Symbolism in Hawthornes " The Birthmark" and "The Ministers Black Veil"
Symbolism is the practice of representing things by means of symbols or of attributing symbolic meanings or significance to objects, events, or relationships. In both of Hawthorne’s short stories “The Ministers Black Veil” and “The Birthmark” show symbolism, “The Ministers Black Veil” symbolizes sin and strong will; “The Birthmark” symbolizes amour love and imperfection.
“The Ministers Black Veil” is a story about a well-liked Minister in a small town named Mr. Hooper. As the story progresses Parson Hooper, a looked up to citizen and great preacher begins to wear a black veil that covers his face. The congregation of his church and people around town became curious, distraught, and somewhat afraid of the black veil he wore across his face and why a man of his stature would do such a thing. What did he do? What was he hiding? Throughout the story the veil stayed on and these questions were asked, the people became judgmental of the preacher and wondered if his sin was so bad that he didn’t want his face seen in church. One thing that caught my attention was how much ruckus this little black veil had caused. He couldn’t walk out in public with out causing a scene, children would run away and scream, men and women would turn there heads, and stare at him like the man had a plague. His wife even ended up leaving him because she was frightened of what he was hiding or what he had done that caused him to put on a black veil. To the townspeople the black veil is a symbol for sin and what evil Mr. Hooper could have done to hide his face in sight of the Lord. I mean, the people didn’t even take the time to ask the man why he chose to wear it or if his spiritual well-being was ok. Instead they assumed the worst, talk about him behind his back and make the situation ten times worse then it actually was, maybe he was trying out a new fashion statement for all we know. To me Mr. Hooper was a very strong willed individual and this is symbolized in this story, because not once
“The Ministers Black Veil” is a story about a well-liked Minister in a small town named Mr. Hooper. As the story progresses Parson Hooper, a looked up to citizen and great preacher begins to wear a black veil that covers his face. The congregation of his church and people around town became curious, distraught, and somewhat afraid of the black veil he wore across his face and why a man of his stature would do such a thing. What did he do? What was he hiding? Throughout the story the veil stayed on and these questions were asked, the people became judgmental of the preacher and wondered if his sin was so bad that he didn’t want his face seen in church. One thing that caught my attention was how much ruckus this little black veil had caused. He couldn’t walk out in public with out causing a scene, children would run away and scream, men and women would turn there heads, and stare at him like the man had a plague. His wife even ended up leaving him because she was frightened of what he was hiding or what he had done that caused him to put on a black veil. To the townspeople the black veil is a symbol for sin and what evil Mr. Hooper could have done to hide his face in sight of the Lord. I mean, the people didn’t even take the time to ask the man why he chose to wear it or if his spiritual well-being was ok. Instead they assumed the worst, talk about him behind his back and make the situation ten times worse then it actually was, maybe he was trying out a new fashion statement for all we know. To me Mr. Hooper was a very strong willed individual and this is symbolized in this story, because not once