The Birthmark Research Paper

Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote many successful stories including the scarlet letter. He wrote a book of short stories titled "Young Goodman Brown and other short stories" which mainly focused on Europeans and European Americans. The short stories focused on in this book touched on the topics of either religion, science, or human error. Specifically The birthmark and rapid his daughter both touch on the subject of science and even more on flaws. In "the birthmark"'and rapid his daughter", Hawthorne attempted to convey the message that being flawed is part of being human and you cannot mess with human nature.

As a scientist who views nature not as beautiful, but as flawed, Aylmer feels that it is in his power to “have corrected what Nature left imperfect in her fairest work!” (Hawthorne). Hawthorne added at the beginning of the story that Aylmer “persuaded a beautiful women to become his wife” (Hawthorne). However, it makes the audience question whether or not he truly loved her and her natural beauty or the fact that he loved the idea that he could make her as pretty as he thinks she could possibly be. Aylmer falls in love with Georgiana but soon he becomes very disgusted with her birthmark. Now, since he is coming to realization with his feelings and attraction to her, he wants to be in control of Georgiana’s beauty. Aylmer does not want to remove the mark from Georgiana’s face because it is ugly; he

Georgiana is an important character in this story, she not only is the owner of the birthmark that Aylmer sets out to remove, but she also shows us how women in the nineteenth century are treated and how they are supposed to act. “Women were thought to be more pure, innocent, and morally superior to men; however, they were also more easily corrupted. More importantly, women who expressed traits or desires contrary to these ideals were ostracized and deemed to have "unsexed" themselves” (Radek). Women in the nineteenth century were supposed to act passively, women were just

He tries to remove Georgiana's birthmark yet fails numerous times: “Danger is nothing to me; for life, while this hateful mark makes me the object of your horror and disgust,--life is a burden which I would fling down with joy” (Hawthorne 2). Her birthmark represents the source of his sole suffering and lamentation, and he desperately attempts to erase it many times as it causes his downfall. The atomic bomb relates the same as the birthmark; while the atomic bomb provokes the destruction of humankind, the birthmark’s persistence represents the destruction of Aylmer’s sanity. Aylmer ventures countless times, creating threatening chemicals and technology which will harm his wife and

In this short story “The Birthmark”, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne in 1843, focuses on a devoted scientist that is persistent on removing this unique birthmark from his wife’s, Georgianna’s face. Around this time in the 18th century scientific discoveries became very popular. In comparison, scientist in this era were infatuated with the theory of science and nature and how it can change things. Alymer is 100% committed to his work ethic in his science lab where he conducts different experiments of flawlessness. He seems to be heavily influenced on the subject matter of perfection. His wife Georgianna seems to be perfect to others, but in his eyes she has this one flaw that is so distinctive it bothers him so much that he will stop at nothing to remove it.

In the short story “The Birthmark” by Nathaniel Hawthorne, tragic flaws are found in the two main characters and eventually leads them to their downfall. As the web article “Tragic Flaw” states, authors include tragic flaws so the “...readers and the audience can identify themselves with the tragic hero, since it imparts feelings of pity and fear among them thereby completing their catharsis or in other words, they are purged of bad emotions. Therefore, they can learn a moral lesson so that they might not indulge in similar actions in future” (“Tragic Flaw”).

Nothing in this world is perfect. Our flaws are what make us the beautiful and unique people that we are. They give us our personality, and allow us to stand out from the crowd. Without them, our world would be boring. Perfection is a standard that no one could ever live up to, and the more “perfect” someone may be, the less of a personality they may have. “The Birthmark’’, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, is a story about a young, beautiful woman with a minor flaw that leads to the destruction of her life. Hawthorne uses the characters, foreshadowing, and symbolism to demonstrate the theme that physical perfection cannot be reached.

Her only defect is a birthmark, shaped like a tiny reddish hand, on her cheek. Aylmer is obsessed with this imperfection and longs to get rid of it. He would sooner have Georgiana dead than impure (Jones 194). When he sees the birthmark Aylmer cannot restrain “a strong convulsive shudder.” He thinks it is “intolerable” and it “shocks” him.

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story “The Birth-Mark” shows the thoughtlessness of creating a perfect being. Hawthorne conveys this message through the tale of the scientist Aylmer and his wife Georgiana, who has hand-shaped birthmark on her cheek. Aylmer becomes engrossed with Georgiana birthmark that keeps his wife from becoming perfect and decides to remove the birthmark through his science. In “The Birth-Mark” Nathaniel Hawthorne utilizes Georgiana weak self-conscious, the birthmark, and the concoction to emphasize the theme of striving for perfection. Aylmer critical perception of Georgiana birthmark hinders her self-confidence.

most certainly scientifically based; he wanted to use her as an experiment. Since he has basically brought his wife into great shame of having the birthmark, she considers removing it, and instantaneously we see that Aylmer says, “I have spent much thought upon the

In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story “The Birth-Mark,” his use of symbolisms can be seen throughout adding symbolic characterization to Aylmer, Georgiana and Aminadab. The birthmark is clearly a vital symbol in the story yet Hawthorne makes use of the opposing natures of Aylmer and Aminadab to ensure the reader perceives Aylmer’s contempt towards the human imperfections produced in nature. Aylmer regards himself as almost godlike, “ I have already given this matter the deepest thought – thought which might almost have enlightened me to create a being less perfect than yourself” (Hawthorne 293). Aylmer as a symbol then represents the divine while Aminadab provides the means to visualize the polar opposite, the earthy nature of man. This counterbalance

In the short story written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, “The Birth-Mark,” the author makes use of literary symbolism in order to provide depth and complexity to his characters. There are several symbols used within this story but one that is central to the development of the main character is the birthmark. The birthmark, small and red, in the shape of a hand is located on the check of Georgiana the wife of Aylmer a noted scientist. This birthmark is the means in which Hawthorne is able to address the internal conflict residing within Aylmer concerning human mortality, the imperfections produced by nature and his deluded sense of omnificence. It is readily apparent of Aylmer’s disdain of Nature’s imperfections when he states, “It was the fatal flaw

In the story, it tells us Aylmer, the husband is a scientist who believed in nature. Georgiana is the wife, who has a small red birthmark on her check. Most men found this mark is attractive to them. However, Aylmer thinks it would make Georgiana look flawless if she remove it. In the whole story, Aylmer is trying to persuade Georgiana to remove the birthmark, finally the wife took the elixir and after she woke up, the birthmark was gonna and she tells Aylmer she is dying. After reading the story, I think the husband it too obsess with the science and he is trying to force his wife to do something that he believed. At the beginning of the story, it said “in the latter part of the last century”, which means the story took place in the 17th century.

“’I Know You Are Not Real’: Salience of Photo Retouching Reduces the Negative Effects of Media Exposure via Internalization” was written by Chiara Rollero in 2014. This particular piece was published by the Institute of Experimental Psychology at the Slovak Academy of Science. Chiara Rollero is an Italian psychology researcher at the University of Turin in Italy, where she has conducted many experiments and has written many reports about media in society, social psychology and applied psychology. The majority of her papers are directed towards other scientists who are also involved in psychology research. In her research paper “’I Know You Are Not Real’: Salience of Photo Retouching Reduces the Negative Effects of Media

“...but the deeper went the knife, the deeper sank the hand, until at length its tiny grasp appeared to have caught hold of Georgiana's heart; whence, however, her husband was inexorably resolved to cut or wrench it away” (Hawthorne 335). This excerpt from Aylmer’s dream perfectly demonstrates his anger towards his wife’s little birthmark. A birthmark does not appear to be capable of creating such inner turmoil in someone purely based upon definition, for it is simply a slight imperfection or blotch that has resided on the skin since birth. It can be large, small, clearly visible, or non-existent to the common eye. Some may even consider these marks to be a gift, a sign of beauty or individuality, whereas others, along with Aylmer, may believe it to be a flaw: a curse. Within Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Birthmark”, Georgiana’s particular birthmark held a small rosy impression in the shape of a tiny hand on her left cheek, which glowed on her pale skin (334). Her husband Aylmer hated nature’s signature on his wife’s otherwise perfect appearance, and he eventually lead Georgiana to despise it even more than himself. Georgiana is a dynamic character in the story that negatively developed through her