Casey Funderburk
Mrs. Brandi Gindhart
ENG 251-301
22 October 2014
In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s two short stories, “The Birthmark” and “Rappaccini’s Daughter” he strongly expresses the science of trying to manipulate or perfect nature. “Failed attempts to attain perfection are a frequent attempts at perfection fail because Hawthorne’s protagonists are misguided and their own innate imperfections cloud their judgments” (Aaron). In both his stories he tries to portray the women as perfection, but in reality they both have something wrong with them whether it is from their appearance or a horrible curse that has been bestowed upon them. Hawthorne utilizes his short stories to explain his beliefs on the antagonism between nature, religion, and science
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in everyday life. There is a recurring theme in his stories where a scientist performs an experiment to define both nature and religion but it ends up only being harmful. Both of the stories fixate on a mad scientist trying to perfect nature, love vs. infatuation. In Hawthorne’s, “The Birthmark” we are introduced to a scientist named Aylmer who is married to a stunning women named Georgiana, the only imperfection about her is the small crimson red birthmark present on her left cheek.
“One day very soon after their marriage” (952) did Aylmer start to be bothered by her birthmark and asks her, “has it ever occurred to you that the mark upon your cheek might be removed?” (952). Georgiana had never been asked such a thing, most people tell her its apart of her charm but when her brilliant scientist of a husband tells her that her birthmark “shocks” him, she has nothing else to do but let him remove it. “His attempt to gain a perfect understanding of nature was flawed because he believed that controlling nature was part of understanding nature; however, the control and the comprehension of nature are separate, so even though he was able to control nature by removing the birthmark he did not gain a comprehension of nature” (Aaron). Aylmer may have found a way to remove the birthmark that appeared on Georgiana’s face but he was not doing it out of love or for the love of science it was merely for his own sake and wanting to have perfection. The other scientist we read about is Rappaccini who’s only interest in the world is science; and he is described as a man who would “sacrifice human life… for the sake of adding so much as a grain of mustard seed to the great heap of his accumulated knowledge” (966). Rappiccini’s motivation is the desire
to perfect his daughter Beatrice and their exquisite garden. When Rappiccini witnesses the infatuation Giovanni has with Beatrice his motive then turns to Rappiccini becoming some sort of God and wanting to reiterate the Garden of Eve. Although Rappiccini knowing that having his daughter in the garden with no mask on her face for protection is slowing poisoning his daughter. “These stories prove that Nathaniel Hawthorne believed if nature is messed with then it becomes corrupt and deadly” (APA). In both the stories there is love, similar and dissimilar. In “The Birthmark”, Aylmer begins to fall more in the love with science then he does his wife. Georgiana believes that her husband is the most intellectual man in the world and would do anything to keep their love, even dying for him. She reads all his journals from past experiments and notices how he constantly is failing; yet she still has faith in him that he can achieve his goal of removing the birthmark. While in “Rappaicci’s Daughter”, Giovanni is infatuated with Beatrice by her beauty and grace. In the beginning he knew nothing about her but what he observed standing at his window gazing at her. Beatrice does not know anything about her father’s experiments other then the purple flower being fatal and after Giovanni tries to touch it she reaches his hand out to stop him by grasping his hand. The next day Giovanni realizes where Beatrice touched her he had a burn mark. After spending more time in the garden he becomes more aware with what is going on and is so infatuated with Beatrice he wants to save her from the poison, being her knight in shinning armor, by getting her an antidote that only ends up killing her. Both men in the stories want to perfect and in some sort of way rescue their significant other but in the end the women die doing only what their loved ones has asked.
In the short story, “The Birthmark” Nathaniel Hawthorne uses the characters, foreshadowing, symbolism, and other rhetorical devices to alert people of the consequences of man having the power to control and alter nature. Additionally, through his skillful usage of diction, Hawthorne warns of the effects of seeking perfection through science. In “The Birthmark”, Aylmer, a man devoted entirely to science, marries Georgiana, a beautiful young woman with a single imperfection. Georgiana’s imperfection bears the resemblance of a tiny crimson hand and is visible on her left cheek. The birthmark becomes the object of Aylmer’s obsession and he resolves to use his scientific prowess to correct “what Nature left imperfect in her fairest work.” He succeeds in removing the birthmark; however, he unfortunately causes his wife’s death in the process. Through “The Birthmark”, Hawthorne suggests that nothing paradisiacal can exist on this earth, and that being imperfect is just part of being human.
In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story “The Birth-Mark,” Aylmer, a married scientist, believes himself to be above nature. Acting on these beliefs, he prepares
Aylmer as a mad scientist who seemingly only cares about his studies, not having any
Deadly and helpful, science is a dual-edged sword. Nathaniel Hawthorne is one of the first to emphasize this through his literary works. “Rappaccini's Daughter” and “The Birthmark” are two of his works where he teaches this lesson through the trials of his characters. Focusing on the motif of the “mad scientist”, Hawthorne brings to light the points that people struggle with humanity, learning to love themselves and others, and that science can be more harmful then helpful.
Fabricating a type of the romantic artist who has radically creative powers that he exercises, Hawthorne creates in “The Birth-Mark” an extreme situation that bares the fundamentalism of the transcendental aesthetic. Accepting the premise that the artistry of nature, regardless of the apparent coarseness and lack of finish that some products may exhibit, is superior to the artistry of humanity because nature "works from the innermost germ," Hawthorne was initially critical of any discontent with the quantity and quality of nature's bounty. Should the reader emphasize Aylmer's Neoplatonism and his quest for ideal beauty, the disjunction between drama and assertion assumes a thematic function: it is Hawthorne's means to test the values of the ideal artist. Hawthorne even more
Stoehr, Taylor. Hawthorne's Mad Scientists. Hamden: Shoe String Press, 1978. Weinstein, Cindy. "The Invisible Hand Made Visible: 'The Birthmark'." Nineteenth Century Literature 48 (1993): 44-73.
In Nathanial Hawthorne’s “The Birth-Mark,” Aylmer, a crazed, “mad-scientist,” seeks to remove the scarlet handprint birthmark from his wife, Georgiana’s cheek. From the opening of the work, the third person narrator describes Aylmer’s obsession with science and the adverse effects it has had on his social life. Aylmer is tied up in this battle within himself and with his assigned association between the natural and the spiritual world. He wishes to have as much control over these colliding worlds as possible, granting himself god-like power and control in the process. In the art of manipulating nature through science, Aylmer believes he is able to alter the spiritual aspects of the natural as well. Aylmer’s focus on spirituality is Hawthorne’s way of commenting on mankind’s fixation on sin and redemption.
################################# Part 3 ######################################## Nature doesn’t intend for things to be perfect, if it was the contrary we wouldn’t be considered humans. Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Birth-Mark portrays the story of a scientist, Aylmer, so self-absorbed, and supercilious in his own power of science that he would go so far as to remove the intentional “imperfect” birthmark that Nature has bestowed upon his wife’s face. “Cannot you remove this little, little mark… Is this beyond your power… Noblest, dearest, tenderest wife… doubt not my power” (216). Hawthorne uses the birthmark as a symbol to represent the imperfection that is within the human species, the mark also draws out the imperfection of those who have encountered it by displaying their tendencies to overlook the flawless beauty of Georgiana and focus solely on her birthmark, “Some fastidious persons… affirmed that the bloody hand… quite destroyed Georgiana’s beauty… Aylmer discovered that this was the case with himself” (214). Nature’s symbol is a paradigm of omnipotence. To simply put, Nature created the grand design of human life, and governs over our society but allows us as people to do as we please with our lives, so long as we do not alter with Nature’s creation, “…Our great creative Mother… She permits us, indeed to mar, but seldom to mend, and like a jealous patentee, on no account to make” (217). Despite Nature’s intention, being the pompous scientist that he is, Aylmer believes himself to be something more than a microcosm of Nature’s creation. In other words, because of his unparalleled ability in the subject science, like other...
Nathaniel Hawthorns short stories, such as, Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment, Rappaccini’s Daughter and The Birthmark all have an underlying meaning and demonstrate a similar recurring theme. Hawthorne uses his stories to clarify his beliefs on the competition between nature, religion, and science in everyday life. In all three of his short stories he refuses the concept of science coming before religion or nature. Hawthorne clearly thought if nature or religion was tampered with using science it could only end badly, but more specifically with death. In each of his stories there is a scientific experiment that defies both nature and religion ending harmfully. Nathaniel Hawthorne’s beliefs conclude that God and nature to ultimately be more powerful then science.
In four of Hawthorne's stories there is a struggle for power and control as a vehicle to obtain perfection or beauty. In "The Artist of the Beautiful", "Rappaccini's Daughter", "The Birthmark" and "The Prophetic Pictures" the characters are controlled by their desire for perfection in their creations, but they do not achieve their goals without sacrifice.
It would be no surprise if the uprising of positivism in Hawthorne’s time influenced him to write this story. The reader must keep in mind that Hawthorne wrote this story in a time where many perhaps frowned upon scientific research. If he would have written the story in this current time period, it might have been written differently. “The Birthmark” attacks science in a way by presenting it as an unstoppable force determined to find a solution and perfection to everything. Science cannot completely perfect nature but it can try to improve it.
“The Birthmark” starts out with an explanation of how the main character, Aylmer, was “a man of science, an eminent proficient in every branch of philosophy”. He cleaned himself up, washing the furnace smoke and acid stains from his hands, left his lab with his assistant, and then seduced a young beautiful woman to marry
Every relationship is different. Weather one may be in a relationship with a boy, or just a friend, it is different. Even though they are different, the characters in “The Birthmark” by Nathaniel Hawthorne and “IND AFF” by Fay Weldon are in similar relationships. That is, the male is dominant over the female, and the woman thinks the man is her knight in shining armor. In the beginning of “IND AFF” the unnamed woman thinks her professor, Peter, who she is having an affair with, is her ticket to creating a good thesis and higher standings. Similarly, in “The Birthmark,” Georgiana thinks her husband is her ticket to flawless beauty because he tells her he will remove her birthmark. Obviously, this is not how relationships operate in today’s society. These two relationships compare and contrast with each other as well as with relationships in today’s day-and-age.
1. Our society tends to be obsessed with the idea of physical perfection. How does our society manifest that obsession? How is the 'Birthmark'; an early version of our modern obsession with physical perfection?
Science, in this particular story, is represented by Aylmer who thinks of himself as a great scientist. He conducts a scientific experiment in the need to remove his wife’s birthmark. He tries everything he knows to create a magical potion to remove Georgiana’s flaw. Georgiana on the other hand represents nature. Georgiana represents the closest state to perfection that man can aspire to, but her husband is still not content. Feeling that it will be the only possible way to save her marriage, she gives in and tells him to prepare the experiment. In the need to impress her husband, she allows him to experiment with the removal of her birthmark regardless of the risk, or the consequence she might face. In this story, the power of nature prevails in the end. Even though Georgiana is unable to impress her husband with her unique mark, her birthmark captivates almost anyone who looks at it. In the desire to control nature, Aylmer kills his wife. The fate of the world, no matter how dark it is, is in the hands of nature, not science or man. Instead of trying to pursue the ultimate power and trying to change the laws of nature through science, one should pursue happiness in