In 1843, “The Birthmark” by Nathaniel Hawthorne was first published in a minor literary journal. It is a dark tale of an eighteenth century scientist’s obsession with a small, hand shaped birthmark on his wife’s face. Although, the mark did not bother him before their marriage, it becomes such an obsession for him and he can not think of anything but it’s removal from her otherwise perfect face. This imperfection and the incurable nature of mortality become the central idea in this story. In The Birthmark,” Hawthorne uses the fictional element of conflict to convey a pervading sense of torment and tragedy in this short story. The first conflict that arises in “The Birthmark” is Alymer’s complete love for science versus the love for another human being. This was a time of great scientific exploration and discovery. Many began to see the pursuit of science as a form of worship. Hawthorne uses many words in this story commonly used in religious rhetoric such as miracles, repent, worthy of devotions and prays to affirm the strong connection of science and religion. The author shares with his readers that it was common during this time great scientific advancements for “the love of science to rival the love of woman in its depth and absorbing energy” (Hawthorne 1 ). This was certainly the case with Alymer and poor, beautiful Georgiana. This pursuit of scientific knowledge is an attempt to cheat mortality. If Alymer can perfect what Nature messed up, he can defeat imperfection and achieve his own sense of immortality. His love for science proves to be much stronger than his love for his wife and she pays the ultimate price for his desire for perfection. The conflict of Alymer and the birthmark itself seems to be the m... ... middle of paper ... ...r on women” While Alymer professes a great love for Georgiana, his true love is for science and the god-like sense of power that it brings him. Alymer’s past experiments, his dream and all of his surroundings tell him that his desires will be fatal to Georgiana, and yet he continues. The Birthmark is a sad tale of a man’s desire to perfect his wife rather than love her and the consequence of this desire is that she ends up perfectly dead. The many layers of conflicts, internal, interpersonal, social, in this short story climax together to show the tragedy of the pursuit of perfection and the folly of trying to cheat mortality. Works Cited Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Birthmark Heilman, Robert B. “Hawthorne’s ‘The Birthmark’: Science as Religion.” South Atlantic Quarterly 48(1949): 573-83.
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.” He succeeds in removing the birthmark; however, he unfortunately causes his wife’s death in the process. Through “The Birthmark”, Hawthorne suggests that nothing paradisiacal can exist on this earth, and that being imperfect is just part of being human.
In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story “The Birth-Mark,” Aylmer, a married scientist, believes himself to be above nature. Acting on these beliefs, he prepares
Hawthorne. “The Birthmark.” The Norton Anthology of Short Fiction. R.V. Cassill, Richard Bausch. 7th ed. New York: W.W. Norton, 2006. 648-660.
Uttering heartless words to a partner about their flaws is a reflection of one’s insecurity in the relationship. The short story “The Birthmark” gives readers insight into Aylmer, a questionable scientist who fails at experiments, and his wife Georgiana, an obedient wife who fulfills her husband’s commands. Aylmer is insecure and as a result denigrates Georgiana about her birthmark to purposefully make her despise the mark. Georgiana never thought of her birthmark as a flaw because men were enchanted by her fairy-like miniature hand with a shade of crimson. However, Georgiana being the good wife that she is, agrees to become her husband’s experiment to get the birthmark removed in order to make Aylmer happy. In this story it is evident that
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.
In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s, The Birthmark, he uses unperfected beauty to confirm that if God’s creations are meddled with the product is harmful. A scientist, Alymer is married to a beautiful women named Georgiana whose only flaw is a birthmark on her left cheek.
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...
It would be no surprise if the uprising of positivism in Hawthorne’s time influenced him to write this story. The reader must keep in mind that Hawthorne wrote this story in a time where many perhaps frowned upon scientific research. If he would have written the story in this current time period, it might have been written differently. “The Birthmark” attacks science in a way by presenting it as an unstoppable force determined to find a solution and perfection to everything. Science cannot completely perfect nature but it can try to improve it.
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 Birthmark” starts out with an explanation of how the main character, Aylmer, was “a man of science, an eminent proficient in every branch of philosophy”. He cleaned himself up, washing the furnace smoke and acid stains from his hands, left his lab with his assistant, and then seduced a young beautiful woman to marry
Aylmer is a well-renowned scientist who has seemingly given up his devotion to science to marry the beautiful Georgiana. His wife is described as nearly flawless, except for a tiny birthmark on her left cheek that “bore not a little similarity to the human hand, though of the smallest pygmy size” (Hawthorne 291). As the story progresses, Aylmer becomes enamored with the idea of removing her birthmark, and it seems that his love of science quickly surpasses his love for his wife. Aylmer convinces himself that he is removing it for Georgiana’s benefit, but as he does more research and spends more time focusing on the tiny birthmark, he becomes disgusted with it, which deeply hurts her. Aylmer is tragically consumed by the absurd idea that he can make his wife “perfect”, and when he does end up “perfecting” her, she dies.
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
Even though it is ethical to remove the birthmark for the couple’s culture since it will resolve their looming problem, is it moral in their perspective? Initially, it was implied that Georgina found it wrong to remove it since she first believed the mark as a “charm” (419) but the soon changed when Aylmer believed the opposite of it. Aylmer has always found it morally correct in his eyes that the removal of the birthmark is a need since he only ever saw it as a scorching stigma that derails him from reaching total happiness and bliss. The wrong becomes right and the right becomes wrong, and together, these events led to the ethical extermination of the birthmark.
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.
"The Birth-Mark", written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, is a tale filled with humans need to control things and an unhealthy marriage. The two main characters, Aylmer and Georgina, are intertwined with the husbands need to get rid of his wife's flaw. His story, The Birth-Mark, explores the depth of human imperfection and a man need to play God.