Both stories, The Minister's Black Veil, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, and The Cask of Amontillado, written by Edgar Allan Poe, are both known to be examples of 19th century Gothic horror century . Although both stories were written in the same time period and belong to the same genre, they differ from each other. The writing is so broad that authors are able to portray a certain genre by focusing on different aspects of their writing. Hawthorne's story focuses on portraying an overarching message with strong symbolism, while Poe's story is a tale more focused on the narrator's characterization and his revenge-driven journey. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay The Minister's Black Veil is a story that could also be described as a parable. This could be said because Hawthorne has an underlying message within the story that he is trying to convey to his readers. The general focus is on the minister, who wears a black veil after committing an unknown sin. The message being conveyed here is that people are hypocrites; precisely because the Minister's sin is visible through the veil, they judge him. However, precisely because they do not have a visual representation of their sins like the Minister, they have apparently forgotten about them and act as if they were pure. "He could not walk down the street calmly, he was so aware that the kind and timid would turn away to avoid him, and that others would consider it a point of courage to throw themselves in his path." In this example, citizens go out of their way to avoid or get in his way, which puts their judgments on display. Hawthorne also uses a lot of symbolism in this story, a prime example being the veil the minister wears. “If I hide my face from sorrow, there is sufficient cause… and if I cover it from a secret sin, what mortal could not do the same?” Hawthorne directly links the veil to the secret sin in this example, showing its symbolism. While Hawthorne's story was more about structure, The Cask of Amontillado moves away from the characterization of the narrator. The narrator of this story is clearly mad, as is represented in this example: "Fortunato's thousand insults I had borne as best I could, but when he ventured to insult me, I swore revenge." The fact that the narrator “endured thousands of wounds” from this Fortunato character, but only decided to take revenge when he insulted him, describes his madness. Furthermore, in this example the narrator uses hyperbole; exaggerating the number of times he has been "hurt" by Fortunato, which shows that while the character has probably wronged him in the past, he needs to exaggerate in order to feel good about enacting his revenge. Poe also uses a lot of irony in this story. An example would be: “And I wish you long life.” which is ironic because here Montresor is toasting Fortunato's "long life", which the readers know will not be long at all due to his plot to take revenge and kill him. The use of this irony further describes the narrator's madness. Please note: this is just an example. Get a custom article from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Essay Both Hawthorne and Poe wrote similarly in the aspect of genre and time; however, their stories differ drastically. Hawthorne focuses on the symbolism and underlying messages within his story, while Poe tends to focus more on the characterization of his narrator.