Stories of Initiation are ones that show the progression of a character from one state of being to another. In the case of “the birth-mark” written by Nathaniel Hawthorne the character Georgiana experiences initiation as she transforms from a confident woman to a woman dependent on the approval of man to determine her self-worth.
At the beginning of the story, Georgiana appreciates her birthmark claiming, “it has been so often called a charm, that I was simple enough to imagine it might be so.”(340). This signifies the beginning of Georgiana’s initiation from confident to dependent on approval. In this quote Georgiana begins to question if her birthmark is truly a charming by claiming she is daft enough to believe it true. Before this point …show more content…
In the beginning of the story, Georgiana is portrayed as happy and smiles at the mention of her birthmark. Even when she sees Aylmer’s expression of the seriousness of the removal of the birthmark she merely blushes and bats away his comments. On the next page though some number of days into the future Georgiana has begun to shudder when her husband glances at her. Georgiana knows his gaze is not one of admiration but rather one of disgust for the one imperfection on her face. When she finally brings the birthmark up again her voice is described as solemn and dreads the response she might receive. She is only described as smiling, though faintly, when her husband agrees to remove the mark. When the day comes for the mark to be removed Georgiana mood has not improved. Rather she is described as “cold and tremulous”. Already the change in the once confident woman who knew her beauty and was humbled by it had degraded into a woman who only saw her one flaw. Before the operation can begin Georgiana faints at the sight of her husband’s lab. As Georgiana comes back to consciousness, “she placed her hand over her cheek to hide the terrible mark from her husband’s eyes.” This was something she never dreamed of doing at the beginning of the story when she still had her confidence. Even later, “at the mention of the birth-mark, Georgiana, as
At the beginning of the story, Georgiana appreciates her birthmark claiming, “it has been so often called a charm, that I was simple enough to imagine it might be so.”(340). This signifies the beginning of Georgiana’s initiation from confident to dependent on approval. In this quote Georgiana begins to question if her birthmark is truly a charming by claiming she is daft enough to believe it true. Before this point …show more content…
In the beginning of the story, Georgiana is portrayed as happy and smiles at the mention of her birthmark. Even when she sees Aylmer’s expression of the seriousness of the removal of the birthmark she merely blushes and bats away his comments. On the next page though some number of days into the future Georgiana has begun to shudder when her husband glances at her. Georgiana knows his gaze is not one of admiration but rather one of disgust for the one imperfection on her face. When she finally brings the birthmark up again her voice is described as solemn and dreads the response she might receive. She is only described as smiling, though faintly, when her husband agrees to remove the mark. When the day comes for the mark to be removed Georgiana mood has not improved. Rather she is described as “cold and tremulous”. Already the change in the once confident woman who knew her beauty and was humbled by it had degraded into a woman who only saw her one flaw. Before the operation can begin Georgiana faints at the sight of her husband’s lab. As Georgiana comes back to consciousness, “she placed her hand over her cheek to hide the terrible mark from her husband’s eyes.” This was something she never dreamed of doing at the beginning of the story when she still had her confidence. Even later, “at the mention of the birth-mark, Georgiana, as