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The birthmark character analysis essay
Analysis on "The Birthmark
Analysis on "The Birthmark
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Response Paper #2: 'The Birthmark';
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?
Our society has many ways of manifesting its obsession with physical perfection. In our society people go to extreme lengths to achieve perfection. The 'Birthmark';, written more than a century ago, is an early version of our modern obsession with physical perfection.
Society manifests its obsession with physical perfection by having surgical procedures done on daily basis. These surgeries allow for almost any cosmetic transformation. For example a person can have anything from removing a birthmark to inserting breast implants to having a tummy tuck done on their body. Society manifests their obsession with physical perfection by having these procedures done to them. These procedures enable society to achieve 'perfection';, much like Georgiana in the 'Birthmark';.
In the 'Birthmark';, a story that is more than a century old Georgiana and her husband Alymar are searching for physical perfection, much like we do today. In addition they manifested their obsession with physical perfection much like we do today. Georgiana was born with a crimson birthmark in the shape of a hand. This birthmark was on her cheek. One day Georgiana discovers that this birthmark 'shocks'; her husband and he is deeply bothered by it. Georgiana finally realizes this after Alymar says 'Georgiana . . . has it ever occurred to you that the mark upon your cheek might be removed?'; After discussing the birthmark several times with her husband, a talented scientist, Georgiana decides to have it removed by him. It is never stated in full detail exactly how Alymar is going to remove this birthmark, we assume that it will be a surgical procedure. At one point in the story Georgina says to her husband 'If there be the remote possibility of it .
People have something they see as flaw, and want to change it. As for Aylmer, “With the morning twilight Aylmer opened his eyes upon the birth-mark resting on his wife’s face and recognized the symbol of imperfection.” (Hawthorne 316). Georgiana is really concerned about the outcome of this surgery, and then she called Aylmer and told him “I know not what may be the cost to both of us to get rid of this fatal birth-mark. Perhaps its removal may cause cureless deformity; or it may be the stain goes as deep as life.”
We all are unique in a different way; our body is different just like our face color. Thin, fat, thick, or over weight each one of us is different from everyone else, this is what make us individual. By changing your body it’s like taking away your identity and personality. The author suggest that plastic surgery is being done from one women pulled from exactly the same face structure and mostly they all look the same. Most people think when they get cosmetic surgery done they’re becoming in with their own ideas on what they wanted to look like, but if you really think about most people undergo surgery hoping to look better and to look way different that they use to. It is unfortunate because one shouldn’t feel the need or necessary to alter their face or body to look more beautiful or perfect. People should have a surgery to change their inside instead of outside. Most of the things we do are to feel included and to feel like someone is paying some attention to us. Society don’t really pay attention or care about that one fat girl who sits in the cafeteria by her self with a big nose and an ugly face, but that girl with a long hair, a perfect smile, and face structure is one that everyone remember. It is just so unfair and sad that society have to tell us what beautiful and what
################################# Part 3 ######################################## Nature doesn’t intend for things to be perfect, if it was the contrary we wouldn’t be considered humans. Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Birth-Mark portrays the story of a scientist, Aylmer, so self-absorbed, and supercilious in his own power of science that he would go so far as to remove the intentional “imperfect” birthmark that Nature has bestowed upon his wife’s face. “Cannot you remove this little, little mark… Is this beyond your power… Noblest, dearest, tenderest wife… doubt not my power” (216). Hawthorne uses the birthmark as a symbol to represent the imperfection that is within the human species, the mark also draws out the imperfection of those who have encountered it by displaying their tendencies to overlook the flawless beauty of Georgiana and focus solely on her birthmark, “Some fastidious persons… affirmed that the bloody hand… quite destroyed Georgiana’s beauty… Aylmer discovered that this was the case with himself” (214). Nature’s symbol is a paradigm of omnipotence. To simply put, Nature created the grand design of human life, and governs over our society but allows us as people to do as we please with our lives, so long as we do not alter with Nature’s creation, “…Our great creative Mother… She permits us, indeed to mar, but seldom to mend, and like a jealous patentee, on no account to make” (217). Despite Nature’s intention, being the pompous scientist that he is, Aylmer believes himself to be something more than a microcosm of Nature’s creation. In other words, because of his unparalleled ability in the subject science, like other...
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.
& nbsp; The Mark of Ugliness In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Birthmark, there is indeed a representation of Although the other underlying personality is not represented within himself, it is rather portrayed through his assistant Aminadab. Since Aylmer is lacking so much within himself, he is unable to appreciate his wife even though she was dying. Basically, if Aylmer had the sensibility of Aminadab, he could have realized how beautiful she was even with her birthmark. During
The BirthMark was written by Nathaniel Hawthorne it is short dark romantic story that is closely looked at the obsession with human perfection. He had two main characters named Aylmer and Georgiana. Aylmer was not happy with Georgiana because of her birthmark. Aylmer insist Georgiana to get plastic surgery then realizes that the procedure is dangerous and agrees with it anyway. However, Georgiana dies and Aylmer then realizes that her life has been killed just for Aylmer happiness to make his wife perfect. This text is an issue that might be a broad to love in everyday life such as in selfishness, obsession, death.
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 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.
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.
“Leave it alone, it will go away” is the instructions doctors specify to patients and parents of children with a vascular birthmark (“Vascular Birthmarks”). According to research, “It is estimated that approximately 10% of births have a vascular birthmark – that’s about 400,000 children per year in the United States alone” (“Vascular Birthmarks”). The two main types of vascular birthmarks are Hemangiomas, a non-cancerous tumor of skin composed of abnormal lymph vessels, and Malformations, an inborn growth of skin containing arteries, capillaries, veins, or lymphatic vessels. It is no longer necessary for patients to suffer through emotional and physical pain while waiting for their lesion to disappear, because today the medical field has advanced its technology and clinical experiences in order to manage vascular birthmarks. However, there is not a recommendation treatment that fits any birthmark; the treatment choice depends on the degree of disfigurement, location, type, and severity (“Birthmarks”). Vascular birthmarks, the benign skin growths comprised of rapidly growing or poorly formed blood vessels or lymph vessels, have potentially life threatening and emotional effects that can often be corrected by steroid therapy, laser treatment, and surgical removal.
“The Birthmark” is a short story written by author Nathaniel Hawthorne. This short story is filled with symbolism and destructive criticism. It follows the scientist Aylmer and his obsession of removing his wife Georgina’s birthmark. The crimson hand-shaped birthmark on the face of an otherwise perfect, beautiful woman contains deep meanings. Through the use of symbolism, Hawthorne demonstrates the issues and themes of the unattainability of perfection, science and nature, humanity’s flaws, and mortality.
The short story “The Birthmark” demonstrates that nobody can be perfect. Georgiana’s birthmark is a physical representation of this
What extent should science go to in order to “improve” people’s looks? In the short story, “The Birthmark” by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the birthmark symbolizes morality that every living thing is flawed in some way and perfection can’t be found on earth. Though this is true, people have the right to seek perfection, and what happens after they think they attain it, is their business. The character Aylmer is a scientist, and his wife Georgiana has a small birthmark on her cheek in the shape of a hand that is barely noticeable. Other men find it charming, but Aylmer convinces Georgiana to let him remove the birthmark for his own peace of mind, then she dies. However, despite how freak accident that may seem, today medical practices are safer than they used to be. Science should be allowed to go all the way in order to improve people’s looks because of want, need and to reflect society as a whole.
The world around us has different views of what humans must look like or be. All of us have different sized feet, hairstyles, and clothes. Truly this idea of perfection can lead to terrible choices and horrible outcomes. Nathaniel Hawthorne two short stories “The Birthmark” and “Rappaccini 's Daughter” Hawthorne gives us a better understanding of perfection as two men try to make their life perfect and everything around them perfect. As we read “The Birthmark”, Aylmer tries during the whole story to perfect his wife who is already a beautiful creation and cannot recognize what he has. In the story “Rappaccini’s Daughter” Rappaccini developed a poison that gives his daughter powers in order to protect the beauty that she has in the story and
The media has promoted a dominant view of how people should perceive beauty, and what consists of perfection in beauty. According to Dr. Karin Jasper, the media have women encouraging them to be concerned with their outward appearance and how others perceive them by surrounding everyone with the ideal female beauty. (Jasper, 2000) Body image has become a particular concern for young girls and women, often females work diligently to attain the perfect body image advertised in mass media. (Gibbs, 2010) When women are not able to obtain their ideal body goal, many develop negative feelings and become self-conscious about their bodies. Conversely, it is not possible for someone to look like a model in ads, someone without blemishes, scars, or pours. Another study conducted in 2012 showed contemporary media and culture has defined a women’s social desirability in terms of their bodies. For females, this has often resulted in comparing themselves to bodies shown in advertisements, commercials, magazines, etc. however not all body