The Minister s Black Veil - 1775 Words

The Minister s Black Veil No one is perfect because everyone commits sin. However, there are people in the world who develop hatred towards others for committing mistakes when they themselves have done wrong. In the Puritan society many years ago, Puritans expected their minister to be a very holy human being. A minister was envisioned to be someone who will be a guiding hand for people who have lost their way and who will stand as a role model for others to look up to. If a minister was suspected or proven to have done something disgraceful or unholy, the society may resent him. In the Minister’s Black Veil, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Reverend Hooper’s alienation represented through the black veil, illustrates how the society surrounding†¦show more content†¦Many years later,â€Å"His health began to fail †¦ experiencing slowness of thought. For months, he refused to seek medical help and died in his sleep on May 19, 1864, at Plymouth, New Hampshire† (Biography.com). All the o bstacles Hawthorne had gone through in his life influenced his writing. He created his characters with a sense of alienation and guilt. The character’s alienation reveals much about the surrounding community. Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote the â€Å"Minister’s Black Veil† as a story about a minister named Mr. Hooper, who was alienated by the people around him for wearing a black veil.This story is also a parable for it displays a moral and spiritual lesson, which is to not judge others for committing mistakes while one should accept his or her own misdeeds. The story started with a sexton pulling at the bell-rope at a meeting house in the village of Milford. Seconds later, a minister known as Reverend Hooper appeared. People who saw him were all astonished to see the minister with a black veil swathed about his forehead.When he delivered his sermon, everyone was more attentive than usual. He spoke about secret sins which initiated the suspicion amongst the congregation that he has committed a shameful act. Later in the day, Reverend Hooper, still wearing the veil, held a funeral service for a young lady. A rumor had started about how the corpse shuddered when the minister lo oked at it up close. After the funeral, Hooper conducted a wedding for