

The Birthmark by Nathaniel Hawthorne Essay
Imperfections in the birthmark by nathaniel hawthorne essay.
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Too often in this world does man attempt to perfect nature. Tampering with this sort of element most commonly leads to a disaster to come extent. Because man is never satisfied, he is constantly vying for perfection, regardless of the outcome. Such is the case in Nathaniel Hawthorne's short story, 'The Birthmark.' Aylmer's persistent attempt to perfect nature is the cause of Georgiana's demise and the affirmation that when man tampers with such a powerful component terrible things may occur.
A Comparison Of “The Birthmark” By Nathaniel Hawthorne
When reading a story, people do not often think about how much it might relate to another story they have read in the past. In “The Birthmark” Georgiana simply wants her unique birthmark removed from her face. Similarly, in “Barbie Doll” the unnamed young lady wants her nose and legs removed. In both of these stories the reader can see that these women are chasing society’s idea of perfection. The short story “The Birthmark” written by Nathaniel Hawthorne and the poem “Barbie Doll” written by Marge Piercy have almost the exact same theme because both of these short works of fiction are about a woman that is influenced by her peers to become
Dark Romanticism In The Birthmark, By Nathaniel Hawthorne
Nathaniel Hawthorne was one of the representatives of the Dark Romanticism genre. The cultural and literal context, stylistic features and main themes of the Hawthorne’s short story The Birthmark will be discussed in this essay.
Symbolism : The Birthmark, By Nathaniel Hawthorne
In the short allegory “The Birthmark”, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, a newly-wed couple becomes consumed by the existence of a small birthmark on the wife’s face. When the wife, Georgiana, allows her husband Aylmer, a scientist, to remove the birthmark, both realize that Georgiana will inevitably sacrifice her life for the sake of its removal. As the story progresses, so does the confliction of the newlyweds as they realize exactly what the birthmark symbolized to and for each other. Hawthorne’s hallmark use of symbolism also provides a ‘perfect’ glimpse into the mindset of two themes of psychological conflictions: perfectionism and codependency. Hawthorne seems to share this story as a possible moral of the hidden pathos we place upon the ones we love, and the invisible marks or standards we place upon ourselves for the ones we love.
Symbolism In The Birthmark By Nathaniel Hawthorne
“As the last crimson tint of the birthmark that sole token of human imperfection faded from her cheek, the parting breath of the now perfect woman passed into the atmosphere, and her soul, lingering a moment near her husband, took its heavenward flight” (Hawthorne 13). In 1843, Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote “The Birthmark,” a tragic and unexpected short story. In the beginning of “The Birthmark,” Alymer, a man of science, marries a young beautiful woman named Georgiana. One day Alymer noticed a mark on Georgiana’s cheek, and over time his obsession with the thought of removing it scientifically caused the death of his wife. Therefore, in the short story “The Birthmark,” by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Alymer pushes the scientific boundaries too far and his experiment is unjustified.
The Birthmark By Nathaniel Hawthorne
In Nathaniel Hawthorne 's “The Birthmark”, we find the tragic story of a woman named Georgiana who sacrificed her life for the sake of appeasing her husband, Aylmer. What did Georgiana do that it was more favorable for her to die than to continuing to displease her husband? Georgiana, who was otherwise hailed as incomparably beautiful, had a birthmark on her face. Aylmer desired this to remove this birthmark, which he considered the one thing keeping her from being “perfect”, from her face. In an attempt to remedy his wife’s “imperfection”, Aylmer makes an elixir for her to drink. While this elixir successfully removes the birthmark, the same elixir also causes Georgiana to die soon after. This story brings to light several examples of how society belittles women and puts their desires below the desires of men.
Shortcomings And Romanticism In The Birthmark, By Nathaniel Hawthorne
In his 1843 didactic short story "The Birthmark," Nathaniel Hawthorne writes about the shortcomings and negligence of those who seek perfection throughout their lives. Aylmer, mad scientist and main character, is greatly encouraged by a romantic reverie to seek the removal of an aggravating birthmark from his wife Georgiana's face. Aylmer becomes trapped in a trance by his aspirations to the point where "he had not been aware of the tyrannizing influence acquired by one idea over his mind, and of the lengths which he might find in his heart to go for the sake of giving himself peace" (Hawthorne 74). Similarity, in the short story "Editha," William Howells portrays how romantic ideals instill false confidence and support an unrealistic perception of the outside world. The powerful persuasion by an unrealistic psyche is illustrated through the phrase "pocket providence", showing to be nothing more than a contagion, creating uncertainty and untenable expectations in all that encounter it.
The Birthmark By Nathaniel Hawthorne Essay
A birthmark as referred to in this short story is the “Differences of temperament”, the inborn traits someone can develop. In Nathaniel Hawthorne 's "The Birthmark" there are many different themes such as, nature versus science, and perfection. We see Aylmer struggle with his own temperament. For him the birthmark becomes the symbol of Georgiana’s flawed humanity, which he tries to alternate. Throughout the story, we come across several observances of otherness revolving around “The Birthmark”.
Theme Of Allegory In The Birthmark By Nathaniel Hawthorne
Nathaniel Hawthorne was the author of multiple short stories and poems, all of them in the Dark Romantic genre. Hawthorne gained his inspiration at home with his mother, sisters, and his wife, Sophia Peabody who was a poet as well. In his writing, one of his strongest traits was his use of allegory. Hawthorne often uses allegory in his short stories to add a different perspective onto his many works. In his short story, “The Birthmark,” Hawthorne utilizes foreshadowing and symbolism to portray the allegorical lesson that striving for perfection results in troubling outcomes.
Analysis Of The Story Of An Hour And Nathaniel Hawthorne 's The Birthmark
Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” and Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Birthmark” examine the complex relationship between a husband and wife. The two works take two different approaches to convey the same message: Marriage is not a fairytale, it requires sacrifice and unselfish behavior in order to work. Relationships are difficult to begin and harder to maintain. Mr. and Mrs. Mallard and Aylmer and Georgiana are two relationships that shatter the surreal perception of marriage and expose readers to the raw truth, marriage is not a fairytale.
In Nathaniel Hawthorne's short story "The Birthmark," there are many views on the need for science and its advances. Hawthorne's protagonist, Aylmer, illustrates his own personal assessment of science. The story is based on the idea that science can solve all of humanities ills and problems. Hawthorne believes that science is overrunning life. Aylmer is consumed by his passion of overtake Mother Nature. The story shows how Aylmer's passion leads to not only his downfall but that of his wife Georgiana as well. The belief that science can solve and do anything is one of ignorance because it totally disregards the human element of spirituality.
Literary Analysis Of The Birthmark
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.
Hawthorne's Transcendentalist Worldview In The Birthmark By Nathaniel Hawthorne
In “The Birthmark”, the relationships and behaviors of the characters play a significant role in the story by revealing more than the story itself does . Through the character’ different actions, characteristics, and behaviors, Nathaniel Hawthorne gives a deeper insight into his life, such as revealing his worldview to his readers, and also gives insight into a more relevant story. Hawthorne’s transcendentalist worldview is conveyed through Aylmer’s and Georgiana’s obsessions, Aylmer’s manipulation of nature, and the birthmark.
Tragic flaw in Hawthorne’s “The Birthmark” Essay
In literature a tragic flaw refers in plain words when the main character ends up dead or defeated a characteristic feature of the heroes of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short stories, “Young Goodman Brown,” “The Minister’s Black Veil”, and “The Birthmark”. However this concept is even more extensive and best explained in terms of “Hamartia”. According to the Encyclopedia Britannica that word can be understood as an inherent defect in the hero of a tragedy or a moral flaw, other sources point out “Hamartia” as an error in judgment or accident that may lead the hero to ruin as a result. From “The Birthmark” the reader can notice how the story starts with a happy romance
Analysis of The Birthmark by Nathaniel Hawthorne Essay
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
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- Nathaniel Hawthorne
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Birthmark” Short Story Essay
Introduction, the brief basic plot of the story, works cited.
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During Nathaniel Hawthorne’s lifetime, there was a tremendous advancement in science and technology. People began believing that all of life’s unanswered questions would soon be answered in the laboratories of the scientists if they would just have the patience to wait long enough. It was felt that with just a little time, all the evils of society would be ironed out and all imperfections would be cured. These are the issues examined in Hawthorne’s short story “The Birthmark.”
The story is essentially the story of a scientific man who cannot stand a small birthmark visible on his wife’s cheek and which she agrees to attempt to remove in a process that eventually kills her. In this story, Hawthorne illustrates through the symbolism of the birthmark science’s approach toward ‘perfecting’ society, society’s acceptance of this approach and the true nature of this type of imperfection.
Hawthorne uses the symbol of the birthmark as a way of illustrating science’s approach to the aberrations of nature as a problem that needs to be fixed. Aylmer’s wife Georgiana has a tiny hand-shaped birthmark on her face that shows most clearly when she is pale and upset and tends not to show at all when she is happy and rosy. As Hawthorne points out, there were generally two approaches taken toward this small defect in her otherwise perfect face. “Georgiana’s lovers were wont to say that some fairy at her birth hour had laid her tiny hand upon the infant’s cheek, and left this impress there in token of the magic endowments that were to give her such sway over all hearts.”
On the other hand, “some fastidious persons – but they were exclusively of her own sex – affirmed that the bloody hand, as they chose to call it, quite destroyed the effect of Georgiana’s beauty, and rendered her countenance even hideous.” This was the approach taken by Aylmer to such a degree that his only consideration of it was to find a means of removing it, regardless of the dangers this process might present to his lovely wife’s ultimate health or future. Aylmer feels the wife of a scientist as prestigious as himself should be absolutely free of any perfections nature might have bestowed upon her. Because he is unable to accept her ‘imperfections’ as signs that she is a natural and very human woman, he is unable to enjoy the life of happiness the couple should have otherwise enjoyed.
It is through the actions of Georgiana that the attitudes of society toward science are reflected in this short story. When Aylmer first suggests that Georgiana could have the birthmark surgically removed, she is shocked and reluctant to even consider the possibilities. “To tell you the truth it has been so often called a charm that I was simple enough to imagine it might be so,” she tells him. However, his continued horror at the sight of the mark works on her spirit as does the continued calls of science, shocked and dismayed at the rest of society’s reluctance to experiment where it is perceived only God should go, work on society itself.
Finally, Georgiana gives in to Aylmer’s suggestion, passively agreeing to participate in whatever form of experiment he might choose to present to her and asking few, if any, questions as to what he’s been doing. “Georgiana began to conjecture that she was already subjected to certain physical influences, either breathed in with the fragrant air or taken with her food.” Finally, when she finally perceives the danger involved in the experiment, she confronts Aylmer with a desire for more knowledge, but when he refuses to give her any details, she readily agrees to do whatever is asked of her again.
Finally, Hawthorne illustrates that not all natural imperfection is necessarily something evil that must be cured by science as the fading of the birthmark results in the death of the lady. Its shape and the suggestion that it is the loving result of a fairy touch indicate that the birthmark has some sort of spiritual connection to the lady.
This is emphasized in Aylmer’s dream: “He had fancied himself with his servant Aminadab, attempting an operation for the removal of the birthmark; 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.” This foreshadows the destructive task he has embraced as well as the purity and tenderness externally represented in the form of the mark.
The essential nature of the mark to the lady’s person is again brought forward when Aylmer finally comes partially clean to Georgiana, just before administering the final draught: “Know, then, that this crimson hand, superficial as it seems, has clutched its grasp into your being with a strength of which I had no previous conception. I have already administered agents powerful enough to do aught except to change your entire physical system.” When he does give her the drink to change her system, she is perfected and can no longer remain on earth in human form.
Through this short story, which sees very little in the way of actual action, Hawthorne is able to criticize the aims of science and to question its relative merits. Through the symbolism of the birthmark and its wearer, Hawthorne manages to illustrate how science remains fixated on fixing things that may not need to be fixed or that should be appreciated for their own intrinsic value. By focusing on the behavior of the wearer of the birthmark, and thus its guardian and protector, Hawthorne demonstrates the less than ideal reaction of the public toward the more outlandish scientific ideas as well as illustrates how the public is eventually won over to these ideas.
Finally, by showing his readers that the birthmark is valuable in protecting the life of this lady, that it is a necessary part of her humanity, Hawthorne indicates how science has the power to destroy something special and irreplaceable without bringing any benefit to mankind in its place.
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. “The Birthmark.”
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Free Birthmark Essays and Papers

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Vascular Birthmarks
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Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Birthmark: Understanding The Birthmark
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The Birthmark Essay: External and Internal Conflict in The Birthmark
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Disorders in Hawethornes "The Birthmark"
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Obsession in Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Birthmark
high and pure a feeling, you have rejected the best the earth could offer. ... I am dying!" says Chillingworth wife after she is "cured" of her birthmark, a large brown mole on the upper left side of her right arm. Chillingworth feels that this experiment is justified because his wife is nowhere near perfect, withstanding the birthmark. "...upon another arm perhaps it might, but ... you came so hideous from the hand of Nature that this slightest possible defect, which we hesitate
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The Birthmark Literary Analysis Essay
The birthmark character analysis.
When Georgiana learned of her husband’s disdain towards her birthmark she was devastated. Slowly, Aylmer manipulated Georgiana into believing that this mark would need to be removed. When Georgiana saw Aylmer looking at her she “shuttered at his gaze and her cheeks changed into a death-like paleness”. (Hawthorne 292) It seemed that Georgiana had a fear of Aylmer that made her extremely uneasy. Aylmer knew that staring at Georgiana would make
Symbolism In The Birthmark By Nathaniel Hawthorne
In “The Birthmark” Nathaniel Hawthorne gives us a story that is telling us on some level to accept your own, as well as other people's imperfections or it could destroy not only your relationship with them, but also your relationship with yourself. In this story Hawthorne uses symbolism to show us exactly how this kind of behavior can lead to not just ruining relationships, but in this case even death. In “The Birthmark” Hawthorne uses a wide variety of objects and people such as a withering flower, a birthmark, poison, Aylmer's dream and Georgiana's death, and even a character named Aminidab to symbolize that nobody is in fact perfect and we all must accept each others flaws in order to have good and healthy relationships.
Hawthorne The Birthmark Analysis
The true essence of “The Birthmark” is infiltrated through the hidden structure of the strength of a woman. As we unpack the passion behind the obsession that Aylmer presents with his genius in science, on the surface, one may recognize his obscenity and categorize it as a reflection of masculine control. Though, this is in fact true, what strikes as an unbeknownst strength is the hidden sacrifice that Georgiana represents as she succumbs to her spouse and his desire to make her “perfect”. As Hawthorne structures this sacrifice as a mere testament of how women of the late 1700’s - 1800’s valued the perspective of their spouse, it is necessary to extract how this act of selflessness attributes to the amount of love and respect Georgiana has for
Examples Of Figurative Language In The Birthmark
Hawthorne uses imagery sense of smell to get readers to imagine the scene, “When Georgiana recovered consciousness she found herself breathing an atmosphere of penetrating fragrance, the gentle potency of which had recalled her from her deathlike faintness” (Hawthorne). “The Birthmark” also creates irony with “Aminadab, the less inferior man to Aylmer is the one who speaks sensible to Aylmer by disclaiming that if Georgiana was his wife, he would not try to remove the birthmark” (“The Birthmark”). The figurative language helps enhance the story.
The Consequences Of Perfection In The Birthmark By Nathaniel Hawthorne
Aylmer’s beautiful wife is flawed with a single mark on her cheek but is otherwise perfect to him and many other people however, he obsesses over Georgiana’s “crimson hand” (342) to the point that he no longer sees her beauty. An imperfection such as a birthmark upon Georgiana’s cheek “’might be called a charm’” (340) by many people. Aylmer, however, believes that his wife’s birthmark “destroy[s] the effect of [her] beauty” (341). He believes that the imperfection is only seen as such because of the beauty that Georgiana possesses and “had she been less beautiful…he might have felt his affection heightened by the prettiness of this” (341) birthmark, rather he grows more and more repulsed by the birthmark as time goes
Compare And Contrast Rappaccini's Daughter And The Birthmark
In the short stories “The Birthmark” and “Rappaccini’s Daughter” by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the value of science over human life is established. Nathaniel Hawthorne explores the characterization of beauty, emotion over love, versus intellect over science, and an exploration of creator over creation. He presents an idea about scientific research, especially regarding feminine beauty. These tales are told with a motive to give the audience a sympathetic understanding of women’s beauty; which is something precious and already the model of nature’s perfection.
Georgiana's Unhealthy Relationship In The Birthmark By Nathaniel Hawthorne
In the short story “The Birthmark”, Nathaniel Hawthorne writes about a scientist, his wife, and the unhealthy relationship they share. The story follows Aylmer, a scientist, who is determined to remove his wife Georgiana’s birthmark. One aspect of their unhealthy relationship is Georgiana’s sole dependance on Aylmer. Furthermore, Aylmer does not view Georgiana as his equal. Not only this, but Aylmer frequently belittles her, continuously pointing out her flaws, which drives her to do something dangerous. Georgiana’s dependance on Aylmer, the inequality of the relationship and Aylmer’s disregard for her feelings, are the main ingredients of Aylmer and Georgiana’s unhealthy relationship.
The Birthmark Symbolism Essay
“‘Noblest dearest, tenderest wife,’ cried Aylmer, rapturously, “doubt not my power. I have already given this matter the deepest thought --- thought which might almost have enlightened me to create a being less perfect than yourself.” “I feel myself fully competent to render this dear cheek as faultless as its fellow; and then, most beloved, what will be my triumph when I shall have corrected what Nature left imperfect in her fairest work!” The story takes these two opposing symbols and creates the theme of Nature versus action against nature. “Man playing God,” is a common example, and in this story, Aylmer tries to remove the birthmark. Aylmer is trying to change something that Nature has produced, and in most cases, man loses when playing God. The birthmark fades as the wife dies. Hawthorne wrote a story injected with symbols about the dangers of symbols. Why would he do that? Examples are often times the best ways to teach and learn. The reader can examine the symbols in the story and understand that they are following the same path. “The Birthmark” is a complicated read, but it is a story that can be analyzed and used in
Essay Comparing Perfection In Tell-Tale Heart And The Birthmark
Many authors in American literature tend to use common themes or outcomes in their writings that can or cannot pertain to real life experiences. Hopefully not many times in ones life does someone hear about a person being murdered solely because of his or her imperfections; however, this outcome seems to be very common in two of our famous writer’s short stories. In both Nathaniel Hawthorn’s “The Birthmark” and Edgar Allen Poe’s “A Tell Tale Heart,” both of the main characters develop such an unnecessary, obsessive hatred with someone’s imperfection that they go to ultimate measures to eliminate them forever. When comparing these two short stories, it is evident to see how both of these themes are concentrated around the idea that one physical imperfection can be a mark of moral shortcoming.
Obsession In Nathanial Hawthorne's The Birth-Mark
Which leads him to the point of using science to remove the birth mark. Aylmer’s obsession of removing the birth mark led to the death of his wife, Georgina. Hawthorne uses Aylmer to present a common issue that individuals have. Furthermore, each scholar help better understand the theme of obsession and achieving a goal that leads individuals to a path of negativity because of individuals’ foolishness to achieve perfection, science vs naturality, and mental isolation.
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This essay is generally about how the author of the short story, Hawthorne, wants to show the world that perfection is not beauty and that science should not alter the way that nature set man on this world to be. He was a major asset to the transcendental movement, and this short story is a perfect example why.
In Nathaniel Hawthorne’sThe 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 an elixir that will rid Georgiana of her birthmark, thus making her perfect. According to Hawthorne, however, this is not possible.
During the transcendental phase of American life, which included literature from Hawthorne, transcendental writers would promote Nature and its importance. In The Birthmark, Nathaniel Hawthorne tries to show the people that nature does not make anything flawless, and that this is the beauty of it.

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“Nature, in one shape or another, stamps ineffaceably on all her productions.” (Hawthorne) Nathaniel Hawthorne tries to pass a message to the world that science should not interfere with nature’s way of having people live. Hawthorne portrays Aylmer as being stupid for trying to create formulas that would extend life. “Aylmer appeared to believe that, by the plainest scientific logic, it was altogether within the limits of possibility to discover this long-sought medium.” (Hawthorne)
Unlike Aylmer, Georgiana is signified as an image of both physical and intellectual beauty.
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Hawthorne shows physical beauty in her by showing her beautiful attributes, while adding that flaws can make somebody even more perfect, as this shows nature’s effect on this person. Hawthorne also shows a great amount of faith and transcendentalism in Georgiana. He does this by showing Georgiana to love the mistakes and flaws of her husband, as she looks through all of the failures in Aylmer’s scientific books.
It seems as though Hawthorne almost wants to make Georgiana the protagonist, as he wants readers to take attributes from her and let her set good examples, while Aylmer is the bad one. Hawthorne does this well by showing in the end that man who wants perfection will kill nature once he brings science to try to alter it.
Aylmer’s pursuit to happiness leads nature and her beauty to die. Aylmer, the selfish enemy, knows the risks of having Georgiana drink the elixir, yet, nonetheless, he has her drink it because he finds flawlessness to be more important. The beautiful Georgiana is further portrayed as the perfect being of nature, adding on to her flaws, because she is dominated by the love for her husband, and even risks giving up her own life (and loses it) just to make him happy.
Aminadab, Aylmer’s servant, is another example of a good being that Hawthorne puts into the short story. According to Hawthorne, Aminadab is earthly, and represents man who understands physical and mental nature. Throughout the story, Aminadab says just one thing; “If she were my wife, I’d never part with that birthmark.” (Hawthorne) This shows that he would rather behold the beauty of nature’s work, than attempt to modify it in any way, unlike the evil Aylmer.
Aylmer is blind and will stay this way for the rest of his life. He will never realize that nature places imperfections for a purpose, and as long as he lives, he will continue to try to improve nature and prolong the life it has given its people. He will completely miss the fact that the reason Georgiana died was not because he had the wrong formula, but it is because nature can not have anything that is faultless.
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Essay on Birthmark: Marriage and Perfection
Perfection may be dreamed of, hoped for, and sought after. It can be imagined, imitated, pretended, poorly masqueraded, and foolishly impersonated. In the story “The Birthmark”, there is a man who has an obsession with perfection. Aylmer, a scientist, marries a beautiful woman whose name is Georgiana. Not long after getting married, Aylmer notices something he doesn’t like about Georgiana; her birthmark. Georgiana’s birthmark is in the shape of a tiny handprint which lies on her cheek. Day after day the birthmark really begins to bother her husband. Aylmer sees Georgiana’s birthmark as an imperfection that he needs to fix. Although Georgiana appreciates her birthmark, Aylmer’s need for perfection forces her to make a fatal decision. Georgiana, a beautiful woman is brought into this world with something people like to call a birthmark, which is now known as a beauty mark. The birthmark is placed on her cheek and takes the shape of a human hand, which led most people to believe “some fairy at her birth-hour had laid her tiny hand upon the infant’s cheek and left this impress there in token of the magic endowments that were to give her such sway over all hearts.” It represented a mark encouraging human beings to be different and individual. It was something Georgiana was born with that set her apart from the others; it is something that made Georgiana unique from all the other woman. A birthmark is something special; it’s something that is different every time a new one is placed. No birthmark is the same which makes it unique, sacred and special. The birthmark has never really become a bother to Georgiana in fact she actually appreciates it; partially because she doesn’t really notice it, until, her husband Aylmer’s obsession with perfection arises. Aylmer, Georgiana’s husband will not even look at her. When he walked past her he gives a disgusted look. Which is completely unacceptable, they are married, when two people decide to make that commitment to each other they are a couple and couples are not supposed to despise one another! Couples are supposed to love one another for who the other person is! Georgiana knows that her birthmark disgusts him and having grown up with it not bothering her she begins to hate herself and her unique birthmark. Aylmer’s obsession with having the perfect wife overwhelms him as he finally asks if Georgiana has ever considered getting it removed. Obviously caught off guard proving that she had never been bothered by the mark on her face. Aylmer is a pushy husband he basically tricks his wife Georgiana by striking her in he most venerable place. As far back as time will go woman have always dreamed about being married and taking the role of being a loving wife, because Aylmer is giving her sly, disgusted glances making her feel that if she doesn’t go through with the removal of her birthmark that he might leave her. As she stated, “These are the seasons which should be our happiest.” The fear of not fulfilling her duties as a wife to keep her husband happy got the best of her. No man should ever have that much power over a woman! Women are independent human beings who are more than capable of taking care of themselves. Women do not need a man to tear them down to the point of making harmful decisions. Woman’s day states “Don’t change yourself to suit the relationship, change the relationship to suit you.” At one point or another in life everyone feels as if they are not good enough, but a person should not be getting those feelings when they find the person who is supposed to love them unconditionally and look past Show More
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The Birthmark by Nathaniel Hawthorne Essay
The Birthmark by Nathaniel Hawthorne In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story The Birthmark, the narrator introduces us to Aylmer, a brilliant scientist who spent his life studying nature extensively to the detriment of his own personal life. His wife, Georgiana, has been marked with a small, red birthmark on her cheek that most men found attractive all her life. Aylmer only sees this birthmark as a flaw and his desire for perfection can only result in death for Georgiana because becoming an ideal…
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Feminist Obsession In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Birthmark
of effect and often concentrating on the creation of mood rather than plot” (par. 1). Nathaniel Hawthorne was a famous writer on short stories who was born on July 4, 1804, in Salem, Massachusetts and died on May 19. One of his writings was The Birthmark written on March 1843. It is a short story that is about a scientist who is obsessed with an imperfection his wife holds, the mark that he considers as an imperfection on his wife is a small red hand on her cheek. He feels unsatisfied just by watching…
Words 1130 - Pages 5
The Birthmark Essay
Summary/ Critique of “The Birthmark” by Nathaniel Hawthorne Summary In “The Birthmark,” the main characters are Aylmer and Georgiana. Aylmer is a brilliant scientist and natural philosopher who left his scientific work for a while to marry a woman named Georgiana. Georgiana‘s beauty is well known throughout the entire town. Aylmer is amazed by Georgiana’s perfection, except for one little flaw on her face, a birthmark on her cheek. Georgiana's birthmark is very tiny. It disappears when she…
Words 864 - Pages 4
Perfection In The Birthmark
Perfection, something so impeccable that there is no room for improvement (“Perfection”). The ideal of perfection is quite impossible due to the fact that there is always a way to further improve, therefore perfection is only an impractical fantasy, not a sensible objective to work towards. However, in “The Birth-Mark,” by Nathaniel Hawthorn a man becomes obsessed with the thought of perfection and attempts to change nature for that very intention. Georgiana, a beautiful, young woman married to a…
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Symbolism In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Birthmark
and most recently a newlywed. Shortly after his marriage, his wife’s beauty and kindred spirit was not enough to make him forget her only defect "the crimson birthmark" which stood apparent on her cheek – a haunting awareness of his “wife’s liability to sin, sorrow, decay and death”, which also signifies Hawthorne's intention for it to symbolize human imperfection. Aylmer’s dark obsession for divine perfection was not long in rendering the birthmark a frightful object, causing him more trouble and…
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Essay about Hawt: Nathaniel Hawthorne and Birth Mark
story, "The Birth-Mark," we read about the desire of Aylmer, a "man of science", to remove a hand shaped birth mark from the cheek of his wife Georgiana (256). It is a highly symbolic story intending to tell a cautionary tale about man's quest for perfection and the disastrous outcomes resulting from these attempts. Although there are numerous uses of symbolism in the story, the most important and predominate of these symbols is the one from which the story itself derives its name, the birth mark, which…
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My Kinsman, Major Molineux: Questions On America
1. Why does Irving say on page 28 “never need an American look beyond his own country for the sublime and beautiful of natural scenery”? Irving explains how beautiful America is, and it’s no need to find beauty in other places when beauty is here in your country. He describes the beauty of his native home and he will always be a true American. 2. How does Irving describe Europe? “My Kinsman, Major Molineux” He describes Europe as a place where the rich, refine, and a country engulfed in high society…
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Essay about Cats: The Scarlet Letter
Scarlet Letter Puritan society: A group of them fled to Holland and subsequently to the New World, where they hoped to build a society, described by John Winthrop, as "a city upon a hill" — a place where the "eyes of all people are upon us." In such a place and as long as they followed His words and did their work to glorify His ways, God would bless them, and they would prosper. Hawthorne, of course, presents the irony of this concept when he describes the prison as a building already worn when…
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Birthmark by Nathaniel Hawthorne 1842
Birthmark Hawthorne's "The Birthmark" Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Birthmark" is an ironic story in which man's faith in science as the ultimate savior of humankind is demonstrated to be misplaced. Ever since science has come to the forefront of human knowledge, people have continually increased their faith and thus their dependency on it. In a way, science has become a new form of religion, one in which people place their faith to solve what they see as their everyday problems. However, too much faith in science's ability to solve problems has created a situation where people turn to science to solve problems that are not there. Because science has already solved many of life's major problems, such as certain diseases that have plagued humanity for centuries, people seem to look for new problems for science to solve for them. "The Birthmark" is a perfect example of how a person can turn…
Works Cited
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. "The Birthmark." The Literature Network. Web 21 Sept. 2013
http://www.online-literature.com/hawthorne/125/
Vonnegut, Kurt. "Harrison Bergeron." Wordfight.org. Web. 21 Sept. 2013.
http://www.wordfight.org/bnw/bnw-unit_packet.pdf
Birthmark and Rose for Emily
Georgiana is beautiful and doesn't even think about the birthmark until her husband points to it and then goes into a deep state of misery because of that. In order to relief her husband of the misery, she agrees to drink the potion which leads to her death. Emily on the other hand is not so obliging. Though she has suffered enough at the hands of her father who wanted to keep all men away from her so she could be a real lady, but Emily doesn't let her life end like Georgiana. She doesn't meet her death because of a man but instead takes his life and then meets her own death in due course of time. Emily was a victim of a stern father while Georgiana was a victim of a perfectionist. In both cases, these women suffer but while Emily takes revenge, Georgiana dies a silent death.…
The Centenary Edition of the Works of Nathaniel Hawthorne. 20 vols. Columbus: Ohio State UP, 1962-85. "The Birth-mark." 36-56. Columbus: Ohio State UP, 1968.
Frederick J. Hoffman (editor) Olga W. Vickery (editor) William Faulkner: Two Decades of Criticism. Michigan State College Press. East Lansing, MI. 1951.
William Faulkner, "A Rose for Emily," Collected Stories (New York: Vintage, 1977), p. 128
Judith Fetterley. The Resisting Reader: A Feminist Approach to American Fiction. Indiana University Press. Bloomington, in. 1978.
Birthmark Man of Science Aylmer
To Aylmer, the birthmark represents more than an annoyance. He "possessed this degree of faith in man's ultimate control over Nature" and viewed the mark as an opportunity to demonstrate his dominion over Nature. Instead of appreciating Georgiana, Aylmer sought to transform her, to change an essential part of her being. As the narrator states, the mark was "deeply interwoven, as it were, with the texture and substance of her face." Removing the birthmark would give Aylmer tremendous power: over Georgiana as well as over Nature and God. Indeed, he took his wife's life in the process. Thus, Hawthorne inserts feminist commentary into his short story. Aylmer demonstrated his power and revels drunkenly in his triumph: "he failed to look beyond the shadowy scope of time, and, living once for all in eternity, to find the perfect future in the present." The birthmark symbolizes the beauty that can be discovered…
Birthmark in His Book the Birthmark Nathaniel
Birthmark In his book, The Birthmark, Nathaniel Hawthorne explores the conflict of science and nature that exists deep in the human psyche. Hawthorne's seemingly simple story of Aylmer, Georgiana and Aminadab reveals much about Hawthorne's attitudes toward science and progress. In the telling of their story, he creates an effective allegory about the role of science in the modern world. Ultimately, Hawthorne's story warns the reader of placing science on a pedestal above more human concerns. Georgiana's birthmark represents the fact that not everything within nature is perfect. It is a reminder that the beautiful and kind Georgiana is capable of death and sorrow that afflicts the human spirit. After their wedding, Aylmer becomes obsessed with the birthmark, and he finally convinces Georgiana that her birthmark is ugly and unsightly; instead of the charm she believed it was. In this sense, Aylmer abuses the power and credibility he has amassed…
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Birthmark. 27 November 2003. Available online at http://www.4literature.net/Nathaniel_Hawthorne/Birthmark
Hawthorne's Birthmark and Young Goodman Brown Hawthorne
HAWTHONE'S BITHMAK AND YOUNG GOODMAN BOWN Hawthorne was born 1804 and brought up in Salem, Massachusetts to a Puritan family. When Hawthorne was four, his father died. After this incident he was mostly in the female company of his two sisters, an aunt and his retiring mother who was not close to her offspring. Hawthorne was known as a reserved personality but during four years at college he established close friendships with his male classmates, several of which he continued for life. "Young Goodman Brown" was published in 1835, when Nathaniel Hawthorne was 31 years old. "Birthmark" was published as a short story in Mosses from an Old Manse in 1846. Writing style relating to ethics and symbolism Hawthorne is known as an American omanticist and his style influenced by such noteworthy authors as Herman Melville, William Faulkner and Henry James. His work enlightens the real characters in the society,…
The Birthmark by Nathaniel Hawthorne (1846)
Young Goodman Brown (1835)
Small Crimson Birthmark on Georgiana's Cheek Represents
small, crimson birthmark on Georgiana's cheek represents humanity and its inherent flaws. It defines Georgiana as an individual, as a human. Aylmer saw the birthmark as a symbol of Georgiana's earthly mortality, and as "a symbol of his wife's liability to sin, sorrow, decay, and death." Georgiana is seen as a perfect specimen of beauty, except for the birthmark. Without the birthmark Georgiana would be perfect at a divine level, but its presence gives her undesirable earthly qualities. Her inner and outer beauty is marred by the birthmark, which distracts Aylmer from noticing and appreciating her positive qualities. The birthmark does have a connection to Faith's pink ribbons and Hester's scarlet letter in the way that they are all symbols of humanity. They all represent the way imperfection is a necessary human quality. To be flawless is to be inhuman. The hand shaped birthmark puts a grip on Georgiana's life,…
Feminism in Nathaniel Hawthorne's the Birth Mark
Reductive Entrapment: Hawthorne's "The irthmark" In the essay "When We Dead Awaken" by Adrienne Rich, the author frankly alludes to the artistic captivity that male writers place women in, arguing that women have always been trapped and explored by poets [footnoteRef:1]and will no doubt, continue to suffer this experience. While some might argue that women are acting as the muse to the poet, and the male poet is placing women upon a pedestal, this is far too simplistic a viewpoint to hold, as Rich demonstrates. Rather, poets create these one dimensional women and enshroud them between the words of the poem, locking them into this eternal reality. In this case male poets are exerting a form of artistic tyranny. Yet as Rich shows us, this state of captivity is indeed a reductive place to be, with all meaning diminished into a battle of holding on to beauty and youth, implying…
Bibliography
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. "The Birthmark." Online Literature. www.online-literature.com.
Accessed December 10, 2010. http://www.online-literature.com/poe/125/
Nabokov, Vladimir. Invitation to a Beheading. New York: Vintage Books, 1989.
Poe, Edgar Allen. The Raven. London: George Redway, 1885
Interpretation Analysis Evaluation of a Short Story
irthmark, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, is the story of a man consumed by the pursuit of perfection. He seeks absolute knowledge and absolute control, and imagines that he has discovered great scientific absolutes including the nature of the very heavens and the reason volcanoes erupt. After he marries, he becomes obsessed by a small birthmark on the cheek of his otherwise flawlessly beautiful young wife. His obsession with perfection combined with his scientific hubris leads to the death of his wife. Ironically, in death, the hated birthmark finally fades. The story demonstrates the danger of hubris in assuming that science will have all our answers, that we can manipulate life to meet our arbitrary standards. Hawthorne demonstrates the protagonist, Aylmer's, obsession through various references. In the opening paragraph he says Aylmer.".. had made experience of a spiritual affinity more attractive than any chemical one. He had left his laboratory to the…
1) Beauchamp, Gorman. 2002. "Hawthorne and the Universal Reformers." Utopian Studies 13. (Beauchamp, 2002)
2) Fitzpatrick, Martin. 2000. "To a Practised Touch': Miles Coverdale and Hawthorne's Irony." ATQ 14:1, pp. 27+. (Fitzpatrick, 2000)
3) Wohlpart, A. James. 1994. "Allegories of art, allegories of heart: Hawthorne's 'Egotism' and 'The Christmas Banquet.'" Studies in Short Fiction, June 22. (Wohlpart, 1994)
Cautionary Tales Revealed in The
He does not care because he is greedy. Victor is the same way. He wants the knowledge of how nature works. He is curious and this eventually gets the best of him. He says, "I would sacrifice my fortune, my existence, my every hope, to the furtherance of my enterprise. One man's life or death was but a small price to pay for the acquirement of the knowledge which I sought" (Shelley 13). Victor realizes the folly of his ways but it is too late to salvage anything that he has lost. Dorothy and Thomas Hoobler agrees with this assumption, noting that the irony of the story is that, "at the culmination of his research, the moment of his triumph, all Victor's pleasure in life ends" (Hoobler 159). Both men are consumed and actually believe that they possess some of the characteristics of God. Both men suffer from their selfish…
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. "The Birthmark." The Norton Anthology of Short Fiction. Cassil, R.V.,
ed. 1981 W.W. Norton and Company. pp. 600-13.
Hoobler, Dorothy and Thomas. The Monsters: Mary Shelley and the Curse of Frankenstein. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2006.
Erich S. Rupprecht. "Nathaniel Hawthorne." Supernatural Fiction Writers. 1985. Scribner's
Hawthorne Nature and Female Victimization
Personal Responsibility: "Rappaccini's Daughter" versus "The Birthmark" Both Nathaniel Hawthorne's "Rappaccini's Daughter" and "The Birthmark" contain similar themes of the dangers of human pride, specifically male pride, and arrogance. In both stories, male figures in the name of science explicitly tamper with the fate of the women in their care. In the case of Rappaccini, the sorcerer-like figure slowly poisons his own daughter so she cannot come into contact with anyone without poisoning them herself. In the case of "The Birthmark," the scientist Aylmer is obsessed with removing his wife Georgina's birthmark to the point that it kills her. The blindness of these men to their own ambition causes them to destroy what they ostensibly wish to save. "The Birthmark" begins with an exchange between Aylmer and his wife that underlines the fact that his obsession with the birthmark is solely his own and has little to do with his…
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. "The Birthmark,"1-10
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. "Rappaccini's Daughter," 1-20.
Hawthorne's Rejection of Puritan Values
" Mather 22) Hawthorne clearly stepped away from the Puritan ethic by consistently alluding to the existence of the earthly supernatural. Though this was a fear of the Puritans, clearly it was associated with Satan and possession of the living. In Hawthorne's works the supernatural was associated with less grand sources, such as those seen in Young Goodman Brown. (Hoeltje 39-40) Hawthorne allows his characters to explore concepts that would have been those deemed heretical within the Puritan settings of the works. In The Birth-Mark, Hawthorne associates the active expulsion of character traits of humanity clearly results in the death of the whole. The line of divergence in "The Birth Mark" is indicated by its name. e all have our birth-marks, -- traits of character, which may be temporarily suppressed, or relegated to the background, but which cannot be eradicated and are certain to reappear at unguarded moments, or on…
Hawthorne, Nathaniel." The Columbia Encyclopedia. 6th ed. 2004.
Emmett, Paul J. "Narrative Suppression: Sin, Secrecy and Subjectivity in "The Minister's Black Veil." Journal of Evolutionary Psychology 25.1-2 (2004): 101+. Questia. 16 Jan. 2005 http://www.questia.com/ .
Gartner, Matthew. "The Scarlet Letter' and the Book of Esther: Scriptural Letter and Narrative Life." Studies in American Fiction 23.2 (1995): 131+. Questia. 16 Jan. 2005
Shape of Experience in Morrison's
ith real sense of self, she will have a skewed look at the world around her. In her eyes, she is empty, as is the world. Nel is grounded but this does not mean she is complete. Sula is labeled a wild child because she is not conventional like those around her. She moves to get herself away from Bottom and has several casual affairs with men. hen she returns, the townspeople view her as wicked. Those in her town call her a "roach" (112) and "bitch" (112) and her death is a welcome relief. She has an affair with Nel's husband, which makes Nel look like nothing short of an angel in the novel. Sula's life was not nice and neat. Nel married and had children, which was something of a traditional lifestyle for a woman. In short, Nel conforms to what society expects of women. Sula decided not…
Morrison, Toni. Sula. New York: Plume Books. 1973. Print.
Sula the Name of Sula's
Morrison most probably wants to emphasize that Sula is stronger than Nel because she is in control of her life. The end of the book presents readers with Nel's acknowledgement that she enjoyed seeing Chicken Little's death. Morrison's Sula is meant to induce a state of rebellion in readers as they are influenced in believing that it is wrong for them to act in accordance with society's laws, considering that the system is apparently flawed. The inhabitants of Bottom are barely able to sustain themselves in the beginning but gradually come to be more and more efficient in improving conditions in the area. In spite of his eccentric nature, Shadrack is one of the most influential individuals in the town. Nel and Sula are the products of Bottom's environment but they struggle to be different from the rest of people. Even with this, Sula is the only one who actually…
Works cited:
Morrison, Toni, "Sula," Vintage International, 2004.
Tampering With Nature Explored in
This is an interesting point-of-view about Aylmer and it works with his character. Others identify Georgiana's birthmark as something that is essentially hers and therefore, should remain with her. Shakinovsky goes even further to say that it is a "metaphor for her identity, her sexuality, her being" (Shakinovsky). Aylmer is blind to this fact altogether. He cannot see that "in removing the mark, he removes all there is of her" (Shakinovsky). He could not accept the fact that he could not just remove a portion of her -- it was all or nothing. Shakinovsky reinforces the point that all of the characters in "The Birthmark" realize that Georgiana cannot be separated from her birthmark, except Aylmer. However, as the story progresses, the birthmark becomes "Aylmer's object, and since, as the sign of her subjectivity, it represents Georgiana, it becomes she who is his object" (Shakinovsky). Again, we see how Aylmer's…
Eckstein, Barbara. "Hawthorne's 'The Birthmark: Science and Romance as Belief.'" Studies in Short Fiction. 1989. 26.4. EBSCO Resource Database. Site Accessed November 17, 2004. http://www.searchepnet.com
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. "The Birthmark." The Norton Anthology of Short Fiction. Cassil, R.V., ed. 1981 W.W. Norton and Company. pp. 600-13.
Henry James. "Nathaniel Hawthorne." Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism. 1879. GALE Resource Database. Site Accessed November 18, 2004. http://www.infotrac.galegroup.com
Rosenberg, Liz. "The best that earth could offer: 'The Birth-mark," a newlywed's story.'" Studies in Short Fiction. 1993. EBSCO Resource Database. Site Accessed November 17, 2004. http://www.searchepnet.com
Arrogance in Hawthorne S Male Protagonists
Minister's Black Veil" and "The Birth-mark:" Hubris Many of Nathaniel Hawthorne's works are seen as a critique of Puritan ideology and the dangers of having a judgmental attitude. "The Minister's Black Veil" illustrates the Reverend Hooper's vindictive and narrow-minded attitude not to others but to himself. He punishes himself in perpetuity for some unnamed sin although at the end of his life, right before his death, he proclaims that all human beings wear a black veil of sin, not just himself. "The Birth-mark," in contrast, depicts the dangerous overconfidence of a scientist who is certain that he can render God's creation better than God himself in his attempts to change his wife's appearance. But while Aylmer's actions are more obviously arrogant, both men are essentially acting as judge and jury over others on earth, rather than leaving that judgment to God himself. At the beginning of "The Birthmark," Aylmer's quest…
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. "The Minister's Black Veil." From Twice-Told Tales, 1837, 1851,
Heroic Love Throughout the Ages
Not only was Annabel Lee's love strong, but she was beautiful as well. This notion of beauty and love are linked in a continuous dream-like state for the speaker. This speaker's first wife was able to make him experience a type of love that he had never known before her or since knowing her. Even though Annabel Lee is gone, the speaker tells us that she is still a powerful force in his life and: Neither the angels in heaven above, Nor the demons down under the sea, Can ever dissever my soul Of the beautiful Annabel Lee. (30-3) In "Ligeia," we see the ephemeral attached love. hile human hearts may not stand the test of time, we know that love will surely prevail as one of the constants of the universe. In fact, the pleasure and pain of love are two things that Medieval audiences share with audiences from…
de France, Marie. "Equitan,"
Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. Macmillan Publishing Company. New York. 1974. Print.
ed. 1981 W.W. Norton and Company. Print.
Ambivalence of Dr Veraswami of
In this regard, Meyers concludes that, "As for Flory, environment has been too much for him, for he is not really alcoholic or crapulous by nature, and he regrets it when a girl from England arrives to stay at Kyauktada; she is a poverty-stricken little snob on the look-out for a husband, but he has not seen a spinster for a decade, and he succumbs on the spot whereupon his discarded Burmese mistress makes a scene in front of her and every one else, and he ends by committing suicide" (Meyers 52). hile it may seem that Flory simply got what he deserved given his wishy-washy nature and lack of fortitude when it came to standing up for his friend, Dr. Veraswami when put to the test, but the suicide of the protagonist provides a useful literary vehicle whereby Orwell advances the plot and highlights just how shallow the friendship…
Aung-Thwin, Maitrii. 2003, "Brave Men of the Hills: Resistance and Rebellion in Burma, 1824-
1932." Journal of Southeast Asian Studies 34(2): 376-377.
Brunsdale, Mitzi M. Student Companion to George Orwell. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press,
Rebecca Dresser and John Robertson
I do not believe that wearing glasses or make-up is wrong, even though this is an enhancement of the human body by improving one's life by being able to see, or covering blemishes and unsightly birthmarks that might make an individual self-conscious. Is selecting the best sperm donor really so much different than a man or a woman basing his or her choice of a mate upon that individual's appearance, intelligence, and lack of unpleasant 'skeletons' in the genetic closet? Svaulescu's idea that one has a moral obligation to screen for genetic defects or to personally improve the human race through reproduction makes one queasy, but the idea of leaving everything up to nature, in theory, would mean an end of folic acid for pregnant women or even birth control. But really, the ultimate argument for allowing patients to attempt to engineer their offspring by selecting 'better sperm' may be…
Edgar Allen Poe the Controversial
Such evidence as there is can be taken up at a later time. But of one thing we can be sure. If Virginia was the prototype of Eleonora she was not the model for Morella or Berenice or Ligeia."(Quinn, 255) These feelings can also be inferred from Poe's letters to Mrs. Clemm, Virginia's mother: I am blinded with tears while writing this letter-- I have no wish to live another hour. Amid sorrow, and the deepest anxiety your letter reached -- and you well know how little I am able to bear up under the pressure of grief -- My bitterest enemy would pity me could he now read my heart -- My last my only hold on life is cruelly torn away -- I have no desire to live and will not but let my duty be done. I love, you know I love Virginia passionately devotedly. I cannot…
Felman, Shoshana. "On Reading Poetry: Reflections on the Limits and Possibilities of Psychoanalytical Approaches." In Edgar Allan Poe: Modern Critical Views, edited by Harold Bloom, pp. 119-39. New York: Chelsea House, 1985.
Hayes, Kevin J. The Cambridge Companion to Edgar Allan Poe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002.
Hoffman, Daniel. "O! Nothing Earthly...' / the Poems." In Poe, Poe, Poe, Poe, Poe, Poe, Poe. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1972.
Kaplan, Louise J. "The Perverse Strategy in 'The Fall of the House of Usher'," in New Essays on Poe's Major Tales, ed. Kenneth Silverman, Cambridge University Press, 1993, pp. 45-64.
Maternity Nursing Labor and Delivery and Newborn
Maternity Nursing, Labor & Delivery / Newborn Labor and Delivery Terms Para: Para refers to the number of live births a woman has had (it might be a stillbirth, or twins, or even triplets) past the 20-week gestation period (Zimmerman, p. 116). Gravida: this refers to the number of times a woman has been pregnant, whether she actually gave birth, had an abortion or a stillbirth (Zimmerman, p. 116). Amniotic Sac: this is a membrane around which the fetus is surrounded. It is a strong series of membranes that is visible after 7 weeks of gestation. (Jurkovic, et al., 2011). Cervical Effacement: this phrase refers to the measurement of the expansion of the cervix as the baby gets closer to being born. hen the cervix is 50% effaced, it is halfway to being ready for the baby to be born (Jurkovic, et al., 2011). Cervical dilation: Slowly but surely the…
Encyclopedia Britannica. (2010). Childbirth. Retrieved August 17, 2011, from http://www.britannica.com/bps/search?query=childbirth .
Heller, Michelle E., and Veach, Lynette M. (2008). Clinical Medical Assisting: A Professional,
Field Smart Approach to the Workplace. Florence, KY: Cengage Learning.
Jailkhani, R., Patil, VS., Laxman, HB, Shivashankara, AR, Kulkarni, SP, and Ravindra, MS.
Oedipus Is at Once a King of
Oedipus is at once a King of courage and judicial propriety, and also one in whom there is a tendency toward pride. Underlying it all, however, lays a great and secret blemish that awaits his discovery. It is through this secret mark - a birthmark of sorts - that fate, or the fates will eventually lead him to his downfall. It will be his character traits of courage, honesty and integrity, however, in combination with an ego and pride that are more closely related hubris that will actually bring about his inevitable acts of self-destruction via free will. In many ways, Oedipus was created as a perfect specimen through whom Sophocles could effectively deliver one of the most dramatic of ancient Greek tragedies. ith generous measures of irony Sophocles provides tantalizing situations intended to hold the attention of the audience that knows the secret blemish of Oedipus long before he…
Sophocles. Oedipus the King. In Sophocles the Complete Plays, Ed. Paul Roche. Signet Classics, Penguin Putnam, Inc. New York. 2001. (211-263)
Pigmentation the Problems Relating to Skin Pigment
Pigmentation The problems relating to skin pigment are associated with symptoms of the skin appearing faded or deeper than the usual or often spotted and blemished. (Skin pigmentation disorders) The unusual skin development and unusual pigmentation of the skin is seen to present at the time of birth or develop at the later stages. (Benign Skin Growths and Pigmentation Disorders) The skin pigmentation disorders seem to arise over a large number of races and conditions. (Nacinamide Helps to Lighten Skin) Some problems like albinism are considered exceptional phenomenon about a single case arises in every 17000 people. Other cases like age spots are very common. (Skin pigmentation disorders) Irrespective of the fact that it is quite harmless in its effects in most of the cases, however, the growth and pigmentation disorders warrant thorough watching for any other variations that may mark a development of cancerous skin cells. There are several…
References and Annotations Comments on Differential Diagnosis of the Skin Discoloration of Argyria. Retrieved from http://www.jeghers.com/annts/ARGYRIA1976.html Accessed on 8 December, 2004
Benign Skin Growths and Pigmentation Disorders. Retrieved from http://www.healthsystem.virginia.edu/uvahealth/peds_derm/bengnhub.cfm Accessed on 8 December, 2004
Gray, John. The World of Skin Care. P& G. Skin Care Research Center. Retrieved from http://www.pg.com/science/skincare/Skin_tws_16.htm Accessed on 8 December, 2004
Nacinamide Helps to Lighten Skin. Retrieved from http://www.vitamins-nutrition.org/vitamins-research/vitamin-b3/nacinamide-lighten-skin.html Accessed on 8 December, 2004
Pigmentation change after skin resurfacing. Retrieved from http://www.phudson.com/SKIN/FAQ/pigment.html Accessed on 8 December, 2004
Nabokov and the Phantasm of
She does not accept a world in which their native land has fallen and they have no emotional reaction to leaving it. So she negotiates an identity which has lost something. When her husband cannot accept this identity, and then apparently abandons her at the train station, she negotiates the idea of an identity that is strong enough to survive and find love and gratification and recognition without him. When her husband cannot accept that identity and cries out that it is unbearable, she is forced (again) to recant it... In that moment, her husband kills her salesman-brute-lover as surely as he killed her dog. Is it any wonder that when she creates a noble, good lover in her mind, she conceals it from him for fear he will kill it... Or kill them both, by forcing her to again deny her dream self? When she tells him "Perhaps I…
Nabokov, Vladimir. "Conversation Piece" [archived online]
Nabokov, Vladimir. "That in Aleppo Once..." [archived online]
Nafisi, Azar. "Reading Lolita in Tehran." New York: Random House, 2003
Mentex. "Nabokov Tutorials - the Collected Series http://www.mantex.co.uk/ou/a319/nab-000.htm
Nice Guidelines -- Midwives During Postpartum the
NICE Guidelines -- Midwives during postpartum The ole of Midwife per NICE Guidelines Pregnancy and childbirth is, in the majority of cases, a normal life event that proceeds to an uncomplicated outcome and can be effectively managed by a skilled midwife attendant. This also extends to assisting new mothers with postpartum care. The midwife is recognized as a responsible and accountable professional who can give the necessary support, care and advice during the postpartum period and provide the necessary care for the infant. NICE guidelines recommend that new mothers and infants not be separated within the first hour. The midwife should encourage skin-to-skin contact -- before asking about feeding methods. If breastfeeding is the mother's preference, it should be encouraged within the first hour. During the first 24 hours after childbirth, midwives should ensure the woman's well-being and care by documenting blood pressure results and first urine voids within the…
National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) (2012) Postnatal Care Pathway [Online]. Available at: http://www.nice.org.uk/nicemedia/live/10988/30144/30144.pdf . [Accessed: 19 September 2012].
Wife Bath Feminism Chaucer Appears to Create
Wife Bath: Feminism Chaucer Chaucer appears to create the Wife of Bath shine intentionally from the rest of the characters in the novel; she has been possibly one of his most controversial figures since her contradictions as to what she states and just what she does. The writer's formation of her character offers one significant objective which has been to surprise his readers. Chaucer chooses to consider each and every bad attribute that ladies were thought to have in those times and also the outcome has been Alisoun. This kind of vivacity and boldness had been seldom observed in female fictional figures of that era (Oberembt 287). The Wife Bath: Feminism Chaucer Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales had been written towards the end of the Fourteenth century, however it was left incomplete. It has been setup as numerous stories within one story. The primary frame has been a travelling crowd…
Chance, Jane. The Mythographic Chaucer: the Fabulation of Sexual Politics. Minneapolis: The University of Minnisota Press, 1995.
Coghill, Nevill trans. Chaucer The Canterbury Tales. London: Penguin Books, 2003.
Cook, A. Feminism in Chaucer's "The Wife of Bath." Books, 2010. Available at: http://alisoncook.xomba.com/feminism_chaucers_wife_bath
Fjalldal, M.J. Forever Young: Chaucer's Wife of Bath and Her Fear of Losing Her Outer Beauty. Haskoli Islands, 2010.
Pan's Labyrinth
Pan's Labyrinth The movie 'El Laberinto del Fauno' with 'Pan's Labyrinth' as English translation of the title directed by Del Toro revolves round the issue of the reason behind story telling. Although it is fact that in traditional fairy tales the validity and authenticity of magic and wonder is not questioned yet many characters in modern fairy tales fiction as well as movies are shown arguing that magic does not exist. Why it is so that several stories conclude at the end that magic that the character and audiences experience while going through a story either reading it or watching in the form of a film is dismisses like a dream? is it so that some characters insist to privilege truth upon lies in the fiction fairy tale and films is merely setting up the corny argument that some lies tell a greater truth than just facts? The current essay…
Lanser, Susan S (1996). Querring Narratology. Ambiguous Discourse: Feminist Narratology & British Women Writers. Ed. Kathy Mezei. Chapel Hill: U. Of North Carolina P, 1996. 250-261. Print
Pan's Labyrinth (El Laberinto del fauno).(2006 ) Dir. Guillermo del Toro. Perf.Ivana Baquero, Sergi Lopze. New Line Home Video, 2006. DVD
Propp, Vladimir.(1968) Morphology fo the Folklore. Trans. Laurance Scott. 2nd ed. Austin: U. Texts P. Print
Shepard, Lucius. (2008). Supercalifragilisticexpialimonstrous Rev. Of Pan's Labyrinth. Dir. Guillermo Del Toro. The Magzine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. 113.1(2007): 135-140.
Spina Bifida
Spina Bifida is one of the many birth defects neonates are at risk of. However, this particular defect is unique because it is characterized by problems in the central nervous system (CNS) and it has a low death rate. The causes of this medical condition are quite difficult to determine as they are subject to hereditary and environmental elements. Simply put, Spina Bifida refers to a situation where the spinal cord is not fully developed. In extreme cases, the spinal vertebrae could be so badly formed that the delicate spinal cord is left unprotected. In most cases, the spinal cord suffers damage due to this. The baby could suffer from reduced brain function and poor transmission of commands to affected organs. This slightly damaged link from the brain to the body tissues and organs leads to poorly developed body systems. There are other associated problems with this spinal defect even…
Marriage Problems in The Yellow Wallpaper
The Yellow allpaper and the Problem of the Unhelpful ManCharlotte Perkins Gilman was born in 1860 and descended from a proud line of rhetoricians (Silcox). Having a way with words was in her blood. Her parents separated when she was a child, and she became accustomed to a degree of independencebut when she was pressed into marriage, she found the arrangement to be oppressive and it contributed to her having a mental breakdown. The response of her husband was to give her the rest cure recommended by Freud and other high-profile physicians of the time (Silcox). Gilman did not want such a treatment, and her story The Yellow allpaper is a representation of her attitude about it: she believed that women in general suffered from a kind of neglect from men, who viewed them as inferior beings. If there was to be any cure for a womans mental breakdown it…
Works CitedEsposito, Carmine. “Gender in The Yellow Wallpaper.” Encyclopedia of Themes in Literature, Facts On File, 2020. Bloom\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s Literature, online.infobase.com/Auth/Index?aid=17332&itemid=WE54&articleId=38795. Accessed 4 Nov. 2021.Esposito, Carmine. “Illness in The Yellow Wallpaper.” Encyclopedia of Themes in Literature, Facts On File, 2020. Bloom\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s Literature, online.infobase.com/Auth/Index?aid=17332&itemid=WE54&articleId=38796. Accessed 4 Nov. 2021.Rosenberg, Charles E. \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Sexuality, class and role in 19th-century America.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" American Quarterly 25.2 (1973): 131-153.Silcox, Heidi M. “‘The Yellow Wallpaper.’” Realism and Regionalism, 1865?1914, Facts On File, 2010. Bloom\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s Literature, online.infobase.com/Auth/Index?aid=17332&itemid=WE54&articleId=477054. Accessed 4 Nov. 2021.Wayne, Tiffany K. Women\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s roles in nineteenth-century America. Greenwood Publishing Group, 2007.
Boundaries Explored in Burmese Days
Kyin is aware of the boundaries that exist but he is determined to overcome them. His ambition to become a member of the European Club corrupts him. His immediate boundary is Flory's friendship with Dr. Veraswami. Veraswami comes across as one of the decent people in the novel in that he does not allow himself to become involved with the depravity that Kyin does. Veraswami expresses a selflessness in that he allows Flory to confide in him but in this act, he is crossing a boundary because he is peeking at a side of the European life he would have never known otherwise. He delights in the Europeans loyalty to one another but he is also able to see the best and worst of this culture. It is also worth noting that while he is surrounded by these boundaries, he never loses sight of his own identity. Boundaries are flexible…
Orwell, George. Burmese Days. Gutenberg Online. Information retrieved September 17, 2009.
http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks02/0200051.txt
Human Savagery in Young Goodman
Come devil! For thee is this world given..." This passage reflected Goodman's surrender to the wilderness, to the state of disorder that made him discover that he is weak and sinful. The presence of Faith in the first part of the story was also the only time that Goodman felt his strong faith in God. However, upon entering the wilderness, Faith his wife had not only disappeared, but Goodman's faith in God (and even himself) as well. Hawthorne made readers realize that human nature is in fact "naturally savage," and it is only fitting that Goodman's inherently savage nature would be discovered and uncovered (by him) in the wilderness. Even towards the end of the story, Hawthorne continued to haunt his readers with the theme of wilderness inherent in the hearts and minds of humanity. Posing the question, "Had Goodman rown fell asleep in the forest, and only dreamed a…
Fitzgerald, S.F. E-text of "The Great Gatsby." Project Gutenberg of Australia Web site. Available at http://www.gutenberg.net.au/0200041.txt .
Hawthorne, N. E-text of "Young Goodman Brown." Available at http://unx1.shsu.edu/~eng_wpf/authors/Hawthorne/Goodman-Brown.htm.
Jealousy in the Cask of
If you think it is Amontillado, then it surely is." Instead, Fortunato seals his fate, because with all of his actions, he validates the notion that Montresor actually needs his opinion. This is the great injury Fortunato has committed, over and over: he believes that his skills at judging spirits are the equal of, or possibly superior to, those of Montresor. It reminds me of the wicked witch who is compelled to condemn Snow White to death because a magic mirror tells her Snow White is prettier than she, the witch, is. Montresor has taken precautions all along the way to make sure he will be able to handle his friend when the time comes, plying him with alcohol along the way, so that by the time Fortunato gets to the end of the final passage, he is unsteady on his feet, either from the wine, or his illness, or…
Poe, Edward Allen. "The Cask of Amontillado." Accessed via the Internet 9/13/05. http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/etcbin/toccer-new2?id=PoeCask.sgm&images=images/modeng&data=/texts/english/modeng/parsed&tag=public&part=1&division=div1
Sula it Is Well-Known That Evil People
Sula It is well-known that evil people exist in the world. These sociopaths have no values. They do not care who they harm or how. Fortunately, there are few individuals like this who have no conscience. Most people are instead shades of good and bad. They are not always good, nor are they always bad. At times their behavior is exceptional; other times they may say or do something wrong toward someone else. The book Sula by Toni Morrison highlights these blends of human persona. "The narrative [Sula] insistently blurs and confuses . . . binary oppositions. It glories in paradox and ambiguity beginning with the prologue that describes the setting, the Bottom, situated spatially in the top" (McDowell 80). In Morrison's book, it is easy to see such characters as Sula as a "bad woman" or Nel as a "good person," yet as one looks beyond the obvious, vagaries…
Works Cited:
Beaulieu, Elizabeth. The Toni Morrison Encyclopedia. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2003.
Carmean, Karen. "Sula" Toni Morrison's Sula. Ed. Harold Bloom. Philadelphia: Chelsea House, 1999:
McDowell, Deborah E. "The Self and the Other": Reading Toni Morrison's Sula
and the Black Female Text." Critical Essays on Toni Morrison. Ed. Nellie Y. McKay.
Tale as Told by Another Character Sweat
Tale as Told by another Character: Sweat - Zora Neale Hurston Sweat The spring came along with its flare of sunny afternoons in Florida on that particulate Sunday afternoon. For a given number of women in the small village populated by the black persons would be thinking of what the family would have for supper. However, for Delia Jones, she was still in bed, thinking of her previous life when she was still young and pretty. Then the thought of her poverty and suffering stricken husband hit her mind, and the trail of cursing and lamentations flowed from her mind; and eventually found their way into verbal words oozing from her mouth like the waters of the spring streams of the Amazon. Sure, this situation was getting to the peak of the humiliation and underpinning of poverty and suffering that she could take. Delia sat up in her bed of…
Anders Bjorklund, Donna K. Ginther, and Marianne Sundstrom. "Family Structure and Child
Outcomes in the U.S.A. And Sweden." Journal of Population Economics 20.1 (2007):
183. ProQuest. Web. 24 Aug. 2013.
Hurston, Zora N. Novels and Stories. New York, NY: Libr. Of America, 1995. Print.
Interpretation Analysis Evaluation of a Poem
Idyllic, Idolizing, Late Victorian Tears The poem by the Victorian poet laureate Alfred Lord Tennyson entitled "Tears, idle tears," has the unfortunate status of having its become such a common phrase in modern parlance, that the reader finds him or herself bracing his or her ear for more and more cliches as the poem progresses. In other words, one hears that tears are idle so often, one can easily forget, not only that Tennyson said, "I know not what they mean," but that the poem attempts to express the seriousness of futility of grief, or outward displays of affection by calling tears idle, in that they do no real work in the world. The use of 'idle' in multiple variances of meaning, from impractical and lazy, to idyllic, to idolizing is in fact quite profound and sophisticated, yielding a poem with a compact linguistic and stylistic structure. It is also…
Flanders, Judith. Inside the Victorian Home. New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 2004.
Hilton, N. "Tears, Ay, Dull, Tears" Lexis Complexes. Chapter 6. 2004. http://www.english.uga.edu/nhilton/lexis_complexes/chap6.html
Tennyson, Alfred. "Tears, Idle Tears." From The Bedford Reader. Sixth Edition, 2000.
Tears Idle Tears." Poetry Page. 2004. http://glenavalon.com/idletears.html

Birthmark Hawthorne's "The Birthmark" Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Birthmark" is an ironic story in which man's faith in science as the ultimate savior of humankind is demonstrated to be misplaced.…
Sports - Women
Georgiana is beautiful and doesn't even think about the birthmark until her husband points to it and then goes into a deep state of misery because of that. In…
To Aylmer, the birthmark represents more than an annoyance. He "possessed this degree of faith in man's ultimate control over Nature" and viewed the mark as an opportunity to…
Black Studies - Philosophy
Birthmark In his book, The Birthmark, Nathaniel Hawthorne explores the conflict of science and nature that exists deep in the human psyche. Hawthorne's seemingly simple story of Aylmer, Georgiana…
HAWTHONE'S BITHMAK AND YOUNG GOODMAN BOWN Hawthorne was born 1804 and brought up in Salem, Massachusetts to a Puritan family. When Hawthorne was four, his father died. After this…
Death and Dying (general)
small, crimson birthmark on Georgiana's cheek represents humanity and its inherent flaws. It defines Georgiana as an individual, as a human. Aylmer saw the birthmark as a symbol of…
Reductive Entrapment: Hawthorne's "The irthmark" In the essay "When We Dead Awaken" by Adrienne Rich, the author frankly alludes to the artistic captivity that male writers place women in,…
irthmark, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, is the story of a man consumed by the pursuit of perfection. He seeks absolute knowledge and absolute control, and imagines that he has discovered…
Research Proposal
He does not care because he is greedy. Victor is the same way. He wants the knowledge of how nature works. He is curious and this eventually gets the…
Personal Responsibility: "Rappaccini's Daughter" versus "The Birthmark" Both Nathaniel Hawthorne's "Rappaccini's Daughter" and "The Birthmark" contain similar themes of the dangers of human pride, specifically male pride, and arrogance.…
" Mather 22) Hawthorne clearly stepped away from the Puritan ethic by consistently alluding to the existence of the earthly supernatural. Though this was a fear of the Puritans,…
ith real sense of self, she will have a skewed look at the world around her. In her eyes, she is empty, as is the world. Nel is grounded…
A-Level Outline Answer
Morrison most probably wants to emphasize that Sula is stronger than Nel because she is in control of her life. The end of the book presents readers with Nel's…
This is an interesting point-of-view about Aylmer and it works with his character. Others identify Georgiana's birthmark as something that is essentially hers and therefore, should remain with her.…
Minister's Black Veil" and "The Birth-mark:" Hubris Many of Nathaniel Hawthorne's works are seen as a critique of Puritan ideology and the dangers of having a judgmental attitude. "The…
Research Paper
Not only was Annabel Lee's love strong, but she was beautiful as well. This notion of beauty and love are linked in a continuous dream-like state for the speaker.…
History - Asian
In this regard, Meyers concludes that, "As for Flory, environment has been too much for him, for he is not really alcoholic or crapulous by nature, and he regrets…
Family and Marriage
I do not believe that wearing glasses or make-up is wrong, even though this is an enhancement of the human body by improving one's life by being able to…
Such evidence as there is can be taken up at a later time. But of one thing we can be sure. If Virginia was the prototype of Eleonora she…
Maternity Nursing, Labor & Delivery / Newborn Labor and Delivery Terms Para: Para refers to the number of live births a woman has had (it might be a stillbirth,…
Drama - World
Oedipus is at once a King of courage and judicial propriety, and also one in whom there is a tendency toward pride. Underlying it all, however, lays a great…
Pigmentation The problems relating to skin pigment are associated with symptoms of the skin appearing faded or deeper than the usual or often spotted and blemished. (Skin pigmentation disorders)…
She does not accept a world in which their native land has fallen and they have no emotional reaction to leaving it. So she negotiates an identity which has…
NICE Guidelines -- Midwives during postpartum The ole of Midwife per NICE Guidelines Pregnancy and childbirth is, in the majority of cases, a normal life event that proceeds to…
Wife Bath: Feminism Chaucer Chaucer appears to create the Wife of Bath shine intentionally from the rest of the characters in the novel; she has been possibly one of…
Pan's Labyrinth The movie 'El Laberinto del Fauno' with 'Pan's Labyrinth' as English translation of the title directed by Del Toro revolves round the issue of the reason behind…
Spina Bifida is one of the many birth defects neonates are at risk of. However, this particular defect is unique because it is characterized by problems in the central…
The Yellow allpaper and the Problem of the Unhelpful ManCharlotte Perkins Gilman was born in 1860 and descended from a proud line of rhetoricians (Silcox). Having a way with…
Kyin is aware of the boundaries that exist but he is determined to overcome them. His ambition to become a member of the European Club corrupts him. His immediate…
Mythology - Religion
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Essay On Symbolism In The Birthmark By Nathaniel Hawthorne

Show More Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Birthmark” displays the irrationality of attempting to form a flawless being, and by doing so, interfering upon the land of the divine. Hawthorne carries this message over the story of the scientist Aylmer and his elegant wife, Georgiana, who has a tiny, hand-shaped birthmark on her left cheek. Aylmer is fixated with this mark that retains his wife from being flawless and is determined to remove the mark by using his experiments. Throughout the telling of “The Birthmark”, Hawthorne uses codes to further show the selfishness of man, the symbolism of women, and the imagery of heaven and God. First, in article one Nancy Bunge’s argues about the selfishness of Aylmer. Aylmer is a gifted scientist that seeks divinity …show more content… Georgiana’s birthmark symbolizes mortality. Every living thing is blemished in some way, nature’s way of reacting to us that every living thing ultimately dies. However, Fetterley stresses that a woman ’s identity is well-defined by how men reply and respond to them. Those who love Georgiana see it as a mark of charm and loveliness, and to others, it is a sickening sight to see (Fetterley 2). Georgiana’s birthmark reveals the consequences to women of being imprisoned in the laboratory of man’s mind, the object of relentless inspection, investigation, and testing (Fetterley 3). Fetterley argues that Aylmer also wrongly believes that the birthmark symbolizes Georgiana’s ethical weakness and divine flaw even though she is not a woman inclined to sin at all. Since Aylmer’s handling of her is total disdain and disgust, the result is frequent self-consciousness that leads to a lasting self-dislike that caused Georgiana’s willingness potentially lose her life over one small mark (Fetterley 3). Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote The Birthmark to be an explanation of women 's rights, and how the way women view themselves is directly exaggerated by the way the men in their lives. It is clear that this article argues about The Birthmark in a female perspective to American …show more content… However, my own interpretation would be that “The Birthmark” also focuses on marriage. This short story uses the example of a newly-married couple to ask questions about the nature of love and the lively of marriage. Georgiana is so loyal to Aylmer that she expresses herself completely through his idea of her. “Do you remember, my dear Aylmer,” said Georgiana, with a feeble attempt at a smile, “have you any recollection of a dream last night about this odious hand? (Hawthorne 687) Here this explains that Georgiana knew that her Husband dreamed about her birthmark, she knew that he was unhappy. Georgiana just wanted to satisfy Aylmer, she was not an average woman. In marriage, loyalty is the key to keeping a happy home. Sometimes we find ourselves questioning what it means to love, to trust and to commit to another person. I feel that Aylmer should have appreciated his wife more, and not be so concerned about her birthmark that God beautified her
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“The marriage of Aylmer and Georgiana initially indicates their unification, but the mark disrupts the unity of the couple and replaces Georgiana because the blemish, in Aylmer’s words, ‘had taken a pretty firm hold of [his] fancy’ (Hawthorne 1291). (Howard )” Aylmer had become so obsessed with the birth-mark that his wife became a non-factor. Given these points, Nathaniel Hawthorne explores the fine line between Mother Nature and the obsession with science, and how crossing that line can become detrimental, especially when it is “pursued without a proper respect for human feelings and relationships” (Hawthorne, “The Birth-Mark”). Although Georgiana eventually wanted to go through with the operation, it only for the sake of pleasing her husband. Aylmer went to extreme lengths to remove a…
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The Birthmark by Nathaniel Hawthorne is a very deep and complex story with many themes and main ideas contained therein. After a summary of the story
Hawthorne often uses allegory in his short stories to add a different perspective onto his many works. In his short story, “The Birthmark,” Hawthorne utilizes
During Nathaniel Hawthorne's lifetime, there was a tremendous advancement in science and technology. These are the issues examined in
Free Essays from 123 Help Me | Ugliness In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Birthmark, there is indeed a representation of a submerged personality in Aylmer....
In “The Birthmark” Nathaniel Hawthorne gives us a story that is telling us on some level to accept your own, as well as other people's imperfections or it could
This essay is generally about how the author of the short story, Hawthorne, wants to show the world that perfection is not beauty and that science should
“The Birthmark,” Romanticism and Gothic Literature “The Birthmark is a story which has the basics of a Gothic story which was written by Nathaniel Hawthorne
The Birthmark by Nathaniel Hawthorne In Nathaniel Hawthorne's short story The Birthmark, the narrator introduces us to Aylmer, a brilliant scientist who spent
Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Birthmark" is an ironic story in which man's faith in science as the ultimate savior of humankind is demonstrated to be misplaced.
Free Essay: Nathaniel Hawthorne's “The Birthmark” displays the irrationality of attempting to form a flawless being, and by doing so, interfering upon the.