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Essay On Symbolism In The Birthmark

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In the short story “The Birthmark”, Nathaniel Hawthorne tells an insightful story about a husband and a beautiful wife whose only flaw is a small pale red birthmark on her face. The husband in this story is so obsessed with his wife's appearance, and striving for insurmountable perfection, that he loses sight of her true beauty. Feeling that he can somehow correct the flaw, he causes her to take extravagant measures to further improve herself, and in doing so made a fatal mistake. His focus in her small imperfection caused him to pay the ultimate price, his own wife. This story uses a literary device called symbolism, which is the usage of symbols to convey a deeper meaning that is different from its literal meaning. The symbolism in “The Birthmark”, reveals a bigger picture about true human nature. …show more content…

Alymer is confident in his own abilities, and very well known in the scientific society with his various studies. He sees his wife Georgina, and is abhorred by her appearance. In this short story, Georgina's small imperfection symbolises failure. His efforts to eliminate his wife's small blemish advocates his fear of defeat. He finds it a challenge to get rid of this flaw, seeing it as though everything for him up to this point has been successful. In reality, it is his confidence that is the problem, he is challenging himself to see how much he can test his abilities.
Another viewpoint could demonstrate that Georgiana's birthmark represents mortality. She is a brilliant and studding woman, if it weren't for her small birthmark she would be considerably perfect. The perspective of the narrator suggests that every breathing creature has deformities, and eventually life comes to an end. Aylmer's determination to remove the birthmark may symbolize his fear of death. Alymer has faith in his own power and abilities. In removing this birthmark he believes he can alter his

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