James SchwartzMs. SchiffgensEnglish III.II12 December 2013Secret SinsThe gothic characteristics found in “The Fall of the House of Usher” by Edgar Allan Poe and “The Minister's Black Veil” by Nathaniel Hawthorne delve into the dark side of the human mind where secret sin envelops the characters main in anguish and madness. Both Poe and Hawthorne focus on how much of a burden it can be to hide sins from people and how the human mind grows weak and weary from carrying such a burden. Poe illustrates this with his troubled character Roderick Usher who was rotting from the inside like his “dark abode” (Poe 323). Hawthorne dives deep into the mind of a certain Mr. Hooper, a minister, a man admired by all, until he begins to wear a black veil to hide his face because “The subject referred to secret sin” (Hawthorne 311). An analysis of both Mr. Hooper and Roderick Usher shows through their speech, actions, behavior, and interaction with other human beings, the daily struggle of hiding sin from each other. Hooper in “The Minister's Black Veil” wears a veil to symbolize “those sad mysteries which we have hidden from our loved ones, and which we would hide from our conscience, even forgetting that the Omniscient can detect them” (Hawthorne 310). From the moment the townspeople see the black veil they become very scared and intimidated by Mr. Hooper, the townspeople felt that "the black veil seemed to hang before his heart" (Hawthorne 308). People also became very afraid of “the most innocent girl and the hard-breasted man” (Hawthorne 312). Mr. Hooper puts this frizz as a "symbol of a terrible secret between him and them" and because of this society chastises him and passes him off as a...... middle of paper ......eventually upon his death, when he paints, he paints a horrible picture of a woman in tattered clothes, when he plays the guitar and sings of “evil things, in garb of sorrow” that attack him (Poe 327). It's as if Roderick knows his time has come and decides to indulge in it in a self-destructive way. If Roderick Usher and Mr. Hooper have anything in common it is that they both share the burden of hidden sin. Both Poe and Hawthorne use Gothic elements to emphasize the human mind that is subjected to anxiety and depression due to their guilty conscience. Through body language and social interactions the reader becomes aware of the internal conflict that takes place in a mind that hides a secret sin. It is evident that the authors wanted the audience to put secret sins into perspective by examining an individual in society who has a secret sin.