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The Minister's Black Veil Analysis

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The True Meaning to The Minister’s Black Veil
A utopian society is thought of as an amazing place. In a utopian society everyday is always a beautiful familiar day, but a land where you can’t show your own beliefs or self expression does not sound that great. The Minister’s Black Veil by Nathaniel Hawthorne tells the story of a man known as Reverend Hooper. One day he begins to wear a black veil for some reason unknown to the citizens of the town.
The citizens all begin to try and figure out why he now wears this black veil, and in this confusion chaos descends onto the town and Reverend Hooper. It is pretty obvious that Hawthorne is trying to show the flaws with a society that is supposed to be perfect, yet is so easily shattered to chaos …show more content…
‘On earth, never!’ ‘Dark old man!’ exclaimed the affrighted minister, ‘With what horrible crime upon your soul are you now passing to the judgement?’ Father Hooper’s breath heaved; it rattled in his throat; but with a mighty effort, grasping forward with his hands, he caught hold of life, and held it back till he should speak. He even raised himself in bed; and there he sat shivering, with the arms of death around him, while the black veil hung down, awful, at that last moment, in the gathered terrors of a lifetime. And yet the faint, sad smile, so often there, now seemed to glimmer from its obscurity, and linger on Father Hooper’s lips. ‘Why do you tremble at me a lone?’ cried he, turning his veiled face round the circle of pale spectators. ‘Tremble also at each other! Have men avoided me, and women shown no pity, and children screamed and fled, only for my black veil? What, but the mystery which it so obscurely typifies, has made this piece of crape so awful? When the friend shows his inmost heart to his friend; the lover to his best beloved; when mad does not vainly shrink from the eye of his creator, loathsomely treasuring up the secret of his sin; then deem me a monster, for the symbol beneath which I have lived, and die! I look around me, and lo! On every visage a Black Veil!’ While his auditors shrank from one another, in mutual affright, Father Hooper fell back upon his pillow, a veiled corpse, with a faint smile lingering on his …show more content…
Hooper’s whole life he has been judged for his Black Veil. He was judged when he first showed himself to others in the black veil, and he was judged on his deathbed. The whole town was talking of him. The whole town was disturbed by him, and the whole town was in a panic because of him. They were always thinking of his black veil. Mr. Clark had the indecency to try and take advantage of the fact that he was dying, but Mr. Hooper was very willing to fight to make sure his practice was not compromised. He was very willing to explain in tremendous detail how he would never lift his veil in the mortal world. Mr. Hooper used the last of his energy to make sure he died covered up, and to shame the others in the room. It was almost a catharsis of kinds. For years he had endured the prejudices of the others, and he never fought back. The frustration just built up inside of him until his last moments. All because of the Black piece of fabric he adorned. Everyone always wanted to know why he wore the black veil, but he would never tell anyone. At the end of his life though he briefly hints to his reasons. Mr. Hooper accused everyone in the room of wearing a black veil at the end. This at first may just be passed off as some kind of metaphor, but When the reader really stops to analyze this they might realize that the veil is double sided. The citizens see him wearing a dark veil, and they assume he is covering up his sins or problems. They never actually realized that

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