The Dark Shroud Everyone has a secret. Everyone has a reason behind everything they do. Why did Reverend Hooper become possessed in wearing his veil? In The Ministers Black Veil, Hawthorn writes an entertaining story about a young Minister who covers his face with a black veil, and the townspeople shun him because of this decision. Why does he do this?
Proctors actions made him not belong to the town for he was a sinner and had gone against the church. Proctor had a choice to stand with the rest of the community or go with his wife. He first belonged to the community in fear and at a point did not agree or deny ‘”I have no knowledge of it ;the bible speaks of witches, and I will not deny them”( proctor act II). His moral standing is challenged where proctor must choose between living in a town with a sense of not belonging and contributing to hysteria or stand beside his wife and hang. ‘for now I do think I see some shred of goodness in John Proctor’ (proctor act IV) proctor referring to himself in the third person shows he is reflecting on his decision to sign the confession, he finally sees he is doing something right by the woman he belongs to.
AP English III 3 Dec. 2012 The Minister’s Black Veil In “The Minister’s Black Veil” by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Reverend Hooper covers his face with a black veil, and his worshippers are confused and scared about why the minister is wearing it. The black veil makes life harder for him, but he still will not take it off. Hooper’s veil stands for sin, and also represents the fact that all humans’ sin, and no one ought to be judged for it. Reverend Hooper’s black veil is a symbol of secret sin and the sinning nature that all humans have. Sin is mentioned various times throughout the play, and the first day Hooper wore the black veil he preached on secret sin: “The subject had reference to secret sin” (Hawthorne 268).
Prynne commits adultery in the novel, one of the most unforgivable sins. Not only is she a walking example of human's sinful nature, but she is forced to display her wrongdoing in the form of a brilliant scarlet letter "A" embroidered to her bosom. This scarlet letter embodies another antitranscendental qualitythe use of symbolism, as the scarlet letter contrasts so brightly against the blackandwhite Puritan society just as Prynne's sin stands out significantly against the bland, regulated Puritan lifestyle in which she lives. To emphasize the symbolism of the letter Hawthorne writes, "It was so fancy, that it has all the effect of a last and fitting decoration to the apparel she wore; ...but was greatly beyond what was allowed by the sumptuary regulations of this colony," (Hawthorne, 37). Hawthorne uses Prynne's scarlet letter as a huge piece of symbolism.
“Wherefore not; since all the powers of nature call so earnestly for the confession of sin, that these black weeds have sprung up out of a buried heart, to make manifest an unspoken crime?” This quote from Nathaniel Hawthorne’s, The Scarlet Letter, represents the truth upheld by a person, and how it carries with them through eternity. Hawthorne captures the truth of reality and sin in The Scarlet Letter. By using many literary devices, he reveals the truth of the Scarlet Letter and the characters in his novel. Being a novel during the romantic period, Hawthorne makes many symbolic and archetypical references to the power of nature, and the supernatural. Hawthorne uses these archetypes and symbols in addition to light motifs to demonstrate
Symbolism in the Scarlet Letter Nathaniel Hawthorne uses symbolism in his writing to give subtle hints about the Puritans way of life. He uses symbols such as the scaffold, the scarlet letter, and lightness and darkness. These symbols are all connected to the sin of Hester Prynne. Hawthorne used the symbols to show how Hester and those around her are all affected by her sin. The scarlet letter is one of the main symbols Hawthorne uses in the novel.
What points does the playwright make about the Christian division of the world into good and evil? There is no middle in Salem, you are either a good Christian or you working for the Devil, if you show a sign of non-Christianity than your all for the bad and will be hung for it. What assumptions do the adults in the community, (apart from Rebecca Nurse), make concerning the children? All the adults make very sudden assumptions that the children have been touched by the devil and are actually being possessed by some form of evil. Comment on the ending of Act 1.
In bewilderment, they see the minister’s face covered with the black veil which creates commotion among them. There are speculations about the origin of the veil, nevertheless nobody dares to ask. Mr Hooper’s sermon is on secret sin, as the Puritans were obsessed with this theme. The veil induces in minister such emotions that the sermon is the greatest ever and causes in parishioners anxiety and at the same time disgust as it reminds and makes them aware of their own sins. The scene might be compared with that in the novel Scarlet Letter, where reverend Dimmesdale, suffering guilty conscience delivers the speech which makes all the people astonished.
When Proctor had to go to the court to get his wife out of being accused of upholding witchcraft he eventually confess to his sins he committed. Talking to Danforth, Proctors says “I lusted, and there is a promise in such sweet. But it is a whore’s vengeance, and you must see it; I set myself entirely in your hands” (page 49 act three) confessing to the crime he did. He realizes what he did was wrong which was why he tried to hide it for so long. But the only way for
From this quote he looked like if he was an honest honorable man and also stubborn for not just saying what was he was told to do but he sounded like a brave man. In 1692, the village of Salem severely feared the Devil and witchcraft, causing them to persecute others as witches. The Salem village was worn out by internal disputes between neighbors who disagreed with the choice of Samuel Parris as their first ordained minister. Also during this time, religion was an enormous part of the culture. The Puritan belief of predestination caused many problems in this small town society.