person you are. As stated in the quote, it can get you from being a nice and gentle pastor to being a scary and frightening pastor that no one wants to be around. Essentially, it can be seen that appearance does link to the type of person you are in the Minister's Black Veil by the actions the people took towards Mr. Hooper's new

    Read More

  • Sinners In The Hands Of An Angry God Figurative Language Analysis

    910 Words  | 4 Pages

    Compare and contrast the meaning and style of “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” and “The Minister’s Black Veil.” How does each author convey his meaning to the reader? Which author’s style is more effective and why? Puritan religion is adequately portrayed in both Jonathan Edwards’ sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”, and Nathaniel Hawthorne’s story, “The Minister’s Black Veil”.

    Read More

  • The Ministers Black Veil

    468 Words  | 2 Pages

    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? Mr. Hooper wears the black veil to signify he is wearing the sins of the puritans in the village. Mr. Hooper is a reverend, making one of his roles to listen to the puritans sins.

    Read More

  • Irony In The Minister's Black Veil

    1499 Words  | 6 Pages

    The Story Behind the Veil “The Minister’s Black Veil” is arguably one of the most famous short stories in the history of American Literature. The author, Nathaniel Hawthorne, is an extremely well known writer who is recognized for his many works. From The Scarlet Letter to The House of the Seven Gables, Hawthorne’s exceptional literary skills are portrayed in each and every one of his stories.

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast The Minister's Black Veil And Young Goodman Brown

    562 Words  | 3 Pages

    Similarities of “The Minister’s Black Veil” and “Young Goodman Brown” “The Minister’s Black Veil” and “Young Goodman Brown” are two short stories written by Nathaniel Hawthorne that share many similarities. In his writings, Hawthorne displays a fascination with the Puritanical beliefs and ideals associated with sin and wickedness. Such ideals serve as a common thread that weaves the stories together by using a religious base, symbolism, and a dark mood. First, Hawthorne’s meticulous usage of religion is the foundation of both stories.

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast Minister's Black Veil And Young Goodman Brown

    476 Words  | 2 Pages

    The stories “Minister’s Black Veil” and “Young Goodman Brown” both portray the theme of loss and secrecy. Women, specifically Faith and Elizabeth, bring to light some of the conflicts and foreshadow the outcome of the story. The women in the stories “Minister’s Black Veil” and “Young Goodman Brown” represent the outcomes of the story with their name or their secrecy towards the main character. “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.

    Read More

  • The Minister's Black Veil Symbolism

    1158 Words  | 5 Pages

    The themes that are portrayed by the veil reveals, the tension between the minister and the community. Every person has something to hide from the world, the veil is symbolic for the cover up of the people’s secrets. Although most people would not wear a veil to hide their secrets from others, the minister is proving a point. By wearing a simple black veil Mr. Hooper is making all the villagers evaluate their everyday actions closely. The symbolic value of the black veil creates a dilemma that it between the minister and his environment, and the guilt that the veil also conveys.

    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

    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. The “Minister’s Black Veil” was written as a parable in order to teach us a moral lesson stating that you should never judge someone. In Paul J. Emmett’s literary criticism he tells of a point in the story when Hooper explains his reasoning for wearing the veil, Emmett says, “After exhausting life in his efforts for mankind’s spiritual good, he had made the manner of his death a parable, in order to impress on his admirers the mighty and mournful lesson, that, in the view of infinite purity, we

    Read More

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

    1277 Words  | 6 Pages

    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.

    Read More

More about Themes In The Minister's Black Veil By Nathaniel Hawthorne

Open Document