Perfection In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Birthmark
Perfection in a world of imperfection. “The Birthmark” is a story of confusing sorrow about a man and a woman whose differences numerous problems for the two. Aylmer a renowned scientist of his time has taken it upon himself to marry a woman of great perfection and beauty. As Aylmer admires his wife, he notices a peculiar “birthmark” (306) upon his wife’s cheek in the shape of a “tiny hand” (305). Thus making the most beautiful woman flawed and imperfect. For a man that strives such great perfection it has become his mission to convince his wife of removing it and finding a way to do so. To Aylmer the hand is “crimson” (304), a reminder of sin and immortality increasing his obsession with removing it. This obsession with perfecting what’s imperfect strays him from seeing the good in his wife, causing him to kill her in the end. In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s …show more content…
One of the symbols eminently in the story is that of the “tiny hand” (305) imprinted on Georgianna’s face. When it comes to the birthmark on her face there is an array of emotions. Many men find this attractive as if her beauty doesn’t already draw them in, the “tiny hand” (305) intrigues them even more. Nathaniel Hawthorne states that “many a desperate swan would have risked their lives for the privilege of pressing his lips to the mysterious hand” (305) showing us the amount of infatuation with it. It is here that we understand Aylmer’s association of the hand with “sin” (305) as it causes most men to behave erratically. Just like Eve enticed Adam to eat the forbidden fruit off of the tree. Many woman refer to it as the “bloody hand” (305)
Perfection And Spirit In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Birth-Mark
1003 Words | 5 PagesHe posses a belief in "man 's ultimate control over nature", and thinks there is nothing man can 't master or achieve. His obsession with his wife 's small imperfect birth mark, which resembles a hand, begins shortly after they become married. Aylmer is fixated with his wife Georgiana 's perfection; he believes that in order for him to experience perfect love, he must have a perfect woman to love. His obsession gradually becomes Georgiana 's obsession at which point she becomes so distraught that she tells Aylmer "Remove this dreadful hand, or take my wretched life".
Alymer's Failure In The Birthmark By Nathaniel Hawthorne
333 Words | 2 PagesIn Nathaniel Hawthorne’s,”The Birthmark,” Alymer, the scientist, knew all along that his science would kill his wife because he himself is imperfect. Sometimes, scientists become so involved in their work that they forget about others. Alymer’s forgetting about his wife and their future was what happened when he decided that his science was more important to him than she was. His obsession with her looks, and his obsession with performing experimental surgery caused him to lose the most important person in his life. First, Alymer knew from the beginning that he was not a good scientist.
Foreshadowing In The Birthmark
736 Words | 3 PagesGeorgiana can be viewed as the protagonist of the story. Georgiana in the story is depicted as this beautiful woman who her husband Aylmer only dislikes one of her qualities/features which is her birthmark. The birthmark is described to represent a red hand on her cheek. Initially when Aylmer asks her if she has ever thought about getting her birthmark removed she thinks of it as a joke and begins to blush. It is not until that she realizes that he was in fact serious that she becomes somewhat distraught with him for rejecting her as she is.
Nathaniel Hawthorne The Birthmark
266 Words | 2 Pages“His brightest diamonds were the merest pebbles, and felt to be so by himself, in comparison with the inestimable gems which lay hidden beyond his reach.” Throughout, Nathaniel Hawthorne makes of the birthmark upon Georgianna’s face save but two things—a luminous treasure, and a dreadful stain. As a proponent of science, Georgianna’s husband Aylmer is obsessed with experimentation, ultimately finding it difficult to be satisfied with what he has accomplished as he pushes for success and perfection. As an outwardly negligible sentence inserted by Hawthorne, it nonetheless alludes to numerous aspects of the story.
Summary Response Of The Birthmark By Nathaniel Hawthorne
779 Words | 4 PagesThe overall theme of this short story was about how obsessed Aylmer became about taking Georgiana’s birthmark off. And he felt she was imperfect with her birthmark which was in the shape of a hand on the side of her face. In “The Birthmark”, Hawthorne shows how the destructive and deadly effects of emotional abuse can really affect someone. Summary
The Birthmark Analysis
1108 Words | 5 PagesIn “The Birthmark”, Aylmer works to produce a cure for the handprint on his wife’s cheek. He often states that she is the most beautiful force of nature aside from for her defect. Aylmer spends months in his laboratory concocting a potion that will rid his wife of her ailment. The concoction went against all forms of nature. It defied the laws in which it was created as no man should hold such a powerful concoction in his hands.
Essay On Religion And Science In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Birthmark
825 Words | 4 PagesHis love for science has become his religion and has gone beyond the logic of rationale. In his attempt to make the physical defect spiritual he considers himself more of a god and fails to recognize that spirit and matter cannot be distinct (Hawthorne). His success in removing the birthmark equals that of reigning over God’s power. Aylmer’s obsession to find perfection at the moment robbed him of a lifetime of happiness. Georgiana’s death was a clear indication that mortality runs earth.
The Birth Mark Imperfection
533 Words | 3 PagesAs a result of their actions, both pay a heavy price with Georgiana losing her life, and Aylmer gaining enough regret to last more than one lifetime. “He need not thus have flung away the happiness which would have woven his mortal life of the self-same texture of the celestial” (Hawthorne 225) Aylmer's sin in this story was greed- he threw away the world while trying to gain the stars. Georgiana's pitfall in this story was her unmovable trust in her husband. Birth-marks, like sin, affect everyone, no matter how young, old, rich or famous someone is. The mark on Georgiana's cheek in “The Birth-Mark” shows this through
Balance Of Head And Heart In The Birthmark By Nathaniel Hawthorne
993 Words | 4 PagesAylmer’s past failed experiments and his intellectual pride indicate the superiority of head to heart in the Birthmark. As Georgiana awakes from fainting, Aylmer attempts to soothe and distract her with a series of experiments. He shows her an experiment involving a rapidly growing flower and offers her to pick and smell the young flower, which is succeeded by this scene, “…Georgiana had no sooner touched the flower than the whole plant suffered a blight, its leaves turning coal-black as if by agency of fire” (470). This scene is symbolic because the flower represents Georgiana’s life, which is evident because the flower is described as “a perfect and lovely flower” (470); similarly, Georgiana is described as “so nearly perfect” (466). As soon as she touches the flower, it turns black and dies.
Rappaccini's Daughter And The Birthmark Analysis
1552 Words | 7 PagesBut over time her one flaw the birthmark drives him to insanity which consumes him. Aylmer reassured Georgiana that he can rid her of this fatal flaw place by nature; “I feel myself fully competent to render this dear cheek as faultless as its fellow; and then, most beloved, what will by my triumph when I shall have corrected what Nature left imperfect in her fairest work” (Hawthorne, 401)! He feels compelled to remove the birthmark from her wife’s cheek and only then will she be all
The Characterization Of Criticism In The Birthmark By Nathaniel Hawthorne
899 Words | 4 PagesAny rational, compassionate individual who reads Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Birth-mark” would be aghast at how Aylmer treats Georgiana, his wife. Aylmer treats Georgiana as an object, or rather a specimen, for Aylmer desires to “possess one living specimen of ideal loveliness, without the semblance of a flaw” (Hawthorne 13). Aylmer’s misogynistic approach to his wife and her birthmark, “this single imperfection” (15), then, comes as no surprise. The “imperfection” does not rest with Georgiana, however—it rests with Aylmer and his detrimental objectification of her through the male gaze.
Ideal Beauty In Georgian's The Birthmark
169 Words | 1 PagesThe story offers many perceptions on the way human beings act or jumble their lives in mission of finding out things that they cannot understand. In the story, the birthmark, as presented by Georgiana, shows the natural prettiness that people are born with. Natural beauty may cover some imperfections as associated to ideal beauty that is formed by science or art. The red mark on the face of Georgiana is a case of some of the things that human kind may not feel content about. Consequently, they end up relating other approaches that may not be suitable to change things to the way they want them.
The Theme Of Perfection In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Birthmark
1071 Words | 5 PagesAylmer is challenged with this problem when the birthmark on his wife’s cheek starts to drive him utterly mad. Despite the fact that all of his experiments have failed, he still believes he will be able to play out the role of God and transform Georgiana’s condition into something of perfection, thus displaying the dispute with law, or God’s power. The “Moral Machine” activity demonstrates the same trial by testing one’s values with the laws proposed by the game. In total, both portray the difficulty of freedom of choice along with the underlying theme: perfection cannot be achieved on
Sonny's Blue Character Analysis
691 Words | 3 PagesThrough reading this short story we learn that Aylmer thinks the birth mark on poor Georgiana cheek is a flaw of her perfect existence. Finding out how much it means to Aylmer to remove the mark it tells us about how Georgiana feels unloved and in order to make her husband love her without feeling discussed she would have to let him try to remove the birthmark no matter what happens to
Themes In The Birthmark
655 Words | 3 PagesAs a reader you begin to see the birthmark as something that should be cherished and, instead, see the main character’’s lack of love as a disgrace and a “darkness.” What’s even darker, is that Aylmer is able to convince Georgiana, herself, that the birthmark must be gone. The further the reader gets in the story, the more tortured Georgiana seems, until her husband, the person who is supposed to love her most, murders her, to rid her of imperfection. The fact the Aylmer deems Georgiana’s beauty more important than her life and sticks to this belief so strongly is a perfect demonstration of inner-darkness and corruption among men. Through Aylmer, Hawthorne shines a light on the darkest
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