Joe Gustafson
“Hawthorne Stories”
“The Birthmark” is a story of a scientist who wants to make his wife a faultless woman. In his eyes she only has a single flaw, a birthmark that looks like a hand on her face. He constantly pleads with his wife to let him try to remove this mark that will ultimately kill her. The “Minister’s Black Veil” tells the story of a man who wears a black cloth over his eyes and face and to represent his sins. The town is unaware of and doesn’t understand why the minister publicly shows that he is sinful; however, the minister is trying to prove a point that every human being is a sinner. In Hawthorne’s stories it becomes clear that physical features might distract one from realizing another one’s true beauty.
In “Minister’s Black Veil” Reverend Hooper reveals his sins, as well as all the citizens too, by wearing a black cloth that covered his face’s entirety. For example, while preaching before the congregation the narrator questions the reverend if he is “seeking to hide…from the dread Being whom he was addressing” by not showing his face (Hawthorne 183). Reverend Hooper is wearing this covering to show everyone the sins he has committed and the sins that he will commit. He does not hide his sins from God, but simply is showing and confessing them to Him. Also, he is proving to the crowd that everyone sins, even a minister. Furthermore, when he is on his death bed, Hooper exclaims “I look around…on every visage [is] a black veil!” (190) Here Hooper is saying that every human being has a “black veil” whether he/she is aware of it or not. Perfection is unheard of. Even reverends are sinners. This world does not contain this thing known as flawlessness; however, many people think that perfection can be reached.
In “The Birthmark” Alymer only wants to change his wife for his own benefits. For example, when talking about the mark Alymer says “dearest Georgiana, you came so nearly perfect from the hand of nature that this slightest...