There are two areas where I can find a connection between
"The Minister's Black Veil" and American Romanticism.
One
is the importance of individual freedom in the sense that each
person has the right to choose for himself. In the short story, Reverend Hooper
chooses ro wear a black veil over his face for the rest of his
life.
Though many in the congregation believe it is an
atonement for some terrible sin he has committed, the reader discovers (on Hooper's
death bed) that he has chosen to wear the veil to reflect the hidden sins within
himself, but reminds those nearby that all God's creatures have the same hidden sins,
and therefore, instead of wearing a black veil, they hide their sins behind a false
front, like wearing a mask.
The only other characteristics
of American Romantic writing is that of "the supernatural/occult."
In a literary sense, the "supernatural" refers to that which is "beyond" the natural,
physical world. While we think of the supernatural as vampires, zombies and aliens, in
Romantic literature, the supernatural would have included God, angels, demons, ghosts,
etc. (The reference to "the occult" is, obviously, not used in Hawthorne's
work.)
In terms of the other American Romantic
(and European Romantic) literary characteristics, most concentrate
on feelings, imagination, nature, innocence, nature as a means to
reach God, and inspiration from legends and myths, to name a few. I do not see any of
these in the story, and believe that the Puritans would have seen these things as
frivolous and foolish. These themes did not coincide with the Puritan's perception of
the world, and man's place in that world.
Hawthorne deals
with extremely serious issues, as seen in "The Minister's Black Veil," and in my
experience, does not include the above-mentioned characteristics in his
work.
(Another of his famous works is "Young Goodman
Brown;" the supernatural is involved here also,
not fantasy or imagination because the
Puritans believed as strongly in Satan as a supernatural figure, as they did
God.)
Hawthorne is intensely focused on the inner-man, and
man's daily struggle against evil, in pursuit of goodness. His Puritan background does
not deal with anything but facts as gathered from the scriptures, and a sober commitment
to search for God's will in all things.
With all this in
mind, Hawthorne is considered an American Romantic
writer.
No comments:
Post a Comment