Reoccurring Themes and Symbols in Different Works by Nathaniel Hawthorne :: The Minister’s Black Veil

It is no secret that Nathaniel Hawthornes The Ministers char Veil is a parable. Hawthorne intended it as such and even gave the flooring the subtitle a parable. The Ministers Black Veil, however, was not Hawthornes only parable. Hawthorne often used symbols and figurative language to give added meaning to the real(a) interpretations of his work. His Puritan ancestry also influenced much of Hawthornes work. Instead of agreeing with Puritanism however, Hawthorne would criticize it through the symbols and constitutions in his stories and parables. Several of these symbols and themes reoccur in Hawthornes The Ministers Black Veil, Young Goodman brown, and The Scarlet Letter. One particularly noticeable theme in Hawthornes work is that of secret sin (Newman 338). In the Young Goodman Brown, this theme is evident when young Mr. Brown dreams that he is led by the devil to a witching party. There he sees all of the honorable and pharisaical members of society, including his mini ster and the woman who taught him his catechisms, communing with the prince of darkness. Upon awakening, the hypocritical nature of his once admired neighbors and the realization of his own secret sin causes him to become terribly disillusioned (Colacurcio 396). The same social occasion happens in The Ministers Black Veil, except the reader does not know exactly what secret sin makes Reverend Hooper begin to don the bare veil. Many scholars suppose that this has something to do with the funeral of the young lady at the beginning of the story. The opinions range from believing that Reverend Hooper loved the girl in secret, to Poes believe that Reverend Hooper may have actually been the cause of the girls death (Newman 204). Whatever the reason, the ministers wearing of the veil taints his view of everyone else near him, making all of them look like they are wearing veils as well (Hawthorne 107). Dimmesdales secret sin with Hester Prynne is admitted at the end of the story, b ut the theme of secret sin is not as used as strongly in this novel as it was in Hawthornes stories (Dryden 147). However, two of the main themes in The Scarlet Letter are visible in both of the other stories. The first is the corruption of the clergy. In The Scarlet Letter, Reverend Dimmesdale is a good pastor.