There are many different aspects of Romanticism. Romanticism according to the Oxford English Dictionary is “Designating, relating to, or characteristic of a movement or style during the late 18th and 19th centuries in Europe marked by an emphasis on feeling, individuality, and passion rather than classical form and order, and typically preferring grandeur, picturesqueness, or naturalness to finish and proportion.” There were many romantic writers throughout the 19th century. Nathaniel Hawthorne was a well-known romantic writer, as well as Edgar Allen Poe. “The Birth-Mark” is a wonderful example of the romantic writing of Nathaniel Hawthorne. It displays symbolism as well as other things I will discuss later in this essay. Also Edgar
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Rucker, argues that Hawthorne is in fact a romantic writer and it is made clear in this specific writing of his. She says, “Wedded to a woman who inspires a vision of ideal beauty, he becomes a romantic artist “the whole value of whose existence” is dependent on his successfully utilizing all his achieved knowledge-“the thoughts of years (p.54)-to hypostasize his highest conception: the perfect idea of divine beauty.” (451) Romantic writers often depict their characters as sort of quirky or psychotic in some cases. She says that Aylmer has basically become obsessed with the flaw on his wife so much that it’s hard for him to look at her. It’s a psychological thing in his mind that he wants her to be perfect and there is only one flaw standing in his way. Therefore he wants to do everything in his power to fix it. Rucker also discusses that the flaw on Georgiana’s face symbolized mortality and death. Symbolism is a strong aspect of …show more content…
Poe’s writings are a great example of this. He usually portrayed secluded, often neurotic individuals in his writings. As in “The Tell-Tale Heart” the narrator is obviously a mad man. This exemplifies romanticism because it shows the narrator’s haughty, psychotic nature. These ideas of expressing deranged characters are trade- marked by romanticism. “The Tell-Tale Heart is similar to “The Birthmark” in that the protagonist of both stories was obsessing over a feature on the face of someone whom they loved. The narrator in “The Tell-Tale Heart does in fact say he loved the old man, “I loved the old man. He had never wronged me. He had never given me an insult” (691). And obviously Aylmer loved his wife Georgiana. However each of their companions had a flaw about them the protagonist just couldn’t get past, and each had their own way of taking care of it. Nathaniel Hawthorn shows the battle to accept true beauty and the human incapability to appreciate it in this writing. Aylmer is too vain to see Georgiana beautiful the way she is. Instead he feels he has to change her in order for her to reach perfection. This depicts his individuality like romantic writers often
Rucker, argues that Hawthorne is in fact a romantic writer and it is made clear in this specific writing of his. She says, “Wedded to a woman who inspires a vision of ideal beauty, he becomes a romantic artist “the whole value of whose existence” is dependent on his successfully utilizing all his achieved knowledge-“the thoughts of years (p.54)-to hypostasize his highest conception: the perfect idea of divine beauty.” (451) Romantic writers often depict their characters as sort of quirky or psychotic in some cases. She says that Aylmer has basically become obsessed with the flaw on his wife so much that it’s hard for him to look at her. It’s a psychological thing in his mind that he wants her to be perfect and there is only one flaw standing in his way. Therefore he wants to do everything in his power to fix it. Rucker also discusses that the flaw on Georgiana’s face symbolized mortality and death. Symbolism is a strong aspect of …show more content…
Poe’s writings are a great example of this. He usually portrayed secluded, often neurotic individuals in his writings. As in “The Tell-Tale Heart” the narrator is obviously a mad man. This exemplifies romanticism because it shows the narrator’s haughty, psychotic nature. These ideas of expressing deranged characters are trade- marked by romanticism. “The Tell-Tale Heart is similar to “The Birthmark” in that the protagonist of both stories was obsessing over a feature on the face of someone whom they loved. The narrator in “The Tell-Tale Heart does in fact say he loved the old man, “I loved the old man. He had never wronged me. He had never given me an insult” (691). And obviously Aylmer loved his wife Georgiana. However each of their companions had a flaw about them the protagonist just couldn’t get past, and each had their own way of taking care of it. Nathaniel Hawthorn shows the battle to accept true beauty and the human incapability to appreciate it in this writing. Aylmer is too vain to see Georgiana beautiful the way she is. Instead he feels he has to change her in order for her to reach perfection. This depicts his individuality like romantic writers often