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Gender role stereotypes in literature
Hawthorne 's literary style and themes
Gender stereotype in literary work
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Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette’s short story “The Hand” and Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story “The Birthmark” reflects the idea that society has labeled certain characteristics to specific genders. For example, males are commonly associated with strength and dominance while females are associated with being submissive and weak. Both Colette and Hawthorne express these roles in this manner. The males in these stories are portrayed as the masculine, dominant figure while the females are delicate and submissive.
“The Hand” uses many symbols to compare the certain roles assigned to different genders. “It’s so big! It really is bigger than my whole head.”(Colette 272) Here Colette compares the husband’s hand to the size of the wife’s head. This shows just how massive the hand actually is. A symbol signifying the power and dominance of the male culture. Colette also describes the hand as a crab, prepared for battle. Another symbol suggesting the animalistic protective nature of the male species. As the wife examined the hand she noticed the nails were varnished. “I’ll tell him not to varnish his nails.”(Colette 273) Nail varnish is viewed as something only females use
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and males should not have varnished nails. Something as delicate as nail varnish does not belong on the hand of the dominant male figure; a role specifically associated with masculinity and power. “The Birthmark” also has many examples of the masculine male role.
The entire plot of the story consists of a husband influencing the way his wife thinks about herself. By constantly pestering her, he is able to make her submit to his authority and try to remove the birthmark on her cheek. “I am convinced of the perfect practicability of its removal.”(Hawthorne 401) Aylmer, being the dominant partner in the relationship, is able to convince his wife to allow him to remove the birthmark. Aylmers natural dominant nature escalated into a god complex when he tries to take the work of nature into his own hands. Unfortunately when man tried to venture past the limits of his power, nature prevailed. Proving that, females may be less dominant than males, but males are utterly powerless against the forces of
nature. Society has created certain roles for certain genders. Colette and Hawthorne display these characteristics within their short stories. The husbands massive, beast like, hand is easily interpreted as a symbol of the masculine role associated with male dominance. The wife, afraid of the manly hand, ultimately accepts her predetermined fate by conforming to society’s idea that a wife’s duty is to please her husband. She surrenders herself to the husband by kissing this symbolic representation of male authority. Like the wife in “The Hand,” Georgiana also surrenders herself to her husband. After consatantly being reminded of the birthmark, she finally allows Aylmer to remove it. The only problem with this is the fact that man cannot overpower the force of nature. Anything made by nature is already in its perfect form and should not be tampered with by mankind. When man tries to battle nature, nature will always succeed.
The Death of the Birthmark-A Quest for Perfection 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.”
symbolism. "Her hand and wrist so finely formed" shows her delicacy but shown as the Virgin
“The Birth Mark” is a story of an elusive search for perfection when an alchemist named Aylmer who is committed to his work, and is married to a beautiful woman named Georgiana, attempts to remove his wife’s birthmark. Aylmer brings up the topic of her birthmark soon after their marriage and says that she would be perfect if it were removed. This statement completely destroys Georgiana’s self-image, and now believes that she is ugly since her husband believes the same. Georgiana is so devoted to her husband that she views herself utterly through his vision of
The birthmark is a compelling story of one man’s obsession with his scientific ability to produce perfection. Aylmer, a scientist, is married to a Georgiana who is a very beautiful woman. Not long after getting married Georgiana’s birthmark, which is in the shape of a tiny handprint on her check, really begins to bother Aylmer. He sees it as a flaw in an other wise perfect woman. Georgiana knows that her birthmark disgusts him and, having grown up not bother at all by it, begins to hate it herself. He asks if she has ever considered having it removed. This is not something she has considered since other people in her life, especially men, have always seen it as a “charm”. Aylmer being an amazing scientist almost sees himself as god and feels that he has the power to remove this imperfection. Georgiana, bothered by her husband’s reaction to her birthmark, agrees to let him try to rid her of it. She is taken to his laboratory and he immediately begins to experiment. After she finds Aylmer’s book of experiments, which all end in failure, she for the first time, has some doubt about how this will work and confronts him. He reassures her and begins to try a multitude of methods, with the help of his assistant Aminadab, which do not work. At one point, there are several experiments going on and he even refers to himself as a “sorcerer” (Hawthorne 232). Finally, he produces a potion, which she drinks, and the birthmark begins to disappear! Slowly though, even as the experiment is working, Georgiana is fading away. He finds that ultimately, the birthmark was connected to her very soul and in his trying to act god like he actually kills her. Really this short story just proves that science has its limits and no man should try to act like G...
In conclusion the theme of The Birthmark is expressed within the story. “The crimson hand expressed the ineludible gripe in which mortality clutches the highest and purest of earthly mould, degrading them into kindred with the lowest, and even with the very brutes, like whom their visible frames return to dust. In this manner, selecting it as the symbol of his wife's liability to sin, sorrow, decay, and death.” (Hawthorne 359). This story tells a lot about human nature, the most important one is that human beings are naturally imperfect creatures, trying
& nbsp; The Mark of Ugliness In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Birthmark, there is indeed a representation of Although the other underlying personality is not represented within himself, it is rather portrayed through his assistant Aminadab. Since Aylmer is lacking so much within himself, he is unable to appreciate his wife even though she was dying. Basically, if Aylmer had the sensibility of Aminadab, he could have realized how beautiful she was even with her birthmark. During
The Birthmark and Symbolism Cloudy headed and conflicted describes Georgina, one of the main characters in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Birthmark.” In this eerie short story Georgina, who is seemingly perfect, is convinced by her husband, Aylmer, who is a scientist obsessed with perfection, that the small birthmark on her face is her only source of imperfection. While others have told her that this birthmark is a sign of magical endowments, Aylmer is disgusted by the sight of the birthmark, referring to it as a defect (Hawthorne 304-5). Georgina is taken aback by this comment and resents her husband for it. As the story progresses, Aylmer convinces Georgina to allow him to try and rid her of the mark.
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?
In “The Birthmark” the relationships and behaviors of the character reveal much more than the story itself does. The characters of Aylmer, Georgian, Amenidab and Nature itself, through their words, actions, and behaviors give insight into a much more meaningful story. A deeper analysis of the characters reveals that they are archetypes, and as archetypes they provide a deeper hidden meaning to the story. By looking at Aylmer, Georgiana, Amenidab and Natures relationships and actions throughout the story we can see how they are used to give deeper significance.
Nathaniel Hawthorne describes Aminadab, "With his vast strength, his shaggy hair, his smoky aspect, and the indescribable earthiness that encrusted him, he seemed to represent man 's physical nature" (Hawthorne 337). That statement foreshadows the events to come. Amindab was behind Aylmer the whole time during his experiments. Although, Amindab once murmured, "If she were my wife, I would never part with that birthmark" (Hawthorne 337). So, Amindab did not agree with what Aylmer was doing, but he continued anyway. Aminadab wanted Georgina to except herself as beautiful and not let Aylmer use her as a guinea pig. Nevertheless, I assume Georgiana 's love for Aylmer was strong enough that she was willing to do anything to be beautiful in his eyes. In this whole story, Aminadab has been Nature with no voice. Aminadab 's only line in this story shows that he thought what Aylmer was doing was truly wrong. Hawthorne even goes through the trouble to describe Aminadab to us as a "man 's physical nature". The statement that Hawthorne makes, lets us interpret Aminadab as Nature 's force. At the end of the story, Hawthorne tells of slight laughter coming from Aminadab right before Georgiana passes away. The laughter from Aminadab symbolizes that Nature has won the battle with Science. The battle between Nature and Science strung poor Georgiana and her endless beauty along, and eventually ended in her
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Birthmark”, is the story of a crazed scientist whose strive for perfection not only leads to the death of his beautiful wife, but the attempt of man to have power over nature. It follows the story of Aylmer and his obsession with removing the birthmark off his beautiful wife, Georgiana. “His unnatural fixation to his wife’s birthmark even consumes him in his sleep as he dreams of cutting it off much like scraping an apple off its skin.” (Snodgrass 29). This narrative explores the themes of perfection, and the conflict between science and the natural world.
In the short stories “The Birthmark” and “Rappaccini’s Daughter,” Nathaniel Hawthorne exhibits many literary devices. Two of these literary devices represented is chiaroscuro and caution of science. Chiaroscuro is usually used in works of art ,but in this instance chiaroscuro is used in the short stories to represent the light and darkness presented throughout. On the other hand, caution of science is used to show how science can be good as well as bad. Hawthorne blends these two literary devices together to produce well-known short stories to show his outlooks and beliefs.
The tone adopted by Hawthorne from the inception of the narrative toward Aylmer urges the reader to respect Aylmer’s scientific ambition—directly his triumph of head over heart, but indirectly his objectification of Georgiana and subsequent attempts to fix something that she never thought was a flaw. Not only is Aylmer’s obsession with getting rid of her birthmark selfish in that he does it for “the sake of giving himself peace” (647) rather than any desire to make his wife happy, he also admits to feeling guilt over his tyrannical treatment of her. For example, his “horror and disgust” in response to her facial blight rarely escapes her notice, and when she reacts poorly to his “convulsive shudder,” he attempts to soothe her and “release her mind from the burden of actual things” (650) as if she is an empty-headed infant in need of a pacifier. Furthermore, in response to her desperate request for its removal, he isolates her from humanity, administers potentially harmful concoctions into her rooms and body without her knowledge, and ultimately—and rapturously—succeeds in shrinking the mark at the cost of her
The term Electra complex which according to Freud is ‘feminine Oedipus attitude’ is for the first time coined by C. G. Jung as ‘Electra complex’. This term refers to “a type of arrested development in an older female child or woman, in which the daughter adulates the father and scorns the mother” (Swiontkowski 31) for she lacks a penis which is a phallus, a symbol of power and authority. While Freud sees the complex from anatomical and sexual point of view, Jung sees it from symbolic point of view where biological father is often absent. If we read the poems identified with the Electra complex written by Anne Sexton and Sylvia Plath, we will notice that both the poets represent an imaginary image of the fathers to symbolize patriarchal power what they want to gain not to see their position as victim in the patriarchal social structure any more. Gale Swiontkowski clearly points out why a daughter shows her excessive psychological attachment towards her father and denying her mother. She