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The birthmark fiction analysis essay
Main theme of the birthmark by
Spiritual imperfections of "the birthmark
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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.
“IND AFF” takes place in Sarajevo, which is where Princip assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife. This is a key aspect to the story because Peter is superb in history and thinks that he knows everything there is to know about history. Likewise, “The Birthmark” takes place in a laboratory. This is where the Georgiana’s husband, Aylmer, spends most of his spare time. Aylmer thinks he either knows or will be able to discover everything this is to know about science. So, in each story, the man takes the woman to somewhere he knows more about (and is therefore seen as superior) than she does. In both stories, the man is seen as intelligent. In “IND AFF” Peter says he is a professor of classical history and has a “first-class mind” (Weldon page 202). In “The Birthmark” Aylmer is referred to as “a man of science” (Hawthorne page 416) and a “genius” (Hawthorne page 423).
Like the men, the women have similarities and differences. For example, in the beginning of both stories, the women seem confident in themselves. Then, the men tell them otherwise. In “IND AFF,” Peter tells the woman she does not have a first-class mind (Weldon 202). In, “The Birthmark” Georgiana is accepting of her birthmark and in fact comes to think of it as a touch from an angel (Hawthorne page 417). Then, her husband tells her birthmark is nature’s slightest possible defect (Hawthorne page 417).
In both of these stories there are certain characteristics of females that are the same, they are inner strength, obedience, honor and respect, the good of the family is better than the good of the individual.
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.
Rappaccini's Daughter and The Birthmark. How are experiments done without the use of guinea pigs to help us learn and understand what is being studied? Everyday lab animals, such as mice, are used in experiments as guinea pigs because they provide similar reactions in comparison to the human body. Thus, much knowledge of science is gained through guinea pigs. However, Nathaniel Hawthorne’s classic stories "Rappaccini’s Daughter" and "The Birthmark" rather use humans to test their scientific studies.
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...
Another connection I found in this book was concerning the women in Flatland. The women in Flatland are described simply as straight lines. The women in Lineland are merely points. The men in Flatland have also not allowed their women to be educated and only speak to them in terms of feelings or emotions. In today's society some people view women as being inferior to men. They see them as being the “lines” or “points” of society. Women are seen as being less intelligent and are often talked to as if they only know about family, babies, keeping house, and emotions. Women in
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.
The story’s tone is one of romantic controversy, a dilemma at a high level of existence. The scientist’s love for his craft competes very intensively with his newfound love for his wife. It is also very psychological, strictly dealing with the raw mind of its subjects as if the ominous narrator told the story from inside their mind, rather than observe it from the outside. He describes the processes that one may take to reach a certain degree of knowledge and to find the elixir of life, which is described in this story as the ultimate goal of the scientific community. Also, the narrator is very opinionated about events in the story.
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?
Nathaniel Hawthorne did not do much explaining when it came to the characters involved in "The Birthmark". He did not portray the main characters: Aylmer, Georgiana, and Ambidab as human beings, but rather as symbols. While analyzing the story "The Birthmark", I have achieved some great insight of the author 's articulate writing style; especially, his style of making characters have symbolic meaning. In this story, Hawthorne uses his characters to symbolize specific things. In this ambiguous, short story, the three characters each symbolize Science, Beauty, and Nature. Each character represents an unusual force that has equally worked against each other.
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.
“The Masque of the Red Death” by Edgar Allan Poe and “The Birthmark” by Nathaniel Hawthorne are two great pieces of gothic literature. Each piece itself is marvelous in terms of language and structure. The texts in comparison offer very little in the similarity aspect however there are a vast amount of differences in each piece. One talks about a plague while the other speaks about a birthmark representing morality. They may have different plots but both fall under the category of death and both talk about death in similar ways. As well as the characters both have similar personalities. Both pieces differ in some ways but tend to have some things in common.
Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote many short stories, including “Young Goodman Brown,” “The Birthmark,” and “The Minister’s Black Veil”. There are many noticeable connections found in all three of these short stories that give each story merit because Hawthorne uses his writing style of using symbolism and newlywed and young relationships in almost every story. Symbolism is seen many times throughout each story and plays a part in emphasizing certain objects to create a theme or mood. Hawthorne includes young relationships in his writings which shows a change in characters’ reactions depending on relationship status and types of love. These connections between his writings show
The “Birthmark” is a short fiction story written by Nathaniel Hawthorne in March 1846. The short story consisted of a man named Aylmer and a woman named Georgiana, they become connected by marriage. Georgiana had a distant birthmark on her left cheek. As time progressed the husband founded the birthmark as an imperfection and wanted to remove it. He was capable of removing it himself, for he was a mad scientist. He was so in despise with the mark. He slowly convinced Georgiana to let him remove the birthmark because she comes to believe it makes her was imperfect. He does the experiment on her, which was a liquid and removes the birthmark. She dies after the experiment finished. In this essay, I will be examining the gender bias founded when
Georgina is the wife of Alymer in the story “The Birthmark”. She is very passionate about her marriage with Alymer, and when he talks about how he basically gets disgusted when he sees her, because of her mark, she gets genuinely hurt. Although he is mean to her, she still worships the ground he walks on, and he almost seems like her master, or owner. In the story she says “To tell you the truth it has been often called a charm that I was simple enough to imagine it might be so” and even with all the men that droll over her beauty and wouldn’t mind dying for the opportunity to touch her birthmark, she still loves Alymer.
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s 1843 short story entitled “The Birth-Mark” is, at face value, a traditionally formatted Hawthorne story; it is a textbook example of his recurrent theme of the unpardonable sin as committed by the primary character, Aylmer, the repercussions of which result in the untimely death of his wife, Georgiana. However, there seems to be an underlying theme to the story that adds a layer to Hawthorne’s common theme of the unpardonable sin; when Aylmer attempts to reconcile his intellectual prowess with his love for his wife, his efforts turn into an obsession with perfecting his wife’s single physical flaw and her consequent death. This tragedy occurs within the confines of traditional gender