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The Minister's Black Veil
A taboo is defined as a forbidden or prohibited practice. Sometimes, social conventions also prohibit connections with certain places, people, or things. These elements are considered taboo, like...
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The Minister's Black Veil
Secrets play a major role in "The Minister's Black Veil"; there are the secret sins of the members of the congregation, sins they fear that the Reverend Mr. Hooper may see from behind his veil, and...
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The Minister's Black Veil
When the Reverend Mr. Clark sits by Father Hooper's deathbed, Mr. Clark asks Father Hooper to allow him to remove the veil from Father Hooper's face so that he can meet eternity without it. Father...
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The Minister's Black Veil
Reverend Hooper is a fictional character created by Nathaniel Hawthorne in his 1832 short story "The Minister's Black Veil." He is described as a pastor who "strove to win his people heavenward by...
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The Minister's Black Veil
The narrator says it is surprising that, with all the busybodies and impertinent people in the congregation, not a single one of them could bring himself or herself to come right out and ask Mr....
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Reference
In the story, Mr. Hooper never explicitly explains why he began to wear the black veil. The first sermon he delivers after he puts it on has to do with secret sin, and those sad mysteries which we...
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Rappaccini's Daughter
The idea that the individual is always at odds with society is conveyed by "The Minister's Black Veil" when Mr. Hooper begins to wear the black veil and is immediately and permanently feared,...
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The Minister's Black Veil
This particular story can be more effectively contrasted than compared to the transcendentalist ways of thinking. The transcendentalists believed in humanity's fundamental goodness, that each of...
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The Minister's Black Veil
In the end of "The Minister's Black Veil," the townspeople fear the Reverend Mr. Hooper because of the ambiguity of secret sin and sorrow which envelops him with his refusal to remove his veil....
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The Minister's Black Veil
When Mr. Hooper is on his deathbed, he looks all around him at the spectators who have gathered. He asks why these people tremble when they look at him when they should be trembling at the sight of...
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The Minister's Black Veil
The people in Reverend Hooper's congregation are confused because their minister's face is almost entirely obscured by a black veil. The veil appears to consist of two layers of crepe, which...
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The Minister's Black Veil
The village physician seems to represent the voice of empirical reason and rationality. Physicians deal with the tangible, what can be seen with the eyes and touched with the hands, but the...
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The Minister's Black Veil
In short, he doesn't. Mr. Hooper does not say why he's put on the veil before he delivers his sermon, and he really never totally explicitly states its purpose after the sermon either. The...
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The Minister's Black Veil
When the Reverend Mr. Hooper first appears with the black veil upon his face, the congregation is "wonder-struck." Some wonder if he is not really Mr. Hooper, but another minister. Others express...
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The Minister's Black Veil
When Mr. Hooper leans over the coffin of the dead maiden, his veil falls away from his face so that, if she were alive she would be able to see his face beneath the veil. The narrator says that...
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Young Goodman Brown
You could argue that both stories present the idea that all human beings are inherently sinful and that we all make choices to avoid acknowledging that sinfulness for what it is; this unwillingness...
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The Minister's Black Veil
The name of the village in this story is Milford, and there is actually a Milford, Massachusetts, just north of Rhode Island and not far from the coast. We know that the story's setting is here...
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The Minister's Black Veil
The topic of Mr. Hooper's first sermon after he begins to wear the black veil over his face is "secret sin." It refers to Mr. Hooper's belief that we have all committed sins and that we all try to...
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The Minister's Black Veil
At the funeral, Mr. Hooper's black veil seems very fitting. As the narrator says, "It was now an appropriate emblem." The veil is black, the color associated with mourning. Its meaning seems...
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The Minister's Black Veil
At the end of this short story, Mr. Hooper is on his deathbed, speaking to another minister and the people who have come to be with him as he passes on. Reverend Mr. Clark has told Mr. Hooper that...
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The Minister's Black Veil
The theme of this short story addresses the subject of sin and the fact that each of us is a sinner, though we all attempt to conceal our sinfulness from one another. The subject of Mr. Hooper's...
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The Minister's Black Veil
In terms of ambiguity in the story, something that doesn't have a single clear meaning, Mr. Hooper's wearing the veil in the first place is somewhat ambiguous. Does he hope to inspire others to be...
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The Minister's Black Veil
People initially respond to seeing the minister with the black veil on his face with shock and horror. The sexton is "astonish[ed]," asking what it is that their good minister has on his face....
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The Minister's Black Veil
This story conveys the message that what unites all human beings is both our propensity to sin as well as our insistence on concealing our sinful natures from our peers. In this way, then, we can...
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The Minister's Black Veil
Tone, in literature, refers specifically to the author's feelings about the subject of a text. We can typically use other aspects of the text -- characterization, mood, theme, connotation -- to...
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The Minister's Black Veil
The veil is described as being bound to Mr. Hooper's forehead, covering the majority of his face. The two layers of crape material completely hide his facial features with the exception of his...
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The Minister's Black Veil
It is likewise possible to find quotes that explore the consequences of being the only person honest enough in his community to admit the truth about humanity: that we are all sinners who try to...
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The Minister's Black Veil
Romantic literature often focuses heavily on emotion and can privilege the idea of rebellion against established social convention, and "The Minister's Black Veil" does both. Certainly, Mr....
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The Minister's Black Veil
When Mr. Hooper's parishioners first see him wearing the black veil, they experience a great deal of confusion, doubt, and worry. The sexton cries out in "astonishment," and every person within...
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The Minister's Black Veil
When Mr. Hooper sees his reflection in a mirror just as he's about to make a toast to the newly married couple, he has the same response to the sight of himself wearing the black veil that everyone...
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The Minister's Black Veil
The first hint we get about the meaning of the veil is the subject of the first sermon Mr. Hooper delivers after he begins to wear it. "The subject had reference to secret sin, and those sad...
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The Minister's Black Veil
Nothing, except that, one Sunday, without warning or explanation, he walks out of his front door wearing a black veil; the veil is made of two layers of crape material that cover his eyes, nose,...
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The Minister's Black Veil
The minister’s name is Reverend Hooper, and he is the main protagonist of the short story, “The Minister’s Black Veil”. Reverend Hooper appears at church one Sunday wearing a black veil...
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The Minister's Black Veil
The narrator tells us that when Mr. Hooper caught sight of his own reflection, just about to toast the happiness of the newly-married couple, he drops his wine on the ground and runs out into the...
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The Minister's Black Veil
Often, Romantic writers focused on the wonderful things of which humankind is capable. We have an enormous capacity for generosity and creativity and love, as well as the ability to find truth in...
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The Minister's Black Veil
Though much of "The Minister's Black Veil" actually focuses on what unites humanity -- our inherently sinful natures as well as our universal attempt to hide our true natures from others -- Mr....
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The Minister's Black Veil
First, Mr. Hooper officiates at a funeral service for a young woman. There, his veil was "an appropriate emblem," because it, too, seems solemn and somber and thus matches the mood of the funeral....
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The Minister's Black Veil
In response to Mr. Hooper's black veil, the townspeople begin to judge him almost immediately. His fiancee, Elizabeth, tells him that most people do not believe that Mr. Hooper wears the veil to...
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The Minister's Black Veil
One idea that links the Salem Witch Trials of 1692 and "The Minister's Black Veil" is the notion that human beings fear the unknown. During the Salem Witch Trials, fear and hysteria spread like...
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The Minister's Black Veil
Mr. Hooper's decision to don the veil is certainly a sign of his superior insight and virtue, and most definitely not a signal of mental illness. We learn, when he tells Elizabeth, that he wears...
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The Minister's Black Veil
Before he began to wear the black veil, Mr. Hooper's congregation regarded him as "a good preacher, but not an energetic one: he strove to win his people heavenward by mild, persuasive influences,...
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The Minister's Black Veil
We know that he has a reputation for being "good" as he is called "good Parson Hooper" or "good Mr. Hooper" often by both townspeople and the narrator. Further, the narrator tells us that Mr....
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The Minister's Black Veil
In order to address this question, I want to clarify that "supernatural" does not simply refer to ghosts and goblins and vampires, as we common think of it today. "Supernatural" actually has a...
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The Minister's Black Veil
"The Minister's Black Veil" largely conveys the idea that people have the potential for both good and evil through the characterization of Mr. Hooper, the minister, himself. Mr. Hooper is routinely...
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The Minister's Black Veil
One way in which Mr. Hooper benefits from the veil is that he can now affect his parishioners to a much greater extent than he ever did before he put it on. The narrator tells us that, on the day...
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The Minister's Black Veil
Mr. Hooper gives Elizabeth two reasons to stay by his side. First, he says, "'[...] hereafter there shall be no veil over my face, no darkness between our souls! It is but a mortal veil -- it is...
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The Minister's Black Veil
The townspeople definitely do not like the black veil that hangs in front of Hooper's face. Some think it is a gimmick or a way to protect his eyes from the sun. Others said there was no mystery...
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The Minister's Black Veil
Mr. Hooper's reaction to seeing his own reflection is much the same as everyone else's reaction to seeing him wear the veil. [...] his own antipathy to the veil was known to be so great, that he...
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The Minister's Black Veil
"The Minister's Black Veil" conveys the idea that we are all sinful by nature, and yet we hide our sinful natures from one another in an attempt to portray ourselves as sinless. In this way, we...
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The Minister's Black Veil
The members of the congregation of Mr. Hooper are filled with astonishment when they see their minister with a black veil covering the lower part of his face as he steps out his door. But, Mr....
