In The Highly Analyzed Short Story “The Birth-Mark,” Author

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

The Birthmark by Nathaniel Hawthorne is trying to communicate some important ideas about a variety of themes, he articulates a few weighty themes around this brief argument: the struggle between science and nature. In a story full of successful and almost magical scientific experiments, it is intact nature itself that is more powerful than any creation made by man. As is to be expected, this path to perfection also includes the creation of life and the victory over death. In the birthmark Aylmer does not see, like others who pretended Georgiana's hand before him, a singularity that accentuates her immaculate beauty. He sees in that crimson little hand an indication of decay and death. And also of immorality and sin, in tune with the belief

Sometimes, man is too eager to repair natural imperfections that may exist using science, rather than seeing these imperfections as beautiful natural occurrences, which will eventually lead to the destruction of nature. In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Birthmark,” it appears that Aylmer the main character wants to show the world that perfection is not beauty, and he demonstrates this with his wife Georgiana and that science should not alter the way that nature set man on this world to be. Hawthorne was a major asset to the transcendental movement, and this short story is a perfect example why. Nathaniel Hawthorne attempts to show the world the comparison between perfection and beauty mainly by: a psychoanalytic version of the plot and Sigmund Freud’s three fundamentals.

In this short story, Hawthorne uses symbolism to emphasize the strange shape of the "earthly imperfection" (204) and his desperate need to change it. The shape of the birthmark "bore a little similarity to the human

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”

Many of Nathaniel Hawthorne 's stories are based off of morality and is heavily influenced by religious beliefs and women. Hawthorne published "The Birthmark", a parable, dark romanticism, at a time when people praised the scientific method and were starting to think science could make anything possible. He set his story about sixty years earlier in the 160-year-long wake of the Newtonian Revolution, in the Age of Enlightenment, when science was gaining recognition. His story argues that, despite the general positivism, science has its limits. There are certain things that human are not privileged to know and not capable of doing. For example, Aylmer tries to become a creator of sorts himself by trying to "repair" a "flaw" that Nature left on another human being. The story seems to say tha it is not only ignorant, it is also downright dangerous to try and play God. "The Birthmark" puts the main protagonist, "a man of science", in a situation where he strives to make his "nearly perfect" wife flawless. At the end, because he tried to challenge Nature, he is punished with a dead wife. In "The Birthmark" by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the entire plot of the story is fully revealed at the beginning of passage and tied to religious beliefs through its setting and time of publication, symbolisms and foreshadows, and sentence structure and diction.

Written by Nathaniel Hawthorne during the American Renaissance, the short story “The Birth-Mark” details the events of a brilliant scientist and natural philosopher named Aylmer who obsesses about his wife Georgiana’s birthmark in the shape of a tiny hand on her left cheek. The symbol of the birthmark causes the plot to advance in the story, as Aylmer is compelled by this red mark to act upon his emotions. Aylmer views his wife’s birthmark as an imperfection in her virtually flawless beauty and as a result, attempts to it via a potion that he strongly believes cannot fail. His interpretation of the birthmark creates conflict in the story, which is shaped by the symbolic meaning that he attributes it to. Aylmer’s failure to accept his wife’s appearance for who she is leads to misunderstandings, pain, and ultimately, death.

Written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the short story “The Birthmark” has deep and meaningful symbolism. Symbolism often represents a recurring theme or idea in a book, short story, or poem. Other times, the author simply uses it to get a brief point across. Both of these bring more excitement and meaning into the story, and symbolism sometimes reflects how an author feels as they write their story. This element of literature reoccurs frequently in “The Birthmark”; however, only three have a deeper meaning.

One of those signature tales is “The Birth-Mark”; it is a story about the union between a man of science, Aylmer, and a woman of beauty, Georgina (Hawthorne 12). Hawthorne adorned this piece with deep, thought provoking symbols; such as the one on Georgina’s cheek. The mark is more than just a physical attribute on her skin; to Aylmer, it was a “symbol of his wife's liability to sin, sorrow, decay, and death”, in essence the mark is her humanity (14). All humanity strives to get rid of their defects; as well as Aylmer, as his experiment is to rid Georgina of her flaws. The birthmark became more and more present to Aylmer after his marriage; he began observing his wife’s appearance and developed a morbid obsession with the “singular mark” on her cheek (13). The mark is described as being “deeply interwoven” in her skin; it is a part of her being, and not just of her appearance (13). The birthmark resembles a hand; the shape’s importance is recognized

Nathaniel Hawthorne has encountered many challenges throughout his lifetime. He was born on July 4, 1804, in Salem, Massachusetts. When he was only at the age of 4, he lost his father and “A leg injury at an early age left Nathaniel immobile for several months” (Biography.com).With the aid of his wealthy relatives, he was given the opportunity to attend Bowdoin College. After some time in college, he greatly missed his mother and sisters and so he returned home and started to write. He then married Sophia Peabody and had three children.

“The Birth-Mark” was written and published in 1843 by Nathanial Hawthorne. This short story, as many of the works of Hawthorne, showcases his apparent disdain for the transcendental movement. As this story is read a person can definitely see the mockery of scientific advancements as the protagonist of the story becomes obsessed with his wife’s appearance and his perception of a flaw and his use of scientific experiments to rid her of the stain (Idol). Hawthorne also illustrates his Puritan history in that the birthmark can be seen as human flaw indicative of the sin of his wife. Many different views have been discussed about “The Birth-Mark,” and it is a fact that many interpretations can be taken

Furthermore, at the age of four, Nathaniel Hawthorne was faced with an unexpected challenge after his father passed away. “Because of his unexpected death when Nathaniel was only four years old, the author developed a fear of abandonment. This fear had a lasting impact on both Hawthorne's personal development and his writing” (Diorio 23-24). Moreover, Hawthorne’s beliefs, the most prevalent being the concept of sin, majorly affected his writing. “Like his Puritan forefathers, Hawthorne believed in the concept of original sin.

“The Birthmark,” a short story by Nathaniel Hawthorne, was published in 1843. The story is set around the last century and focuses on a “man of science” and his wife. The most prominent elements of the story are the inexhaustible use of foreshadowing, symbolism, and the irony of the relationship of Aylmer and Georgiana. “The Birthmark” is reminiscent of today’s science fiction genre, with mild religious undertones. Aylmer, the main protagonist, is a ‘Man of Science’ who is married to beautiful, innocent Georgiana. In the story, we follow his efforts to become God-like by not heeding the natural order created by the divine, his attempt to perfect the imperfections of his beloved wife, and is the ultimate cause of his

Although “The Birthmark” by Nathaniel Hawthorne was written in the mid-1800s, its themes and ideas are still a part of society today. The 19th century was a time of change, just as this, the millennium, is a time of great change. Hawthorne’s ideas about science, beauty, and life still play a major part in our lives, despite many improvements. Even today, people try to play “God” and change things that nature has put in place. It’s human curiosity; how much can be changed, how many things can be perfected? The themes in this short story-- religion, gender, and science--were relevant in Hawthorne’s day, and still are many years later. The theme of religion is hidden in the desire to erase

Hawthorne’s story “The Birthmark” is remote in time when there were no true kind of