Birthmark Essays

“Whoso would be a man must be a nonconformist. He who would gather immortal palms must not be hindered by the name of goodness, but must explore if it be goodness. Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind." Emerson believed that once a man, one must be willing to go against the normalcy of nature and be their true selves regardless of what the world and people around them might think. All three characters, Bartleby, from Melville’s “Bartleby The Scrivener,” Reverend Mr. Hooper

The short story “The Birthmark”, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, plunges the readers into the dramatic atmosphere of scientific endeavors. A multitude of emotions arise as the protagonist, a prominent scientist, wishes to remove a birthmark appearing on the cheek of his lovely wife. However, Georgiana seems to disagree with the venture, as readers feel she is seriously threaten by the removal of her birthmark, which could be seen as the impurity among her gorgeousness. The presence of science in

Flynn Harrigan Professor Napier English 1020 27 February 2023 Literary Irony in “The Birthmark” and “A Cask of Amontillado” Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Birthmark” tells the story of a man named Aylmer who desires to remove a birthmark from his wife Georgiana’s otherwise perfect face. After a chilling dream, Georgiana agrees to attempt to remove the birthmark, even if the procedure puts her life at risk, bringing Aylmer back to his experimental background. After reviewing some of his past experiments

III 3/3/23 Imperfection, Morality, and Science Versus Nature Depicted in The Birthmark Perfection has never been achievable by the human race, yet everyday people strive and exert themselves for this impossible goal. An example of this desire and greed for perfection is portrayed in “The Birthmark” by Nathaniel Hawthorne, specifically with the main male character known as Alymer. In Hawthorne’s short story “The Birthmark”, the author uses symbolism, character development, and genre to develop the

story about The Birthmark is about a scientist named Aylmer who is in love with his work, but at the same time he is love with a young woman named Georgiana. Later Aylmer and Georgiana get married, however Aylmer slowly beings to pay close attention to Georgiana’s birthmark on her cheek. The narrator describes the shape of the birthmark as a little hand and due to its shape Georgiana believes it’s from a fairy that has blessed her. Aylmer one night brings up Georgiana’s birthmark and suggest why

Hawthorne represent this sin through a symbolic birthmark in his short story “The Birthmark”. This birthmark is laid across an almost perfect woman’s face named Georgina (295). Knowing that the women is so close to perfection, it allows the reader to depict the idea that the women is one step closer to perfection, but is she really? Hawthorne illustrates that perfection is unattainable through three characters: Aylmer, Aminadab, and Georgina. In “The Birthmark”, Aylmer represents the mental attributes

Nathaniel Hawthorne 's short story, "The Birthmark" shows the silliness of a crazed scientist named, Aylmer aspiring to create a perfect human being, which is Georgiana, and by doing so, he opens the prospect of rivaling nature with his own scientific skillfulness. He uses symbolism of the birthmark to show how science 's attempt to ultimate failure often leads to control of nature, foolish obsession, and mortality. Georgiana is Aylmer 's wife. She is beautiful, intelligent, and a caring person

all. Flaws are an evident characteristic of all humans, they can often affect judgment and impact the events that occur in one’s life. Flaws can even be a contributor to tragedies. In “The Birthmark”, by Nathaniel Hawthorne both Aylmer and Georgiana are to blame for the tragedy that occurs. Firstly, “The Birthmark” includes characteristics of classic Greek literature. One common characteristics of these works are a tragic

Draft - Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Birthmark" is a short story that explores the dangers of obsession with perfection and the cost of valuing physical beauty over inner qualities. The story follows the relationship between Aylmer and Georgiana, as Aylmer becomes increasingly fixated on removing a small birthmark from Georgiana's cheek, leading to tragic consequences. In the story, Aylmer's obsession with perfection and his attempt to remove Georgiana's birthmark symbolizes the destructive effects

expressed in Hawthorne’s short story, “The Birthmark.” The protagonist of this work of literature is an incredibly talented scientist by the name of Aylmer who has recently married a remarkably attractive woman whose name is Georgiana. Despite being breathtakingly beautiful, Georgiana has a birthmark in the shape of a red hand on her left cheek, which disgusts Aylmer to a rather massive extent. An example of his unhealthy fixation upon Georgiana’s birthmark would be on the fourth page of this work

agreed on by the masses. Through these two works the fluidity of beauty is further explored by how the protagonists attempt to redefine it. In “The Artist of the Beautiful” and “The Birthmark” by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the characters Owen and Aylmer are similar in their pursuit of producing perfection

an exact replication of an adult human, should be banned in the United States of America because of its possible consequences to society as a whole, as proven by the science fiction novel Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, and the short story “The Birthmark,” by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Human cloning raises ethical concerns considering how society will react and change due to the clonal population. Subsequently, scientists are forced to ask themselves the question, “If cloning is seen as a way to reproduce

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

inability to love his wife, so long as she has the birthmark. While Aylmer clearly believes that his wife’s birthmark tarnishes her beauty, the way Hawthorne presents the situation is a bit different. As 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

The “Birthmark” by Nathaniel Hawthorne is a story that I know can still appeal to the current day and especially in the past in history. The story takes place at a time when scientific discoveries and experiments were going on to try and have an understanding for everything since at the time scientist were very curious about almost everything. Unfortunately one of the experiments they would conduct were on humans. From the Story “The Birthmark” we easily learn that human experimentation is very frond

story written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, “The Birthmark,” he focuses on Aylmer, a tedious scientist, and Georgiana, his wife. Due to a tiny, crimson birthmark on Georgiana’s cheek, Aylmer tries to persuade Georgiana to remove the birthmark in order to prevent the ruining of “the effect of [her] beauty” (6). Aylmer expresses disgust over her birthmark, and Georgiana, reluctantly, agrees to submit to Aylmer’s experiment in order to rid herself of her birthmark. Unfortunately, after giving Georgina his

Have you ever played god? Well in “The Birthmark” this is a major occurrence and shows part of it’s theme. I believe this theme is science vs. nature and that playing god is just one way this battle takes place. Science vs. Nature is the the theme of “The Birthmark” because of, the constant act of playing god. This shows Science’s front in the “battle” of Science vs. Nature. The Scientists playing god are trying to control nature. This is evident in the story in places such as how Aylmer wants to

The Birthmark: This is the first time I read this story. I think the story is a tragedy, because at the end of the story Georgiana died. I feel bad for her, because she did not do anything wrong. She is a charming woman who desires a better man. Aylmer is a horrible husband who does not appreciate her wife. I don’t know why he married Georgiana if that birthmark bothers him that much. It seems that he cares about the science more than his wife. On the other hand, Georgiana loves Aylmer, because

perseverance that ultimately defines who we are as people, and how we are perceived by others; an enduring sequence of life brought on by humanity. In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story “The Birthmark”, a prodigious alchemist named Aylmer experiences toilsome perseverance while attempting to remove an odious birthmark residing on the face of his beautiful, but imperfect wife Georgiana; going to extremes to assist in its removal. Aylmer performs many trials of experiments on his wife as he faces his intolerable

Hawthorne’s “The Birthmark” not to mention it is chalked full of symbolism in light of one man’s obsession with nature, science, perfection, and Georgiana. The birthmark resembling a “tiny crimson hand” imprinted on Georgiana’s cheek is clearly a form of symbolism used to represent many concepts in this great literary piece. Many may interpret “the hand” to symbolize such things as mortality, imperfection, humanity, the hand of nature, the hand of God, or even a liability of sin. In “The Birthmark” Hawthorne