The Minister's Black Veil

When some one is to read Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Minister's Black Veil, it is easy for them to tell how much it relates to the writing style of Dark Romanticism. One very obvious statement that can be said about the story is the whole thing is shrouded in darkness and death. Within the story we are told of how the black veil had such an effect on people. The darkness it said would fill people's souls with guiltiness whether or not they had done anything wrong. It then says, "Once, during Governor Belcher's administration, Mr. Hooper was appointed to preach the election sermon. Covered with his black veil, he stood before the chief magistrate, the council, and the representatives, and wrought so deep an impression, that the legislative measures of that year were characterized by all the gloom and piety of our earliest ancestral sway" (Hawthorne). This whole statement is just depressing. He was saying that because of the black veil, the term of the governor, which I assume was four years because that is what it normally is, was characterized by all of the suffering all of our ancestors have been through. So thinking about that there are plagues, wars, feuds, starving, droughts, all the times that are tough to get through and all of the suffering that people went through were like the governor's term. That is a depressing term of four years. So darkness is quite a large characteristic of Dark Romanticism and can be seen quite frequently within Hawthorne's The Minister's Black Veil.

Another thing that is easily noticed is the effect of the black veil of which Mr. Hopper wears has on the people around him. Here is a good example from the story, "From that time no attempts were made to remove Mr. Hopper's black veil, or, by a direct appeal, to discover the secret which it was supposed to hide. By persons who claimed a superiority to popular prejudice, it was reckoned merely an eccentric whim, such as often mingles with the sober actions of men otherwise rational, and tinges them all with its own semblance of insanity. But with multitude, good Mr. Hooper was irreparably a bugbear. He could not walk the street with any peace of mind, so conscious was he that the gentle and timid would turn aside to avoid him, and that others would make it a point of hardihood to throw themselves in his way.....It grieved him, to the very depth of his kind heart, to observe how the children fled from his approach, breaking up their merriest sports, while his melancholy figure was yet afar off" (Hawthorne). To read about how the people took in the whole situation is shocking. To think that the mere putting of dark cloth over someone's face has such an effect on every one around him, and I mean every one around him. His wife to be even left him because of the dark cloth over his face. You would never think it would have a huge effect on people yet every body around him would make sure to avoid him at all costs. Mr. Hopper lost everything just to keep the veil on his face because it was a symbol he said, yet no one respected that and they merely criticized him for it. It is sad to think about but I suppose that is what Hawthorne intended for his readers to see.

Hawthorne, Nathaniel. “The Minister's Black Veil.” In American Literature. Willhelm, Jeffory, comp. McGraw Hill. Columbus, 2009. Print.

Journal 25 - Masking

One time I knew a guy wearing a mask. Some called him a devil. Some called him a ghost. But I knew him as the phantom. This phantom was not evil, although many people thought he was. He had no parents and so he lived underneath an opera house. He was hiding from the people because people wanted to be separated from him because he was seen as a walking skeleton and often wore a mask over his face to hide the scarring and the ugliness. He fell in love with this girl who was soon to be the star of the latest opera. But soon he was discovered for it and many people hated him and tried to run him out of the village. He was known as the Phantom of the Opera, even though his name was actually Erik. All Erik wanted to do was to be understood by the fellow opera lovers, so he would send roses to the girl he loved and charge rent to the owner. He was just criticized more and his feelings were hurt even more. He one time took the girl he loved down to the dungeons and she fell asleep after some sweet sweet singing and then he just kind of watched her sleep, which was a little creepy. Then the owner of the opera house does not pay the rent to him so he gets really angry and cuts down a chandelier hanging above the play. This makes the whole place go mad and he soon is basically banished form the rest of the town, like he basically already was. Erik just wanted to be loved by Christine and understood by the town. But was he? No. Because he was very scary looking and wore a creepy mask and was all sketchy throughout the whole movie. I would have understood you Erik. I know you really were just a scary looking guy with a heart of gold who loved operas, which is a totally normal thing for guys to love.

The Pit and the Pendulem Relating to Romanticism

Dark Romanticism is a very dark style of writing that includes details of individuals being prone to sin and self-destruction. It also is very spiritual, meaning there are things like the devil, Satan, ghosts, vampires, ghouls, things like that. Another characteristic is they believe that nature is a very spiritual force. The world is seen as dark and very mysterious. When we look at The Pit and the Pendulum written by Edgar Allan Poe, we instantly see a dark effect upon the main character. The main character is a prisoner during the Spanish Inquisition. The whole story is about him being tortured and what it felt like. Thinking about being tortured the way he describes it, it fills me with fear because of how descriptive it is. Here is an example from the story; "It was not that I feared to look upon things horrible, but that I grew aghast lest there should be nothing to see. At length, with a wild desperation at heart, I quickly unclosed my eyes. My worst thoughts, then, were confirmed. The blackness of eternal night encompassed me. I struggled for breath. The intensity of the darkness seemed to oppress and stifle me. The atmosphere was intolerably close. I still lay quietly, and made effort to exercise my reason. I brought to mind the inquisitorial proceedings, and attempted from that point to deduce my real condition. The sentence had passed; and it appeared to me that a very long interval of time had since elapsed. Yet not for a moment did I suppose myself actually dead. Such a supposition, notwithstanding what we read in fiction, is altogether inconsistent with real existence;—but where and in what state was I? The condemned to death, I knew, perished usually at the autos-da-fe, and one of these had been held on the very night of the day of my trial. Had I been remanded to my dungeon, to await the next sacrifice, which would not take place for many months? This I at once saw could not be. Victims had been in immediate demand. Moreover, my dungeon, as well as all the condemned cells at Toledo, had stone floors, and light was not altogether excluded" (Poe). This statement and description is just so evil. I cannot even imagine what it would be like to think you are going to die from a sacrifice or the terrible torturing which is taking place. Then also, when Poe describes the dungeon as dark, it just sets up the creepiness of the whole scene.

"And now, as I still continued to step cautiously onward, there came thronging upon my recollection a thousand vague rumors of the horrors of Toledo. Of the dungeons there had been strange things narrated—fables I had always deemed them—but yet strange, and too ghastly to repeat, save in a whisper. Was I left to perish of starvation in this subterranean world of darkness; or what fate, perhaps even more fearful, awaited me? That the result would be death, and a death of more than customary bitterness, I knew too well the character of my judges to doubt. The mode and the hour were all that occupied or distracted me" (Poe). This is very stylish of Dark Romanticism. You see the talk of torturing the human soul, there is a dark dungeon. Then there are talks of death which is very dark. This story is just full of qualities of Dark Romanticism.



Poe, Edger Allan. “The Pit and the Pendulum” In American Literature. Willhelm, Jeffory, comp. McGraw Hill. Columbus, 2009. Print.