The Roles Of Women In The Birthmark, By Nathaniel Hawthorne

Weak, domestic, and familial are some of the words women in the nineteenth century were defined as. The societal expectations of wives during the nineteenth century included separate spheres, roles that they had at home, devotion they showed towards their husbands, and education they had. In the short story, “The Birthmark”, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, published in the nineteenth century gives an internal view of roles between women and men. Aylmer a men that craved science experiments, science being the main source for him, science being the one for him, he compared his love for science with the love of Georgiana, his wife. Georgiana a young woman, fancied by many men, and was very beautiful, but she had a charm on her left cheek that was seen …show more content…
Women having different “natural” characteristics to men, which was known as “separate spheres”(Hughes). Which means that men and women were thought to have different natures. For example, in society women had the natures to keep their life private, men were thought to have natures suited to the public (Radeck Hall). Which means that the men were out in the public working all day and women had to stay at home and do the domestic life chores. It is believed that women and men only came together at breakfast and at dinner (Hughes). Women were considered weaker than man but morally superior to them. During this time many stereotypes were thrown out there. For women the stereotypes were weak, domestic, social, familial, and private. For men the stereotypes were powerful,brave,ambitious,logical, and public(Hughes).That is only naming a few of the stereotypes. The list can go on and on. Women were thought to always satisfy their husbands which is why they stayed at home and did the chores of the house. In the short story, Georgiana wanted the birthmark taken of from her left cheek because she wanted to satisfy Aylmer, her husband. As observed on page eleven in Hawthorne's short story it acknowledges how much Georgiana wanted to satisfy her husband.“For a single moment, she might satisfy his highest and deepest conception” (Hawthorne 11). Georgina did not want to be seen …show more content…
Middle class girls or women were coached in accomplishments. The accomplishments would be learned by boarding schools or a resident governess. A resident governess is located in their house and its mean is to have a proper preparation of homework that defines the school subjects(Hughes). Women were thought to have knowledge in the arts.In the novel “Pride and Prejudice” written in the nineteenth century by, Jane Austen. Austen had a character named Caroline, that had a characteristic of being a snob. Said a quote that defined the purpose of women’s education. “A women must have a thorough knowledge of music, singing, drawing, dancing, and modern languages...; and besides all this, she must possess a certain something in her air and manner of walking, the tone of her voice, her address and expressions…” (Hughes). In Hawthorne's story Georgiana was seen educated, as mentioned in page nine, she read Aylmer’s journal that was filled with his science experiments. In the journal Aylmer had his records of what happened during those science experiments and they were not successful. Then Aylmer says in a displeased manner, “It is dangerous to read in a sorcerer's books” (Hawthorne 9). This indicates that men were not fancied that women had some education. It also tells the reader that Georgiana was a middle class women or a wealthy class women. In this century it is when