Ideology in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Minister’s Black Veil Essay

Ideology in Nathaniel Hawthornes The Ministers mysterious Veil Bennett and Royle in their textbook, Introduction to Literature, Criticism and Theory, define ideology as representing the imaginary relationship of individuals to their real conditions of existence (161). The ideology of self, of personal identity, is be by a persons perception of what is acceptable in their society. In Nathaniel Hawthornes short fabrication, The Ministers Black Veil, the government minister appears before his community with a black veil covering his fount. He gives no explanation for this appargonl and the community becomes agitated that their minister refuses to deal it. The proofreaders challenge is to discover why the minister wears the veil and why he wont take it off. Hawthorne challenges the readers ideology of self with his choice of words, by showing how ideology is redefined by each subject, and by using as his form the technique of the parable. The parishioners expectations are shatte red by the appearance of their earnest minister wearing a black veil over his face. Children, with glistening faces, tripped merrily beside their parents, or mimicked in graver gait, in the conscious lordliness of their Sunday clothes. Spruce bachelors looked sidelong at the pretty maidens, and fictional that the Sabbath sunshine made them prettier than on weekdays (Hawthorne 1) These expectations are portrayed by the way the story begins. Hawthorne uses words that suggest happiness bright merrily pretty fancied and sunshine. But this happiness vanishes with the appearance of the minister. The expectations of what is socially acceptable are challenged by the appearance of the black veil. But what has good Parson Hooper got upon his face? c... ...o understand the parable. A parable is used to explain something that is unexplainable and cannot be explained if the reader does not understand it. The reader is in constant risk throughout the reading of having his ideology of self shattered by the in truth real possibility that he wont get it. The constitutional story is as obscure and shaky as ideology itself. Hawthornes choice of words throughout the story set up the reader for a continual bombardment of his/her ideology of self and societal expectations. deeds Cited Bennett, Andrew and Nicholas Royle. Introduction to Literature, Criticism and Theory. 2nd Edition. New York Prentice Hall, 1999. Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Ministers Black Veil. Crown College. Accessed 27 Aug 2003. http//www.crown.edu/humanities/ratledgw/ENG%20132/stories/ veilhawt.htm Miriam Webster Dictionary. Accessed 27 Aug 2003.