Irony In The Minister's Black Veil

“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

In Hawthorn’s short story of “The Minister’s Black Veil”, rumors surround Minister Hooper when the minister shows to church wearing a black veil, for unknown reasons, people start making up assumptions as to why he is wearing the veil to the point that he becomes an infamously famous outcast. The mystery behind the veil and what was beneath became the town’s “topic for discussion between acquaintances meeting in the streets, and good women gossiping at their windows” (Hawthorn 393). Everyone in the town of Milford found themselves question the mystery, always wondering and assuming what is hidden underneath or why Mr. Hooper is hiding behind the veil. These rumors continue to grow, and as he continues to wear the black veil the people start to question him, and their image of him starts to change. Not only were the townspeople’s thoughts on Mr. Hooper changed, but also his personal thoughts were affected to the point that “he never willingly passed before a mirror… least, in its peaceful bosom, he should be affrighted by himself” (Hawthorn 395).

In Hawthorne’s short story, the minister walks out of the rectory one morning with a black veil covering his face. In this story, it is heavily debated what that black veil actually symbolizes. Could it be a symbol of sin and guilt, or is it rather a barrier between the minister and the rest of society? The story takes place in winter at Milford, Connecticut, where it focuses on Parson Hooper, the town’s minister.

He must keep the veil on otherwise it will lose its significance. In “The Minister’s Black Veil,” Nathaniel Hawthorne expresses that the black veil is a symbol of shame. As the story begins, Hawthorne uses irony to describe why the black veil is important to convey the message the author is trying to send. For example, The author states, “when man does not vainly shrink from eye of his creator, them deem me a monster, for the symbol beneath which I have lived, and die!”

Hooper negatively not only excluding him from events, but also talking about him with others as well as being afraid of him when they knew him for years. An example of the negative judgement being directed towards Mr. Hooper can be seen when Mr. Hooper’s parishioners “neglected to invite Mr. Hooper to his table” (Hawthorne 7). You can already see how Mr. Hoopers friends are excluding Mr. Hooper from events such as not inviting him to sit with them and eat. By Mr. Hoopers friends doing this, you can see how they have taken into consideration only the appearance of Mr. Hooper thinking he is hiding something dark and sinful, in which led them to excluding and being afraid of Mr. Hooper. Another example of appearance defining who you are can also be seen in the parable,“The black veil, though it covers only our pastor's face, throws its influence over his whole person, and makes him ghostlike from head to foot” (Hawthorne 7).

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.

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.

The Minister Black Veil Mr. Hooper put on the black veil, which changed his life until death. Although, the town knew him before the veil, their feeling changed drastically after the veil. It is human nature to judge one’s feelings by someone’s facial expressions and body language. Mr. Hooper was trying thorough symbolism to show that everyone has something to cover up. In the end, Mr. Hooper life was lonely and sacrificed, by choosing to wear the veil.

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.

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.

The veil that the minister wears in "The Ministers Black Veil", by Nathanial Hawthorne represents both the minister’s isolation from society and also his connection to society through sin. This symbolism of the veil is no immediately obvious, but later on throughout the story becomes noticeable. In the story when the minister, Mr. Hooper first walks out of his house wearing the black veil, everyone was startled. No one quite understood why the minister would be wearing this veil for no specific reason.

“Having all it’s... efficient clergyman” (Hawthorne 185). This show how Hawthorne conveys Hoopers position in the community before and after wearing the veil. Throughout the “The Minister’s Black Veil” Nathaniel Hawthorne uses fiction to show how Mr. Hooper’s love, dignity, happiness, and position in the community was sacrificed.

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

“ 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.

"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. American Romanticism is an artistic, literary, musical and intellectual movement.