Automatonophobia In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Artist Of The Beautiful

Robotics is one of the most popular fields of science. In the last century there have been many advances in the field of robotics that is been able to improve humans’ everyday lives. As the field advances the physical features of robots have started resembling humans, and robots have the capability to perform simple human activities. The programming behind many robots also resembles the working of the human brain. With robots becoming more like humans and performing like humans the fear and the horror of robots and robots’ capabilities have also increased. This is called Automatonophobia, a type of phobia that refers to the the fear of anything that resembles anything human like. On the other, people have come to understand robots as something of beauty and grace that is capable of showing the pinnacle of human intelligence. There are both positive and negatives sides of technology, especially robotics, and this has been a talking point ever since the popularity of early automaton. There have been many writings about this topic, and many writers have expressed what they think of robots. ‘The Artist of the Beautiful’ a short story by Nathaniel Hawthorne is one such story that talks about the beauty, and the charm of robotics and simple automaton. ‘The Sandman’ by …show more content…
Hawthorne’s short story is considered to be one of the first short stories about a robotic insect. Owen takes one of the most beautiful creatures, and shows that a robot can display the same kind of beauty. Throughout the story, Hawthorne shows that robots are nothing to be feared but it is something that represents beauty and a form of art. Owen’s creation not only looks like a butterfly but also behaves like an alive butterfly would. Annie, Owen’s love interest in the story, easily mistakes the robotic insect for a real