Discussion Topic
Character Analysis of Mr. Hooper in "The Minister's Black Veil"
Summary:
In Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Minister's Black Veil," Reverend Hooper is a complex character symbolized by his decision to wear a black veil, which alienates him from his community. Despite being described as gentlemanly and a good preacher, his veil creates an indirect characterization of mystery and suspicion. Hooper's unchanged demeanor contrasts with the drastic impact of the veil, highlighting Puritan themes of hidden sin and predestination. His actions reflect internal and external conflicts, ultimately isolating him and underscoring the story's moral ambiguity.
How would you characterize Mr. Hooper in "The Minister's Black Veil"?
Reverend Hooper is characterized directly and indirectly in the story, so it is helpful to understand a definition for each type of characterization. In direct characterization, a narrator makes a direct comment about a character. In the case of Reverend Hooper, “…a gentlemanly person, of about thirty…” or “Mr. Hooper had the reputation of a good preacher…”
What is ironic in this story is that the direct characterization of Mr. Hooper as gentlemanly, kind, and a good preacher is directly contradicted by the indirect characterization . Indirect characterization is when an author reveals a character’s traits through their words, thoughts or actions; through descriptions of the character’s appearance; through what other characters say about him or her; or through the way they react to him or her. A good example of the indirect characterization of Mr. Hooper is when one of his parishioners says, “He has changed himself...
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into something awful, only by hiding his face.” Of course, this is not true, but this is what the parishioners think. “But that piece of crape, to their imagination, seemed to hang down before his heart.” As we read the story, we also begin to wonder what Mr. Hooper could be hiding, although there is no indication, really, that he is hiding anything.
When writing your paragraph, consider Mr. Hooper’s reasons for wearing the black veil. At the end of the story, he says, “I look around me, and lo! on every visage a black veil.” Hooper’s intention was to use the black veil as a symbol, or a lesson, to others that everyone, even the minister, has sins to hide. The reaction of the people to their minister when he begins wearing the veil shows us that people are quick to judge, to assume someone has done something wrong when they have not. Ask yourself what kind of person Reverend Hooper must have been to be willing to wear this symbol and destroy his reputation.
What is a character analysis of Rev Mr. Hooper in "The Minister's Black Veil"?
While we educators at Enotes do not write essays for students, there is assistance that we can provide. After the student peruses the story and notes significant passages, etc. he or she may wish to also consider these points:
- In "The Minister's Black Veil," Mr. Hooper dons a black crepe veil that falls over his face, hiding it from his congregation, who quickly are unnerved by this action, wondering why he has done so. Further, the ironic aspect of this action of Mr. Hooper is that not only does it affect the other members of the community, but it profoundly affects him, as well, serving both external and deep internal conflicts. However, the veil does little but alienate Hooper from others, rather than getting them to look into their own souls.
- Deeply aware of the Puritan/Calvinist theology which holds that only an "elect" will attain heaven, Mr. Hooper's wearing of the veil shuts out the world to a certain extent and turns more of his thoughts inward. So, ever cognizant of his ministry's Calvinist doctrine as he wears the funereal crepe, Mr. Hooper's heart begins to look darkly through this veil. The narrator comments that the veil of Mr. Hooper
...probably did not intercept his sight, farther than to give a darkened aspect to all living and inanimate things.
Darkening his view of both worldly and spiritual things, the veil places
its obscurity between him and the holy page, as he read the Scriptures; and while he prayed, the veil lay heavily on his uplifted countenance.
- The veil does little for the congregation since it creates doubt in the minds of people and isolates Mr. Hooper in the perception of his feeling morally superior to them.
The people trembled, though they but darkly understood him, when he prayed that they...might be ready...for the dreadful hour that should snatch the veil from their faces.
- They, too, seem to subconsciously understand the Calvinistic gloom of predestination when, the veil snatched from the face of their souls, they will be told whether they are among the elect or whether they have been condemned to being among the "reprobate" people who are sent to eternal damnation.
- When he refuses to remove the veil even for his fiancee, it becomes apparent that Hooper is much too preoccupied with the message of the veil--whether he is saved or damned--that the veil becomes his greatest antagonist, for he loses a chance for love and marriage.
Thus, from beneath the black veil, there rolled a cloud into the sunshine, an ambiguity of sin or sorrow, which enveloped the poor minister so that love or sympathy could never reach him.
- On his deathbed, Mr. Hooper even refuses to remove his veil, and it is only at this point that he really speaks out about the veil,
"I look around me, and, lo! on every visage a Black Veil!"
This statement of Hooper's indicates that he has not had anything to say to them because there is no chance for redemption through grace by confession when one's life has been predetermined. Like him, the people just wear veils to hide their secret sins until their final judgment.
- Thus, there are several conflicts in this narrative: man against others (society), man against himself, and certainly man against fate.
How does Mr. Hooper's conduct in "The Minister's Black Veil" contrast with his normal behavior?
I am not entirely sure that this question isn't a trick question that looks to force the answer to be a rebuttal. When the story starts, there is something different about Father Hooper. He is wearing a black veil that covers his face. That is the only difference in Hooper. Readers are told several times that his behavior was identical to what it normally was. Notice how the third paragraph describes Mr. Hooper's walk toward the church.
. . . and beheld the semblance of Mr. Hooper, pacing slowly his meditative way towards the meeting-house.
Readers are told that Hooper was pacing "his" way. A person's gait is unique like a fingerprint. That's why "gait recognition" is gaining ground as legal identification.
Readers are also told that Mr. Hooper's sermon was delivered in the same way that his other sermons were delivered. He's not a fire and brimstone speaker, nor is he highly energetic from the pulpit.
The sermon which he now delivered was marked by the same characteristics of style and manner as the general series of his pulpit oratory.
The audience may have received his message differently, but it wasn't because Mr. Hooper was behaving any differently. It had everything to do with the fact that Mr. Hooper decided to wear one extra piece of clothing that happened to cover his face.
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