The Theme of Guilt Through Symbolism inHawthorne's The Minister's Black Veil

Title: The Theme of Guilt Through Symbolism inHawthorne's The Minister's Black Veil
Category: Literature / English
Details: Words: 837 | Pages: 3.6 (approximately 235 words/page)

The Theme of Guilt Through Symbolism inHawthorne's The Minister's Black Veil

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s two short stories, The Minister’s Black Veil and Lady Eleanore’s Mantle, cover the same thematic topic, but are opposite in approach and differ in the symbols used. Both the veil that Parson Hooper wears and the mantle that dons the head of Lady Eleanore deal with issue of guilt. The differences between the two, however, lie in the wearers of the articles, and their attitudes towards their own guilt. Parson …showed first 75 words of 837 total…

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…showed last 75 words of 837 total…of both himself and his community, Lady Eleanore wears her mantle pridefully, and only after her source of pride is dashed does she realize how guilty she really is. While his treatment of the issue of guilt is consistent in both stories, Hawthorne chooses to approach the theme from opposite ends. Hawthorne’s masterful use of two similar items of headdress clearly symbolizes the opposite aspects of humility and pride in the theme of guilt.

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