So this week, the ultimatedecepticons were supposed to create two level two questions regarding Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Minister's Black Veil". I must say that this was quite a challenge in creating two level two questions, as there is a lot of text to interpret. Here's the first round of these interpretations, but first here are the two questions:
1.) Who or what is the villain?
2.) Why does Mr. Hooper wear the veil?
And therefore we have......
1. In this text, there are multiple possibilities for the villains. It could be evils of sin, the black veil, or even Mr. Hooper himself. Throughout one’s interpretation, a strong villain of the literary work to be secret sin. The text displays the secret sin as being personified by the black veil. This is how one could easily assume that the villain is the black veil. However, the black veil displays a deeper meaning, which is the power of sin within each man. Mr. Hooper quotes, “‘If I hide my face for sorrow, there is cause enough,’ he merely replied ‘and if I cover it for secret sin, what mortal might not do the same?’” (Hawthorne 11). The quote depicts that a man can hid his face in sorrow, but all men desire to hide his sins from the world. In Gothic Literature, the villain prevails over all: there are no exceptions to this rule whatsoever. If sin is the villain, then it matches how the sin of minister is portrayed to allow the townspeople realize that their sins are no different from the sins of the minister.
2.Why does Mr. Hooper wear the veil, one may say? Yet again, there are multiple reasons why Mr. Hooper chooses to wear the veil. A townsman recalls in the text, “‘ But the strangest part of the affair is the effect of this vagary, even on a sober-minded man like myself. The black veil, though it covers only our pastor’s face, throws its influence over his whole person, and makes him ghostlike from head to foot’” (Hawthorne 8). The townsmen immediately see the difference of Mr. Hooper’s tone and actions as he covers his face with the black veil. They also note how the veil has morphed their minister as someone greater and a different being. Mr. Hooper puts on the veil so he can isolate himself from society. While isolating himself from society, Mr. Hooper can hide his own sins underneath the veil. As a minister, Mr. Hooper symbolizes that he is like every other man, having his veil as a guard to hide his sins from society’s judgment. In addition, the veil is portrayed as a transparent piece of cloth, where the figure behind it can see everything through it. On the contrary, everything on the outside world is unable to see through the transparency, like Mr. Hooper’s veil, which allows the sinner to be in a secluded environment.
Okay, well upon reflecting the Minster's Black Veil, there is something else that could be a possibility to why Mr. Hooper wears the veil. For one thing, the color of the veil is black. Even the color of the veil must represent a deeper meaning. In general the color black is associated with evil and dark things and situations. In this context, the black veil separates Mr. Hooper from society. The black veil hides the light of society, which is the good in life. Therefore, the veil hides the good, and displays only the evil. Mr. Hooper is the one who is behind the veil, so he is the one behind the veil's evilness, thus rejecting the good light and aspects of society.
That's it for now, and I will work more on the whole spacing on the text thing....(sorry)
Yours truly,
Your ultimatedecepticon, A, Allison
No comments:
Post a Comment