Nathaniel Hawthorne’ s short story, “The Birthmark”, demonstrates a war between the artificiality of science and the spirituality of religion. Hawthorne uses the characters Aylmer and Aminadab as symbols of ideologies and mindsets epitomized in Romanticism. Romanticism, as classified in the “The Birthmark”, is interested in the matters of imagination and artistic expression, straying from the science-driven Enlightenment philosophies that concentrate mainly around reason, logical thinking, and the strive to gain more knowledge. Aylmer’s attempt to remove the birthmark on the face of his wife, Georgiana, supplements his belief that nature can be altered or corrected. Aylmer’s ultimate defeat reflects the end of the Enlightenment era and start
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Aylmer gives to Georgiana a concoction that is meant to remove her birthmark, and while it ultimately does, it kills her in the process. By writing that Aylmer, in his attempt to “[reject] the best the earth could offer]” causes Georgiana’s death, Hawthorne conveys that science has limitations and that trying to play God is dangerous and has its consequences, and in this case, a deathly one (475). After the death of Georgiana, a laugh is heard, presumably Aminadab’s, communicating that religion has prevailed. The hostility towards artificiality presents a backdrop to emphasize the ultimate superiority of spirituality and sovereignty of God, and also shows that religion is meant to be and in fact is more powerful than any man-made creation. From the evidence collected, it can be concluded that by pitting science and religion against each other in the story, Hawthorne is arguing that religion and nature will always have the upper hand over …show more content…
Often in history, science has been used to support or work alongside religious beliefs, such as geocentricism - a theory based on research by the Ancient Greeks, hypothesizing that Earth is at the center of the entire universe, and layers of stars and planets, “perfect” fairytale-like celestial regions, and heaven surround it. This manner of thinking contributed to the development of Renaissance Humanism, which conceded that humans were the most superior and capable beings that lived, second only to God. While the humanistic movement, heavily influenced by the brilliant and masterful Neoclassicism of the Ancient Greeks and Romans promoted inward thinking and expression, science is represented in this era especially through the realm of art - in which artists mostly in Northern Europe and Italy, began utilizes mathematics to create proportionate, ultra realistic, and technically flawless pieces. Many unwritten expectations of Western society, such as the standard of beauty, derives from Renaissance philosophies and ideals. Contemporary discussion in regard to science versus religion is cited to have emerged from Darwin’s theory of evolution in Roth’s “The Dichotomy of Man: Religion vs. Science”. Before then, especially in the aforementioned Renaissance era, talk of the evolution of humans, as opposed to the origin story of humans written in the Bible, was considered heretical. However, in the modern
Aylmer gives to Georgiana a concoction that is meant to remove her birthmark, and while it ultimately does, it kills her in the process. By writing that Aylmer, in his attempt to “[reject] the best the earth could offer]” causes Georgiana’s death, Hawthorne conveys that science has limitations and that trying to play God is dangerous and has its consequences, and in this case, a deathly one (475). After the death of Georgiana, a laugh is heard, presumably Aminadab’s, communicating that religion has prevailed. The hostility towards artificiality presents a backdrop to emphasize the ultimate superiority of spirituality and sovereignty of God, and also shows that religion is meant to be and in fact is more powerful than any man-made creation. From the evidence collected, it can be concluded that by pitting science and religion against each other in the story, Hawthorne is arguing that religion and nature will always have the upper hand over …show more content…
Often in history, science has been used to support or work alongside religious beliefs, such as geocentricism - a theory based on research by the Ancient Greeks, hypothesizing that Earth is at the center of the entire universe, and layers of stars and planets, “perfect” fairytale-like celestial regions, and heaven surround it. This manner of thinking contributed to the development of Renaissance Humanism, which conceded that humans were the most superior and capable beings that lived, second only to God. While the humanistic movement, heavily influenced by the brilliant and masterful Neoclassicism of the Ancient Greeks and Romans promoted inward thinking and expression, science is represented in this era especially through the realm of art - in which artists mostly in Northern Europe and Italy, began utilizes mathematics to create proportionate, ultra realistic, and technically flawless pieces. Many unwritten expectations of Western society, such as the standard of beauty, derives from Renaissance philosophies and ideals. Contemporary discussion in regard to science versus religion is cited to have emerged from Darwin’s theory of evolution in Roth’s “The Dichotomy of Man: Religion vs. Science”. Before then, especially in the aforementioned Renaissance era, talk of the evolution of humans, as opposed to the origin story of humans written in the Bible, was considered heretical. However, in the modern