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The Birthmark Theme Essay

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What is the theme you may ask? Theme is a concept or lesson that a writer explains in a short story or novel. The author tries to convey this message to its readers using literary devices such as mood, characters, plot, and setting. Many well-written stories have multiple themes. For example, the short story “The Birth-Mark.” In this story a scientist believes that the birth-mark on his wifes face must be removed because it symbolizes her sin, and when trying to remove it she dies. Hawthorne portrays many themes such as man versus nature, fatal pride, and the obsession over perfection. Man versus nature is when a character struggles with the forces of nature and what it creates. In “The Birthmark”, Hawthrone teaches us the consequences of what happens when man interferes with …show more content…

(add more about how he is trying to play God then talk about because he was so prideful he made his wife want to do anything for him, even die.) If you think about it, Aylmer only wants to remove the birth-mark from Georgiana’s face for the scientific thrill. It is not about her, it is about his ego. Hawthorne describes Georgiana as being perfect in every way except for the birth-mark on her face. He also shows that Aylmer loves his wife but cannot stand the imperfection. Aylmer becomes so obsessed with unlatching the scar from her face he begins to dream about it. Aylmer stated, “deeper went the knife, the deeper sank the Hand,until at length its tiny grasp appeared to have caught hold of Georgiana's heart…”(Hawthrone 14). (need to finish) In conclusion, Hawthorne was trying to communicate the themes of man versus nature, fatal pride, and the obsession over perfection, in the story “The Brith-Mark.” The themes used in this story were used to convey a lesson. The lesson being that if someone truly loved you they would not want to fix you to make you perfect. Theme is important because it teaches you lessons you could use every day. (fix

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