Minister's+Black+Veil

The Minister's Black Veil

This is a quotation from Hawthorne --

A lack of love and reverence for the Human Soul; in consequence of which the investigator pried into its dark depths, not with a hope or purpose of making it better, but from a cold philosophical curiosity – content that it should be wicked in whatever kind or degree, and only desiring to study it out – the separation of the intellect from the human heart

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 *  In the beginning he sets the scene...
 *  The bright faces, skipping merrily
 *  All set, ironically, for a good thing to happen
 *  Narrator, who interjects with questions
 *  Important to look at how they treated him with the veil when he entered
 *  Unrecognizable
 *  Some strange minister coming to dust the cushions
 *  Is Hawthorne saying that sin changes us physically?
 *  Description of the veil
 *  All black
 *  Did not cover mouth or chin, but did cover his eyes
 *  Affects how we see the world, “everything of a darker nature”
 *  “A darkened aspect to all living and inanimate things”
 *  Dark → symbol of sin
 *  “He said with his gloomy shade before him…”
 *  Old woman thought he changed himself into something awful
 * <span style="font-family: &#39;Helvetica Neue&#39;; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline;"> The veil threw the obscurity between him and the holy page
 * <span style="font-family: &#39;Helvetica Neue&#39;; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline;"> Laid heavily on his uplifted countenance
 * <span style="font-family: &#39;Helvetica Neue&#39;; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline;"> One woman left the meeting house because she was so deeply disturbed
 * <span style="font-family: &#39;Helvetica Neue&#39;; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline;"> “Most powerful sermon ever, tinged rather more darkly than usual, the subject had reference to “secret sin” and those sad mysteries”
 * <span style="font-family: &#39;Helvetica Neue&#39;; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline;"> “We hide sin from our nearest and dearest, our own consciousness, and we forget that God can detect our sins.”
 * <span style="font-family: &#39;Helvetica Neue&#39;; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline;"> Ignored by the congregation, not asked to interact
 * <span style="font-family: &#39;Helvetica Neue&#39;; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline;"> He had a sad smile that gleamed quaintly underneath the black veil
 * <span style="font-family: &#39;Helvetica Neue&#39;; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline;"> 3 words in the sentence with imagery and light
 * <span style="font-family: &#39;Helvetica Neue&#39;; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline;"> His smile was the light in the darkness
 * <span style="font-family: &#39;Helvetica Neue&#39;; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline;"> Light → happiness, purity, knowledge (he knew, they didn’t)
 * <span style="font-family: &#39;Helvetica Neue&#39;; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline;"> He took a strong step forward so others would be more comfortable doing the same
 * <span style="font-family: &#39;Helvetica Neue&#39;; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline;"> Seemed to hang down to his heart
 * <span style="font-family: &#39;Helvetica Neue&#39;; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline;"> Supernatural
 * <span style="font-family: &#39;Helvetica Neue&#39;; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline;"> Thought the corpse shuddered when he leaned over the veil
 * <span style="font-family: &#39;Helvetica Neue&#39;; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline;"> The funeral
 * <span style="font-family: &#39;Helvetica Neue&#39;; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline;"> The prayer he gave was full of sorrow, yet so ambigued with celestial hopes that the sound of the harp…”
 * <span style="font-family: &#39;Helvetica Neue&#39;; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline;"> Sin may darken our outlook on life, but not our hope for heaven (our sins will be gone before we get there)
 * <span style="font-family: &#39;Helvetica Neue&#39;; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline;"> The wedding
 * <span style="font-family: &#39;Helvetica Neue&#39;; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline;"> Darkness even during the most joyous occasion
 * <span style="font-family: &#39;Helvetica Neue&#39;; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline;"> Candles dimmed by the passing veil
 * <span style="font-family: &#39;Helvetica Neue&#39;; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline;"> Horrified by his own reflection in the glass (mirror)
 * <span style="font-family: &#39;Helvetica Neue&#39;; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline;"> Shuddered, lips white, spilled the wine on carpet, ran into the darkness
 * <span style="font-family: &#39;Helvetica Neue&#39;; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline;"> “...for the earth too had on her black veil.”
 * <span style="font-family: &#39;Helvetica Neue&#39;; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline;"> Leaves the joy and goes out into the world, because the world too has [her] sin
 * <span style="font-family: &#39;Helvetica Neue&#39;; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline;"> Puritan verison of sin
 * <span style="font-family: &#39;Helvetica Neue&#39;; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline;"> We are all sinners
 * <span style="font-family: &#39;Helvetica Neue&#39;; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline;"> Ironic because he's the one admitting the sin, the judgemental characters are hiding their sins
 * <span style="font-family: &#39;Helvetica Neue&#39;; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline;"> He is wearing the veil, they are not
 * <span style="font-family: &#39;Helvetica Neue&#39;; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline;"> Had people and went to the church and took attendance
 * <span style="font-family: &#39;Helvetica Neue&#39;; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline;"> Care more about physical, not emotional
 * <span style="font-family: &#39;Helvetica Neue&#39;; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline;"> More important for physical change, not just emotional → puritans would have approved of his veil
 * <span style="font-family: &#39;Helvetica Neue&#39;; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline;"> Fight always between God and Satan
 * <span style="font-family: &#39;Helvetica Neue&#39;; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline;"> Unpardonable sins
 * <span style="font-family: &#39;Helvetica Neue&#39;; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline;"> Puritan emphasis on scripture (rejection of the words of God)
 * <span style="font-family: &#39;Helvetica Neue&#39;; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline;"> Look down upon pride, despair, and salvation
 * Themes/Conflicts
 * Light and dark
 * Man vs. himself
 * Man v. nature (eventually)
 * Man v. society
 * Man v. man
 * Sin and darkness..
 * Separated him from the cheerful brotherhood, a woman’s love, and shaded him in the darkness of eternity
 * Elizabeth introduced
 * The veil is a symbol, bound to ever wear it in light and dark
 * A dismal shade
 * Ambiguity → mourning, I like all other mortals, have a reason for hope
 * Rev. Hooper believes the veil can be removed when they reach heaven, only can be removed after they reach heaven
 * Marriage is acceptance of the other person, she must accept him and if she does, at the end, there will be no veil as sin is removed
 * Sin isolates us, separates us from those we love
 * Was he wearing it because he was mourning or because of sin
 * We actually don’t know
 * When people were dying, who knew they had committed sin, they still wanted him to come to their aid
 * “Aid and moral anguish”
 * In the end…
 * He is dying, being begged to take it off
 * Never will on Earth, his humanity and humility (no longer human if removed)
 * Same as removing his “birthmark”
 * “I look around me, and low, on every visage, I wish a black veil.”

Did he wear it for sorrow or for sin? >
 * Everyone knew. Those who looked at him had the ambiguity. Says that it is for sin, but some of his actions say it is for sorrow. I personally think that it is for sorrow of his sin. The way the church handles sin is that you recognize it, come to terms with your past actions, actively attempt to not commit the sin again, ask for forgiveness from God but until heaven is reached, the sin will remain. It is thought that he is mourning his sins and sad because of his past actions, and maybe he needed a constant, physical reminder to not commit them anymore.