Symbolism In The Minister's Black Veil By Nathaniel Hawthorne

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Nathaniel Hawthorne is famous for his literary works. These include The Scarlet Letter, “Young Goodman Brown”, as well as “The Minister’s Black Veil”. Those who read texts such as the above mentioned often miss the physical symbolism. There is both obvious symbolism included as well as hidden physical symbols. Physical symbolism can also be used to hide something about a character. Does Hawthorne associate any physical symbolism that reveals or hides something about Chillingworth? Chillingworth is a flat character; furthermore, he is less of a character and more of a symbol who does the devil's bidding. Throughout the story, he develops from a kind scholar into an obsessed fiend. His spirit becomes noticeably evil, but what about his physical …show more content…
Pearl is not meant to be a realistic character. Instead, she is a complicated symbol of an act of love and passion, an act which was also adultery. She appears as an infant in the first scaffold scene, then at the age of three, and finally at the age of seven. The numbers “three” and “seven” are significant in not only The Scarlet Letter, but also in the Bible. When Pearl is three years old, the reader learns that she possesses a "rich and luxuriant beauty; a beauty that shone with deep and vivid tints; a bright complexion, eyes possessing intensity both of depth and glow, and hair already of a deep, glossy brown and which, in after years, would be nearly akin to black." Furthermore, the texts includes the fact that she has a "perfect shape," "vigor," "natural dexterity," and "a native grace.” In public, she is usually dressed in "gorgeous robes which might have extinguished a paler loveliness." She is a baffling mixture of strong moods, given to uncontrolled laughter at one moment and sullen silence the next, with a fierce temper and a capacity for the "bitterest hatred that can be supposed to rankle in a childish bosom." In all honesty, Pearl could be described as a strange child. Governor Bellingham likens her to the "children of the Lord of Misrule," and some of the Puritans believe that she is a "demon …show more content…
Hillis Miller describes the black veil that the Minister wears as a symbol of death that is unnecessary considering the Minister is not yet dead. Miller believes “When he puts on the black veil the Reverend Hooper is as if he were already dead. Or, rather, he seems to have withdrawn to that realm where signs cannot reach, for which “death” is one name.” In another statement, the writer declares that “It is as if the simple act of putting on the black veil had revealed the unverifiable possibility that each of us already dwells in that realm, both as we are for other people and even as we are for ourselves.” In his text “The Problem of History in ‘The Minister’s Black Veil’”, Miller writes that “such a trope defaces or disfigures in the very act whereby it ascribes a face that has none.” He also states that “It deprives Hooper of the face whereby his neighbors assume they know him.” In Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown” is filled with both physical and spiritual symbolism. An example of spiritual symbolism in this text includes the aspect of faith. Young Goodman Brown's wife is an obvious symbol for Young Goodman Brown’s faith. Although Brown dies a bitter man, blaming the wickedness and hypocrisy of others, he leaves his faith first. Young Goodman Brown himself is a symbol as well. He symbolizes the innocence of young, good men, who are all tempted and to some extent all choose to submit to their temptations. Brown's journey, therefore, represents the loss of
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