Sunday, September 26, 2010
September 26th - The Minister's Black Veil
With your blog group, develop 2 level two questions that reflect your reading of Hawthorne's "The Minister's Black Veil"; you must also respond thoughtfully to these 2 level two questions! Remember, you should post these 2 level two questions, then respond to them. You are expected to refine and inform your blog at least three times throughout the week.
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ROY
ReplyDeleteI think that our two questions should be:
1) How does the setting affect the development of the plot/story?
2) Who is the villain and what repressed emotions does the villain represent?
Please comment and feel free to make changes/corrections.
Okay, so seeing no objections, these are officially our questions for The Minister's Black Veil.
ReplyDelete1) I think the setting plays an important role in the story because it helps to set up the plot and to develop the characters within the story. The minister is very prevalent in a small and somewhat conservative town in the approximately 19th century to maybe even the very early 20th century. By placing the minister in such an environment not only brings to light the black veil portrayed in the story but also exaggerates it. It makes the veil stand out substantially from the counterparts of all the people. The people also play an important role by being fearful which is also exaggerated by the setting as well.
2) I believe that the villain is ultimately the black veil. The veil represents the repressed emotions of not only the protagonist but also the audience and the onlookers of the spectacle (The townspeople). The veil represents the sin that the people have committed. This ultimately goes on to defeat our protagonist and stray away the townspeople.
CARTER
ReplyDelete1)The setting affects the story in the townsfolk's reactions to the veil. When Mr. Hooper first appears with the veil, his speech is more commanding than usual, making it "greatly the most powerful effort that they had ever heard from their pastor's lips." They think the veil odd, and wonder if the pastor is ill, and avoid him. Afterwards, at the funeral of a young girl, they feel that the veil is more appropriate, but wonder why he quickly snatched the veil to his face while leaning over the girl. That night, at a wedding, he is still wearing the veil, which disturbs the guests, causing them to think him mad. Over the years, the veil causes him to drift further from society, causing the town to think him stranger, making a circle of fear.
2)I think the villain of the story is the veil. It represents the repressed emotions secret sins. He preaches about these sins the day he begins to wear the veil, and it is said that it "felt as if the preacher had crept upon them, behind his awful veil, and disclosed their hoarded iniquity of deed or thought." The townspeople fear the veil, as they fear that their own sins would be revealed.
CARTER
ReplyDeleteI want to add some more thoughts based on what we discussed today.
1) The time and place of the story also have a major effect. The story takes place in a 18th century, Puritan, small town. The center of these towns was the church. Therefore, to see the head of this central figure don such a change would have been quite a fright to the town.
2) Another villain in the story is Mr Hooper, as he becomes one with the veil. When the townspeople reject the veil, they also reject him, and so they become a single entity of darkness. The two both come to represent the sin that all the town fears.
Amelia
ReplyDeleteHey guys! Internet’s been pretty spotty, but I’ve had them all written up, so here we go.
1)The small town and church, the funeral, the wedding- they all affect the twists and turns of this story. The small, strict town contributes to the idea of hiding your sins. The rules of the church are followed very closely, and everyone knows everybody in a small community. This means when someone commits a sin, they want to hide it as much as possible. One of Hooper’s first appearances was at a funeral. A black veil is appropriate for a funeral, so people thought is a little odd, but nothing to be frightened of. At first people tried to use logical reasons for the veil, such as having a late night or mourning, but when Hooper appears at the wedding, the feeling is tense and frightened; “…the bride’s cold fingers quivered in the tremulous hands of the bridegroom” (Hawthorne 9). Location greatly affects the parishner’s reactions to the veil.
2)I believe the antagonist is Mr. Hooper and the veil as well. Hooper puts on the veil to represent the townspeople, the protagonists, hiding their secret sin. Everybody has sinned, as Hooper says, “I look around…on every visage a Black Veil!” (Hawthorne 15) Hooper is wearing his on the outside to show that all humans will have all their sins and secrets revealed on judgment day, the day they die and the decision for their afterlife is made. The veil represents the repressed guilt and sin the townspeople are hiding. Those secrets never leave, for even when Hooper dies, the veil remains, for “Still veiled, they laid him in his coffin, and a veiled corpse they bore him to the grave” (Hawthorne 16).
Amelia
ReplyDeleteI would like to add to my previous post
1)The town is really centered around the church, the days even start with “The sexton…pulling busily on at the bell rope” (Hawthorne 5). Because of this, Hooper has a lot of power, through his sermons and his status. This is one of the main reasons his veil is so feared and hated; he is always in the public eye, and figure to look up to.
2)A really good quote to help back up that Hooper is the antagonist is. “Have men avoided me, and women shown no pity, and children screamed and fled, only for my black veil...when the friend shows his inmost heart to his friend…then deem me a monster!” (Hawthorne 15) He is not the antagonist in the sense that he is evil, but that he is the embodiment of the repressed feelings of the townspeople. He continues to be kind to them even when they shrink away from him, and he is there for them when they want to admit and repent for their sins.
CARTER
ReplyDelete1) The fact that Mr. Hooper is first seen with the veil on Sunday also adds to the story. AS he exits his chambers, the congregation turns to see him with the veil, and wonder what is wrong with their leader.
2) A quote for the combination of Mr. Hooper and the veil as villains is, "...good Mr. Hooper's face is dust; but awful is still the thought that is mouldered beneath the Black Veil!"
The second post is ROY's
ReplyDeleteROY
ReplyDeleteHere are some questions and statements:
To carter's 1). I think that the fact that the townspeople are more conservative also plays a big role in showing that Mr. Hooper is isolated and how he is so different from everyone else in his society.
To Amelia's 2) I don't think that the antagonist is Mr. Hooper, but the veil. I do not see how Mr. Hooper can be the antagonist because he is more of a protagonist in my opinion because he is outwardly showing his repressed emotions yet still hiding them.
LaUrEN StEiner
ReplyDelete1. the setting definitely affects the story in numerous ways. the setting is a minister in a small traditionalist town a long time ago. this causes the black veil to cause quite a reaction. i think the setting really brought out the true oddness in the minister wearing the veil because if the story was in another setting, maybe the veil would have been accepted better. the oddness of the man doing something so out of the ordinary was heightened by the time and developed the story as everyone was so curious. over time, the veil secludes him from his society.
2. i think the villain is the black veil. the veil represents the repressed emotions of the villain which are his privacy of his "secret sins". Mr. Hooper never really says a clear reason why he chose to randomly wear the veil, he just did. and he stood by it. the veil represents a couple things like evil and mortality. it causes everyone to feel frightened and reflect on themselves and of course be curious of Mr. Hooper's intentions. the veil can also represent the repressed emotions of the townspeople.
Now i am going to add my evidence:
ReplyDelete1. "The old people of the village came stooping along the street. Children, with bright faces, tripped merrily beside their parents, or mimicked a graver gait, in the conscious dignity of their Sunday clothes...When the throng had mostly streamed into the porch, the sexton began to toll the bell, keeping his eye on the Reverend Mr. Hooper's door. The first glimpse of the clergyman's figure was the signal for the bell to cease its summons." (5). -- the setting of the story, which i think is significant to know because it is what develops throughout the story and is most affected.
"in this manner Mr. Hooper spent a long life, irreproachable in outward act, yet shrouded in dismal suspicions; kind and loving, though unloved, and dimly feared; a man apart from men, shunned in their health and joy, but ever sumoned to their aid in mortal anguish." (13). -- this represents how his life kept going while society only kept fearing him.
2. theres quite a lot of evidence for this topic
"Know, then, this veil is a type and a symbol, and i am bound to wear it ever, both in light and darkness, in solitude and before the gaze of multitudes, and as with strangers, so with my familiar friends. No mortal eye will see it withdrawn. this dismal shade must separate me from the world; even you, Elizabeth, can never come behind it!" (11).-- this shows that he did mean for the veil to be symbolic and isnt just wearing it by accident or because his face is cold or something.
Lauren steiner
to carter:
ReplyDelete1. i agree about the setting being on a sunday making the veil be even bigger of a deal. i think that if the story were not so christian-themed or even religious, then the veil would not be AS strange.
to amelia:
2. i agree with you about the veil also representing the repressed guilt in the townspeople. they can feel guilty about how they are treating Mr. Hooper or feel guilty about their own "secret sins" and the veil is making them remember the sins.
^lauren Steiner
ReplyDeleteROY
ReplyDeleteHere is some of my evidence:
1) "A rumor of some unaccountable phenomenon had preceded Mr. Hooper into the meeting-house, and set all the congrgation astir. Few could refrain from twisting their heads towards the door; many stood upright, and turned directly about; while several little boys clambered upon the seats, and came down again with a terrible racket." This quote shows how the "word" or "gossip" of Mr. Hooper's veil first spread throughout the town. It also gives a brief description of how the people in the town reacted to the veil, in a very conservative way.
2) "'If it be a sign of mourning,' replied Mr. Hooper, 'I perhaps, like most other mortals, have sorrows dark enough to be typified by a black veil.'"
"It [The veil] had separated him from cheerful brotherhood and woman's love, and kept him in the saddest of all prisons, his own heart; and still it lay upon his face, as if to deepen the gloom of his darksome chamber, and shade him from the sunshine of eternity." These two quotes serve to describe the black veil and ultimately what it hides fro the world/symbolizes. It covers up and masks the sins that we have committed.