All throughout history, there have been certain stigmas in society. Whether it be the HIV/AIDS or the Polio outbreak or the gender stigma in today’s society, there has and always will be certain stigmas that people run into while facing society. In the short story by american novelist, dark romantic, and short story writer Nathaniel Hawthorne called “The Minister’s Black Veil,” people of a village are having a very tough time trying to accept a person for who they are. In this short story, which takes place in the small town of Milford, Connecticut, people are waiting in the church for their minister to arrive and begin the mass. The people anxiously await him and are very excited. Much to their surprise, the minister walks in nonchalantly,
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After the minister exposes his veil, a stigma gives birth and forms and he becomes isolated from society and even his own parish. The people who once loved him absolutely fear him to the point where they will cross the street just to avoid his gaze and conflict with the infamous veil. A dominant theme that Nathaniel Hawthorne develops in the story focuses around the idea of moral corruption and alienation in society. Hawthorne claims that from just a simple garment, like a veil, it can cause a whole uprising in emotion and completely change the way someone and even society will look at and even think of you. People should not judge so harshly and try to understand the minister and essentially show sympathy, or ‘put themselves in his shoes’. Throughout this dark, compelling short story, “The Minister’s Black Veil,” Nathaniel Hawthorne uses the literary elements of symbolism, conflict, and setting to successfully develop his theme of moral corruption and alienation of …show more content…
Nathaniel Hawthorne quickly establishes the main conflict to set the atmosphere and the mood of the short story. When this story is read, the reader gets a glimpse of the conflict right off the bat- the minister wearing the black veil. The narrator describes this scene as, “The first glimpse of the clergyman’s figure was the signal for the bell to cease its summons… All within hearing immediately turned about, and beheld the semblance of Mr Hooper… “ (Hawthorne 2). These are the first couple of sentences that introduce the main conflict in this short story. Mr Hooper, who is normally there in a somewhat brighter mood, is now in the church with a black veil across his face, not showing any signs of happiness. This obviously spreads confusion around the church very quickly and no one even knows how to react; or at least how to act appropriately. Literary critic Timothy Montbriand states that, “But critics have overlooked another effect of the veil, which not only hides the face of the wearer from view but also colors his view of the world. Hooper is a Puritan minister who has realized the full significance of the Calvinist theology he preaches, a theology which embraces the idea of predestination. God has arbitrarily destined an “elect” group of people to the glory of heaven and has destined a “reprobate” group of people to an eternity of damnation. Since this sorting is done by divine
After the minister exposes his veil, a stigma gives birth and forms and he becomes isolated from society and even his own parish. The people who once loved him absolutely fear him to the point where they will cross the street just to avoid his gaze and conflict with the infamous veil. A dominant theme that Nathaniel Hawthorne develops in the story focuses around the idea of moral corruption and alienation in society. Hawthorne claims that from just a simple garment, like a veil, it can cause a whole uprising in emotion and completely change the way someone and even society will look at and even think of you. People should not judge so harshly and try to understand the minister and essentially show sympathy, or ‘put themselves in his shoes’. Throughout this dark, compelling short story, “The Minister’s Black Veil,” Nathaniel Hawthorne uses the literary elements of symbolism, conflict, and setting to successfully develop his theme of moral corruption and alienation of …show more content…
Nathaniel Hawthorne quickly establishes the main conflict to set the atmosphere and the mood of the short story. When this story is read, the reader gets a glimpse of the conflict right off the bat- the minister wearing the black veil. The narrator describes this scene as, “The first glimpse of the clergyman’s figure was the signal for the bell to cease its summons… All within hearing immediately turned about, and beheld the semblance of Mr Hooper… “ (Hawthorne 2). These are the first couple of sentences that introduce the main conflict in this short story. Mr Hooper, who is normally there in a somewhat brighter mood, is now in the church with a black veil across his face, not showing any signs of happiness. This obviously spreads confusion around the church very quickly and no one even knows how to react; or at least how to act appropriately. Literary critic Timothy Montbriand states that, “But critics have overlooked another effect of the veil, which not only hides the face of the wearer from view but also colors his view of the world. Hooper is a Puritan minister who has realized the full significance of the Calvinist theology he preaches, a theology which embraces the idea of predestination. God has arbitrarily destined an “elect” group of people to the glory of heaven and has destined a “reprobate” group of people to an eternity of damnation. Since this sorting is done by divine