Introduction
Nathaniel Hawthorne ranks among the world’s major authors. His proficiency in the art of literature, particularly short fiction is unmatched. Two of his most famous works are Young Goodman Brown and The Minister’s Black Veil. In these two short fictional stories, Hawthorne portrays a romantic view of sin and people. Like many other romantic literature pieces, the setting of the stories is dark and gloomy. Religion plays a huge role in both stories. History reveals that the American nation was partly founded through the ideals of religion. From its inception, religion has helped to shape and define the modern American identity. This aspect has been thoroughly explored in the two popular stories by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Against the backdrop of this dark and gloomy setting, the main characters in the two stories are male figures that refuse to give in to evil in spite of the fact that they experience its great prevalence.
“Young Goodman Brown” borrows a lot from the three gloomy events from the History of Puritans. These three events include the, “Salem Witch Trials”, “King Philip’s War” and the Puritan prejudice of Quakers. These three events were characterized by outlandish actions and moral decay. Many innocent people, thought to be witches were killed (Hurley 412). Most of these witch hunts were motivated by malice and revenge or even failed child delivery. Witch hunts were used to sugar coat the need to avenge grudges. However, these historical events do not majorly feature in “Young Goodman Brown”. This is because Hawthorn writes the story years after the occurrences. However, these historical events do inform action. By referencing a few aspects of the Puritan History, Hawthorne harks back the doubtful story of Salem village. This story thus couples vivid description of gloomy or morose events with psychological or emotional torture. Due to this reason, this story fits into the American subgenre; dark romance or the gothic (Hawthorne 67). This subgenre intends to build stories which fuel fear among readers and prompt them to question the social and moral integrity of the world around them. Moral fallibility in the society is rampant and authors whose works fall under this subgenre have traditionally tried to expose the often implicit nature of immorality.
Characters in this story are able to exemplify how humanity is prone to self destruction. Characters in this story are more concerned with what other people think of their faith and consequently, their actions seem not to be driven by personal beliefs (Carpenter 50). This society’s emphasis on public morality abates personal religious beliefs. The story begins with Goodman saying goodbye to his wife, Faith, as he sets off to meet the devil. Faith is afraid to spend the night alone but her husband advices her that if she prays and sleeps early, all will be well. At this instance, irony presents itself. Goodman is going to meet the devil but insists that Faith should pray. Goodman leaves but with fears that Faith may have sensed the evil purpose of his trip. However, he hopes that Faith does not know and hopes to change for better after this last night (Cherry 350). As he walks through the gloomy forest, Goodman is filled with fear and shame. He in a little while comes upon a man who greets him as though he expected him. Everything looked normal except for the walking stick with a carved serpent that the man carried. The man offers the walking stick but Goodman quickly rejects the offer, citing that he felt ashamed to be associated with the devil since he comes from a steadfast Christian family.
Paradoxically, Goodman is ashamed to be associated with the devil because he fears how people may perceive him, owing to the fact that he comes from a Christian family, which has over generations had good people. More amusingly, is how the evil old man knows Goodman’s father, grandfather, members of the New England church and the state’s governor. Perchance all these people, thought or perceived to be moral or holy are members of this secret society. Despite this revelation, the guilt in Goodman is overwhelming. Goodman tells the man that he still intends to go back home for Faith’s sake. The old man tells Goodman that he needs some rest and before leaving, he gives him, his staff in case he decides to proceed with the trip(Keil 51).
As he takes a rest, he hears horses moving along the road and hides. Again, we see Goodman Brown concerned with what people may think of him when they find him on the way to meet the devil. Shortly he starts to hear the voices of the church’s Deacon and minister (Connolly 373). At this point the reader cannot help the shocker and how everyone including the senior clergy is turning evil. Surprised, Goodman swears that even if everyone else has gone to the devil’s ceremony, he will stay true to God for Faith’s sake. At this juncture again, it becomes apparent why Goodman wants to stay true to God. Goodman is into the church not because he is a believer but because, he wants to please Faith. After a short while he starts to recognize Faith’s voice in the ceremony. Certainly, there is no good person in the world since Faith has also turned evil. As Goodman Brown says, “But, irreverently consorting with these grave, reputable, and pious people, these elders of the church, these chaste dames and dewy virgins, there were men of dissolute lives and women of spotted fame, wretches given over to all mean and filthy vice, and suspected even of horrid crimes. It was strange to see that the good shrank not from the wicked, nor were the sinners abashed by the saints”, the lapse of social boundaries and morals is something so perplexing throughout the ceremony (Keil 44). The Puritans had made a very moral society where status came from having high moral reputations and high religious standing. Goodman tells the devil how proud he was because of his father’s and grandfather’s morality. However, it is shocking how hypocrisy has eaten the society.
Towards the end the devil tells Goodman and Faith, “By the sympathy of your human hearts for sin ye shall scent out all the places—whether in church, bedchamber, street, field, or forest—where crime has been committed, and shall exult to behold the whole earth one stain of guilt, one mighty blood spot.” The devil condemns Goodman to a life of trepidation and indignation at the doings or actions of his fellow men and informs the two how they will have to adopt a new outlook which embraces evil (Connolly 372). When Goodman goes back to the village, he trusts no man and as the devil suggests he will never stop seeing the evil of every man.
The actions of the various characters in this story confirm that almost everyone is evil. People within the society will wear a moral outlook in order to appear so, but deep within their thoughts and secret lives, evil rules. Hawthorne uses the Puritan society to depict the moral stand of the entire society. The emphasis on public morality and less regard to personal beliefs and convictions is the root of hypocrisy (Hurley 415).
In the Minister’s veil, the protagonist is Parson Hooper, a Puritan minister. Hooper is described as “a gentlemanly person of about thirty, though still a bachelordressed with clerical neatness. As if a careful wife had starched his band and brushed the weekly dust from his Sunday’s garb” (Hawthorne and Pearson, 1253). The most notable thing about this otherwise unassuming and plain man is that he inexplicably starts wearing a black veil which hangs all the way from his forehead and covers his nose and eyes. All that is visible is his mouth and the veil displays an eerie movement when it is disturbed by his breath. The town’s people are understandably shocked and some cannot hide their fear. One old woman even says that “He has changed himself into something awful, only by hiding his face” (Carnochan, 1253). The veil also causes massive confusion in the congregation, for example Hawthorne writes; “But that piece of crape, to their imagination, seemed to hang down before his heart, the symbol of a fearful secret between him and them” (Hawthorne and Arvin, 1315).Some speculate that Hooper is wearing the veil to conceal a horrible crime that he has committed.
The actions of Hooper are puzzling indeed. If indeed he had committed a particular crime, it is clear that keeping such a sin in secret can definitely ruin a person. The minister wears the veil but does not reveal his “great sin’. This causes him to deteriorate both mentally and spiritually. This moral frailty on the minister’s part not only hurts him but also hurts his congregation members. His life becomes filled with despair due to the self imposed isolation that he develops with the community. He allows his “great sin” to eat at his consciousness instead of openly admitting it and moving on. According to Freedman (360) his separation from the congregation and his failure to admit his sins even to his fiancée ruins any potential chance of self redemption. This is actually ironic because Hooper being a minister is expected to be the first one to freely admit his sins and ask for forgiveness. This particular aspect depicts the moral frailty of human nature.
Even though many wonder why the minister chooses to wear the black veil, the reason is not really the story’s central point (Boone, 168). In fact, this ambiguity is the one that makes the townspeople reaction to Hooper’s wearing of the veil all the more revealing of their hypocritical nature and their inherent sin. It is also portrays moral ambiguity of the human race. While the townspeople are busy making speculations about the horrific crime that the minister may have committed, they fail to see their own sins and crimes, whether small or large. Although they still invite the minister in needy times, they completely shun him in happy times. They do this just because of a veil and in so doing; they display the shallowness of their faith.
Hawthorne uses the black veil to symbolize the sin that lies between all humans and their different relationships, whether with fellow beings or with God. For instance he writes, “The subject had reference to secret sin, and those sad mysteries which we hide from our nearest and dearest, and would fain conceal from our own consciousness, even forgetting that the Omniscient can detect them” (Hawthorne and Pearson 1313). The meaning of this is that all beings possess sins, regardless of its extremity, and God is aware of it because he has the ability to see everything that one has done wrong. Humans always tend to conceal their sins from their fellow humans, and hide in mask that hides their true nature.
Hooper completely refuses to reveal his face even to his fiancée, Elizabeth knowing that his central purpose is symbolize all the wrongs of every mankind. He states that “It is but a mortal veil – it is not for eternity!” (Hawthorne and Arvin, 1317).
The reaction of the townspeople is a testament of a common notion that it is indeed the human nature that allows physical appearances and characteristics that blinds a person from truly differentiating the internal values and treasures that another person may possess. Hawthorne uses the black veil and Hooper himself to exemplify the barrier that can be expressed by physical characteristics. For instance, when Hooper initially walks into the meeting house, Hawthorne writes that “the pale faced congregation is almost as fearful sight to the minister as his black veil to them” (Carnochan 183). The ominous and feared crape’s symbolic significance is depicted by the mental and physical barricade that it generates between the common folk and Hooper and the guilt feeling that it consequently advocates. The religious people formerly viewed Hooper as a prosperous shinning light due to his dazzling spiritual leadership. However, due to his physical alteration in spite of its simplicity, the people become incapable of seeing beyond this veil.
Works cited
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Hawthorne, Nathaniel, and Norman Holmes Pearson. The complete novels and selected tales of Nathaniel Hawthorne;. New York: Modern library, 1999. Print.
Hawthorne, Nathaniel, and Newton Arvin. Hawthorne's short stories. New York: A.A. Knopf, 2001. Print.
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Morsberger, Robert E. "'The Minister's Black Veil': 'Shrouded in Blackness, Ten Times Black.'" The New England Quarterly 46.3 (1973): 454-463
