Themes in "The Minister's Black Veil" by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Like many writers of his time, Hawthorne emphasized mans inner reality, and those thoughts and feelings which are not at present apparent. As he explored this internal nature, he not sole(prenominal) found the source of dignity and virtue, but also sure elements of darkness and violence. In The Ministers Black Veil, these elements are treated as real and inescapable forces in human existence. The unifying root is the conflict between the dark, hidden side of man and the standards enforce by his puritanical heritage, and the psychological and practical implications of this conflict. Hawthorne brings evil and wildcat desire into the circuit of puritan life, and thereby conveys a profound truth that is disturbing in its implication, namely that we can neer hope to know each others true selves. The themes in the write up are suggested by the veil-symbol, the tension between the minister and the community, and the enjoyment of pro-Freudian psychological analysis.

The symbolic significance of the black veil lies in the physical and mental barrier that it creates between the minister and his environment, and the unrighteousness that it expresses. Many pack believe that the face provides information close a soulfulnesss underlying characteristics and, therefore, about his or her probable behavior. Thus, by draining the veil, the minister takes away the basis on which people can predict his behavior.



This is the main cause of the ministers isolation, although he is make unpredictable already by the mere act of wearing the veil. Part of the frightening effect of the veil derives from the knowledge that the person behind it can see everything without being seen himself:

Each member of the congregation, the almost innocent girl, and the man of hardened breast, felt as if the sermonizer had crept upon them, behind this awful veil, and discovered their hoarded...

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