ipl-logo

Reader Response: The Birthmark: Reader's Response

947 Words4 Pages

The Birthmark- Reader’s Response Nathaniel Hawthorne was born on July 4, 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts, the infamous town where a very significant historical event occured. Hawthorne was the great-great-grandson of John Hathorne, one of the three judges over the Salem witch trials nearly a century ago. After the death of his father in 1808, Hawthorne’s uncle Robert Manning, prominent pomologist of that time, took Hawthorne into his care in Raymond, Maine. As a young man Hawthorne attended Bowdoin College in Brunswick with Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and Franklin Pierce. After obtaining his degree in 1825, Hawthorne moved back to Salem for twelve years and wrote many novels, sketches, and short stories that are still very popular today, including …show more content…

My favorite part of the short story was the ending. It occured to the reader that humanity cannot survive with perfection so Georginana had to die. The first time that I read the story I did not really read into exactly why Georgiana died, I believed that it could have been the medication that Aylmer reacted with Georgiana’s skin and killed her but the second time that I read the story the real reason appeared to me. I also admired how Hawthorne developed his characters. In the beginning Aylmer was a scientist that only cared about his experiments, then he fell in love and stopped his scientific work, but then he found a reason to continue his scientific work which led to the death of his wife. At the end of the story Aylmer regretted pressuring his wife to change herself and feels remorseful for what he did. The Birthmark follows the struggles of man versus nature and man versus self. The main character Aylmer suffered no not being about to accept the flaws of his wife but also the fact that he cannot do everything, mostly because it is not his place to do these things. As the story develops the need for Aylmer to reach perfection grows stronger and later kills his wife. Considering the events that occur in this story it is very easy to see that the biggest theme in the story is humanity cannot survive without its

Show More
Related

Annotated Bibliography Of Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown

790 Words | 4 Pages

“Young Goodman Brown.” : An Annotated Bibliography “Young Goodman Brown” is a story about a man who challenges his faith in himself and in the community in which he resides. Gregory, Leslie. " The Text of Nathaniel Hawthorne 's "Young Goodman Brown". " American Literature Research and Analysis.

Read More

Obsession In Nathanial Hawthorne's The Birth-Mark

1165 Words | 5 Pages

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.

Read More

Perfection In The Birthmark And Eye Of The Beholder

781 Words | 4 Pages

Intro: Nathaniel Hawthorne’s fictional short story “The Birthmark” and The Twilight Zone’s darkly romantic episode “Eye of the Beholder” both use gothic elements and delve into the realm of science to explore concepts of beauty and perfection. Through their contrasting characterizations of the scientist and employments of irony and allusions, each work comes to its own conclusions about how to define and treat beauty. Body #1: The Birthmark From the very first paragraph, Hawthorne’s story revolves around Aylmer, a scientist who supposedly gives up his career to marry the beautiful woman of his dreams, Georgiana.

Read More

Examples Of Figurative Language In The Birthmark

590 Words | 3 Pages

The birthmark itself symbolizes morality. Aylmer, this brilliant scientist and husband to Georgiana, sees it has as fatal flaw. It also represents this imperfection of human nature. Nothing is perfect in nature, but science can help improve to make it seem flawless.

Read More

Georgiana's Unhealthy Relationship In The Birthmark By Nathaniel Hawthorne

791 Words | 4 Pages

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.

Read More

Similarities Between Hawthorne And The Birthmark

871 Words | 4 Pages

Georgiana took note of Aylmer’s displeasure of the birthmark from the dream and through his stealthy stare, causing Georgina displeasure (Nathaniel Hawthorne 114). Aylmer’s further loathing of the birthmark, causes Georgiana to give up for the sake of his happiness. She tells, Aylmer after bringing up the conversation of the birthmark, “Either remove this dreadful hand, or take my wretched life!” (Nathaniel Hawthorne 114). Aylmer could have avoided tragedy, however he failed to listen to his assistant Aminadab, who stated he would “never part with that birthmark” (Nathaniel Hawthorne 114).

Read More

Symbolism In The Birthmark By Nathaniel Hawthorne

824 Words | 4 Pages

Symbolism in “The Birthmark” 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.

Read More

The Birthmark Analysis Essay

717 Words | 3 Pages

In the story “The Birthmark” by Nathaniel Hawthorne, he uses several techniques to help build his story. Hawthorne tells a story of a man of science whose name was Aylmer. He married a beautiful women named Georgiana, although she was quite beautiful she had a birthmark on her face which, in Aylmer’s eyes was an imperfection. Aylmer tries to perfect Georgiana, but in the end Aylmer’s attempts to change Georgiana causes him to lose her. Aylmer does not accept the idea of imperfections in people.

Read More

Obsession In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Birthmark

941 Words | 4 Pages

In The Birthmark, Hawthorne depicts the obsession for perfection, the tole it takes on one and the consequences it has. The quest for perfection is unrealistic and unobtainable as we are only mere humans incapable of reconstructing our DNA. In The Birthmark, Hawthorne tells the story of a woman named Georgiana and her scientist husband Aylmer, who are both fixated on a birthmark similar to the look of a tiny human hand. Aylmer is disgusted by Georgiana’s birthmark, wanting to please her husband Georgiana is willing to do anything for him to look at her in a normal manner “Danger is nothing to me;for life which this hateful mark

Read More

How Does Nathaniel Hawthorne Use Biblical Allusions In The Scarlet Letter

1458 Words | 6 Pages

Nathaniel Hawthorne, a famous American author from the antebellum period, notices the emphasis on individual freedoms in the works by Ralph Waldo Emerson and other Transcendentalists during his residency in the Brook Farm’s community. In response to these ideas, Hawthorne writes The Scarlet Letter, a historical novel about Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale’s lives as they go through ignominy, penance, and deprecation from their Puritan community to express their strong love for each other. Their love, even though it is true, is not considered as holy nor pure because of Hester past marriage to Roger Chillingworth, and thus Hester gained the Scarlet Letter for being an adulterer. Hawthorne utilizes biblical allusions, such as the stories of

Read More

Essay On The Conflict In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Birthmark

810 Words | 4 Pages

The Conflict in The Birthmark by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Conflict coincides within everyone in our day to day lives in the real world and even in books; when the protagonist and antagonist’s world views do not concur. A protagonist is the main character who advances the plot by striving towards a goal, and the antagonist is the main character who gets in the way of the protagonist reaching their goal. ' Conflict occurs between the protagonist and the antagonist in Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Birthmark" because Aylmer's worldview is different than that of Georgiana’s. In this essay, I will demonstrate the conflict between Aylmer and Georgiana by showing how they answer three questions that reveal their worldview: why are we here?

Read More

Analysis Of The Birth-Mark By Nathaniel Hawthorne

224 Words | 1 Pages

The Birth-Mark by Nathaniel Hawthorne is a story about Aylmer, a very recognized scientist, who marries Georgiana and he one day, asks her if she had ever thought of removing the birthmark she had on her cheek. The story explains that her birthmark had never bothered her and the men that wanted to marry her always found it very attractive. Aylmer starts to obsess about the mark and this makes Georgiana very self-conscious to the point the she believes she is ugly in his eyes. Aylmer has a dream where he tries to remove the birthmark by cutting into it, but as he cut deeper, the birthmark kept getting deeper until he had to cut out her heart.

Read More

And Symbolism In Nathaniel Hawthorne's 'The Ocean'

737 Words | 3 Pages

Have you ever swam in the ocean? Ever fought against the waves? Have you ever felt its intensity?? Oceans can be quite treacherous and rigid, but once you sink down beneath the water, all is calm and peaceful. In “The Ocean” by Nathaniel Hawthorne, he paints an image of this by illustrating the waters and the men at sea.

Read More

Sacrifice In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Birthmark

679 Words | 3 Pages

When I first read The Birthmark, I thought it was a sad story between a couple. Four weeks later, I still think what happen to Georgiana is a tragedy. However, I have developed some new understandings regarding the author’s background, and the story’s theme and characters. The reason I chose this story is because I am facinated by the development of Georgiana’s character and how the story tackles current issue in the soceity. Hawthorne is a transcendentalist who believed in the “inherent goodness of both people and nature”.(Americanliterarture.com)

Read More

Reading Response To Nathaniel Hawthorne's 'The Scarlet Letter'

1146 Words | 5 Pages

Amanda Vicente The Scarlet Letter Reading Response AP English Language Period J 16 August 2016 Journal Entry 1: Chapters 1-2 In The Scarlet Letter, the author sets a mood from the beginning of the book. The setting is old and beat up in front of an aged wooden prison with judgmental Puritans ready to tear a women apart. The Puritans are hypocrites and the author portrays that in the story.

Read More

More about Reader Response: The Birthmark: Reader's Response

Related Topics

Open Document