Hawthorne Essay

The main literary device in this story is symbolism. The birthmark seems to represent many things to each character described. Hawthorne seems to use the concept of science to symbolize the flaw of perfection. The symbolism of Aylmer’s science and knowledge takes its turn shining a spotlight, as a narrative nod toward the practicality and perfection of science.

Hawthorne is known for being a Romantic writer with a Romantic subject: a rebel who refuses to conform to society's code. Most

Writing an excellent book, short story,or poem is an ability very few people posses : Nathaniel Hawthorne is someone who had this talent. Hawthorne's writing is mostly centered around romantic fiction, he has written a plethora of things but he is mostly remembered for his short stories and novels. Before divulging into his work, a reader should know where his writing comes from, his inspirations, originality and what some would call pure genius. The author, Nathaniel Hawthorne, is an individual whose work has been and should continue to be analyzed for years to come due to his unique twist on romantic fiction. Many of his works have casted a silhouette over America through his intricate stories and writing style that revealed the themes of psychology and human nature during the 19th century. Hawthorne’s ominous style makes his works into oddities compared to the other romantic fiction novels in his time. Many of his works, such as The Scarlet Letter, exemplifies the epitome of Hawthorne’s distinct outlook on the moralistic attitudes of

Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel "The Birth-Mark", explains the relationship between Aylmer, a scientist, and his wife Georgiana’s birthmark. The story is told in third person point of view. The story gives access to both Aylmer and Georgiana thoughts. It allows readers to see that because Aylmer is a scientist and a perfection, he feels that Georgiana would be perfect if the mark was to be removed or on another woman besides her. Aylmer sees his wife's birthmark is a symbol of imperfection. The mark is described to be a small deep crimson mark shaped like a hand on her left cheek. As he sees the mark, he sees her becoming less beautiful. Once the mark is removed, she would become perfect and beautiful. However, Georgiana, Aylmer wife feels that the mark is a symbol of a charm because she was told that the mark was placed on her cheek during her birth-hour by a fairy. Hawthorne shows us that people view beauty in different ways.

Nathaniel Hawthorne was one of American literature's finest writers; his writing style was very distinct and unusual in some aspects. It is his background that provided this ambiguous and complex approach to writing. Hawthorne's New England heritage has, at times, been said to be the contributing factor in his works. The Puritan view of life itself was considered to be allegorical, their theology rested primarily on the idea of predestination and the separation of the saved and the damned As evident from Hawthorne's writings his intense interest in Puritanical beliefs often carried over to his novels such as, Young Goodman Brown, The Scarlet Letter, and The Minister's Black Veil just to name a few of the more well known pieces of his work.

In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Birthmark,” the main character, Aylmer, wants to have a perfect wife. His wife, Georgiana, is a very beautiful woman with just one flaw, the birthmark on her face. As a scientist, Aylmer tries to create a solution that will get rid of Georgiana’s birthmark, thus making her perfect. According to Hawthorne, however, this is not possible.

In Hawthorne’s short story “The Birthmark”, Aylmer feels that his wife Georgiana is a miracle and that she is perfect. Her only flaw was the birthmark in the shape of a hand placed on her cheek. Instead of focusing on all her Georgiana’s perfections, Aylmer only focused on one of her flaws, the birthmark. Aylmer constructs a statement about her birthmark saying that, “It was the fatal flaw of humanity which Nature, in one shape or another, stamps ineffaceably on her productions, either to imply that they are temporary and finite, or that their perfection must be wrought by toil and pain.”(Meyer 345)

Nathaniel Hawthorne was one of the most important authors in the history of American literature and the genre of Romanticism or Dark Romanticism, due to his unique style of writing and his focus upon subjects of Puritan religion and the unknown. I consider Hawthorne an important author, due to the fact that he skillfully and accurately based his fictional writings upon happenings of colonial times, was one of the first authors to display unfortunate outcomes for his characters’ immoral choices according to Puritan beliefs, and wrote of things that were considered taboo in his time, such as witchcraft, scientific innovation and experimentation. I strongly believe that Hawthorne’s influence for his writings were his Puritan ancestral background, his fascination with Puritan beliefs, and his interest in what was considered the unknown such as witchcraft and science. According to the Norton Anthology Textbook Vol. B, Nathaniel Hawthorne was “born in Salem, Massachusetts in 1804” (370). Hawthorne belonged “to a family whose ancestral roots were tied to Puritan history, with his family being among the first settlers of Massachusetts and having one of his relatives serve as a judge during the Salem witch trials” (370). Hawthorne, as a young boy, “had a particular interest in writings such as John Bunyan’s Puritan allegory The Pilgrim’s Progress, and by his mid-teens he took interest in British novelists such as Henry Fielding, Tobias Smollet, William Godwin, and Sir Walter Scott”

Women in today’s world use many scientific measures to look young, beautiful, and perfect. Some women even undergo surgeries to perfect their bodies. True natural beauty comes from within one’s self and not what is on the outside. While critics argue that Hawthorne’s “The Birth Mark,” “Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment,” and “Rappaccinni’s Daughter” stand as an overt commentary on nature vs. science, Hawthorne actually uses these works to explore personal familial connections.

First, Hawthorne shows his worldview through his use of Aylmer’s obsession with the birthmark to show a sign of imperfection. When Aylmer is conversing with his wife Georgiana regarding the birthmark, he says “This slightest possible defect shocks me as being the visible mark of earthly imperfection.” (Hawthorne, 5). This is important because it shows that Aylmer is troubled by the birthmark and cannot leave it alone. In addition, it also shows that Aylmer ignores the main characteristics and features of Georgiana, such as her great personal qualities, in order to focus on the one imperfection, the birthmark. Adding on, the birthmark is stated as being: “It was the fatal flaw of humanity which Nature, in one shape or another, stamps ineffaceable on all her productions” (Nelson, 12). The birthmark is a part of nature and is inevitable because it cannot be altered or removed. Furthermore, the birthmark is a reminder that imperfection is part of

In this story, a husband sacrifices his wife’s life over a birthmark, which he feels to be the only thing that stands in the way of her and perfection. (46) The deficient scientist, Aylmer is very much in love with his dear wife, Georgiana. However, only a few days soon following their marriage, Aylmer takes notice of a peculiar mark which sat on the left side of Georgiana’s cheek. After discovering the birthmark, Aylmer hastily digs for ways to rid Georgiana of this defect in which he calls an, “earthly imperfection” to her beauty. Aylmer 's failures arise from his confusion about spirit and matter. In 1841, Hawthorne had written to Sophia, at that time his fiancee, regarding mesmerism: ". . . what delusion can be more lamentable and mischievous, than to mistake the physical and material for the spiritual?" In Aylmer 's "delusion," he mistakes Georgiana 's physical imperfection for a spiritual one, and, in trying to cure her of her human nature, he kills her. As the story precedes, Aylmer and his servant, Aminadab conduct an experiment to relieve Georgiana of this remarkable birthmark only to discover in the end, that the mark symbolizes mortality. Alchemical references and imagery recur throughout "The Birth-mark," as has been amply documented by Shannon Burns, David Van Leer and others. (36). Mary E. Rucker argues that, “Although some critics have asserted that Aylmer is a “scholar-idealist” and a “refraction of the

Crystal Rodarte Dr. Sagerson ENGL 1302 February 8, 2015 Literary Analysis of “The Birth-Mark” by Nathaniel Hawthorne Obsession can drive even the sanest person insane. In the story, “The Birth-Mark” by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Aylmer, a scientist, is driven to extreme measures when he becomes obsessed with the small hand shape birthmark on his wife Georgiana’s face. In “The Birth-mark”, Hawthorne uses symbolism and characters to show that obsession and fixation can make a person focus all their attention on one bad thing and forget all the good. Hawthorne uses symbolism to show that the birthmark represented Georgiana’s humanity and mortality.

Through the years, it has been known that sin is bad and is at the root of evil. Many claim that it causes feelings of guilt; feelings that do not easily go away. Nathaniel Hawthorne stated his feelings by stating “Show freely to the world, if not (their) worst, yet some trait whereby the worst may be inferred.” to say how he felt people should react after they commit sins. He tells future posterity of how they can be redeemed of their sins, and though he may have been correct on some of the ways to repent, he may have also missed some key details. While we do need to come forward from our sins to be completely forgiven, it may not be necessary to become a living embodiment of the sin like Nathaniel believes that we should be.

In the short story The Birthmark, Nathaniel Hawthorne used Aylmer and his wife Georgiana to display that no person can be perfect. He does this by using Aylmer obsession with perfection and science. His wife Georgiana beauty is amazing and almost perfect, except for a crimson scar on her check that looks like a hand. Aylmer wants to remove the mark that symbolizes imperfection, sin, and mortality; though it could result in death. In the act, he is acting like God. Hawthorne’s argument in The Birthmark is our imperfections, sin, and mortality is what makes us human and cannot be taken away.

Nathaniel Hawthorne's “the birthmark” is a short story that was originally published in 1843. It is a story with a simple plot but intense thematic complexity. There are only three characters but each of them displays a certain psychological depth and symbolic importance. Although “The Birthmark” was written relatively early in Hawthorne's career, and the story “He set out clearly enough the questions that were too haunt him all the rest of his life”(Rosenberg). Hawthorns characteristic style, with his psychologically conflicted characters, “gloomy atmosphere,” and expiration a deep moral questions is apparent throughout the story (Meyer). The most prominent themes explored in this story are those of mortality and human imperfections, and other themes include the divine and the earthly, science and nature, and marriage and love. Hawthorne makes use of a number of literary devices, most importantly symbolism, foreshadowing, and characterization, to expand upon these themes. As the story begins Aylmer, an obsessive  scientist, has recently married Georgiana, a beautiful woman with one apparent physical flaw, a hand shaped red birthmark on her left cheek. Soon after their marriage, Aylmer becomes fixated upon his wife's birthmark and one day brings up the subject of removing it. The subject is dismissed temporarily, but then one night, Aylmer, dreams of surgically removing the birthmark and screams in his sleep that it is inside Georgina's heart. After this episode, Georgiana,