Themes in 3 Hawthorne Stories

Throughout life, many people and many things are covered or hidden, never showing the full truth. It may be because of shame, horror, or just simply for the good of what could happen it the truth was revealed. It the stories “The Great Carbuncle”, “The Ministers Black Veil”, and “Rappaccini’s Daughter”, someone or something was hidden. This can be supported by symbols which are phrases or events that symbolize something but don’t always clearly show it It’s not always how they are hiding, but sometimes what they are hiding from! In “The Great Carbuncle”, seven men and a woman are in search of a brilliant gem.

The gem symbolizes greed because all eight of the seekers want it for themselves and will do anything to get it, instead of sharing the beauty with others. Towards the beginning of the story, Hawthorne writes, “and either robe themselves in clouds or tower naked into the sky”, referring to forest trees.

This symbolizes the secrecy of what truly lies ahead and between the seekers and their treasure. Later, a seeker says, “The pursuit alone is my strength–the energy of my soul–the warmth of my blood, and the pith and marrow of my bones! Were l to turn my back upon it, i should fall down dead, on hither side of the Notch, which is the gateway of this mountain region,” This also symbolizes secrecy because he is hiding the fact that searching for the Great Carbuncle is the only thing that keeps him going and it is what he lives for, meaning he is greedy.

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These symbols prove that secrecy can be a good thing and hide from you, bad things to come and it also shows that it can hide the unproud truth, such as the seeker’s greediness. It shows that sometimes secrecy is good because it is protecting you from the truth and sometimes you have to wake up and see that!

“The Minister’s Black Veil”, is about a reverend that wears a black veil and refuses to take it off. The black veil symbolizes secrecy and hiding because at his church service, Rev. Hooper speaks about secret sin and how people hide their sins. At a funeral, Rev. Hooper is still persistent on wearing the veil because it symbolizes the secrecy of true emotions associated with death. Many people try and hide their emotions when a loved one passes away when it is actually better to express those emotions Later, Rev. Hooper performs a wedding in the veil, symbolizing the secrets that come with true love but get covered by rushing into what seems like true love. This story shows two different reasons for secrecy. One is to hide your mistakes even though everyone makes mistakes, and the other is things that get hidden for an unknown reason but results in consequences. In “Rappaccini‘s Daughter”, a doctor gives his daughter, Beatrice, the ability to be around and touch poisonous flowers in their garden which contains a broken fountain with flowing water.

A guy named Giovanni falls in love with Beatrice and tries to give her an anecdote so that they both can live together, but she dies. The poisonous flowers represent death and the fact that if you come in contact with them you will die. Beatrice herself represents secrecy because from the outside she looks fine and tempting but she is really poisonous on the inside. The broken, but yet flowing fountain, represents life and the fact that even if things fall apart and are strange you can still live, like Beatrice, she was meant to live with the flowers and couldn’t live any other way. All of these examples of secrecy are for the good of others and once again protecting them from the truth. All three of these stories have one general theme and that is secrecy.

All three of the stories show the two reasons to be secretive. The first reason is to hide something because you don’t want it to be known or seen. You are hiding the truth from someone. The second reason is for the good and safety of others. Instead of hiding the truth from someone, you are hiding the truth for the good of someone. Although they show some good scenarios that secrecy may have to be used in, they also show the consequences. There are always consequences of hiding the truth, you must decide whether the consequence is worth it in the long run, Hiding something is like putting a mask on your face. No one ever knows your true identity until the mask is removed.