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

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The Minister’s Black Veil 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. In The Minister's Black Veil the Minister wore a black veil throughout the entire story. This causes the town mad. Everyone is trying to reflect and understand what the black veil means. The black veil takes a toll throughout the entire town without the town realizing this. This Black Veil is the man piece of the entire story. The black veil symbolizes the secret sins of all humans. “How strange, said a lady, that a simple black veil, such as any woman might wear on her bonnet, should become such a terrible thing on Mr. Hooper’s face”(Hawthorne). The black veil became a terrible thing like a sin. It was a simple black veil …show more content…

He was startled because he realized how scary he looked, and he realized why everyone else looked at him differently. He has the same response to the sight of himself wearing the black veil that everyone else does. His own antipathy to the veil is so intense that he avoids mirrors or other reflecting surfaces. This reflects that he has become completely isolated. It would be hard to guess what this eccentric minister sees when he looks in the mirror. It is hard for any of us to see our "real" face in a mirror because we automatically assume an expression that we want to see but the minister see’s what he truly is on the inside, not what people think of him. Mirrors symbolizes as your true self or the truth. The irony in this story is that the minister is only able to show his true face because he has it concealed behind a veil. The minister cannot even see his real face in a

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