The Birth-Mark

In “ A Good Man Is Hard to Find” and “The Birthmark” both the stories have to do with nature of good and evil with their society. The storied also focus on how we can’t judge one another because we are all flawed in one way or another. I am going to compare the two stories on the elements of character analysis, the setting of the stories and the symbolisms that take place. The main character in “The Birthmark” is Aylmer. Aylmer is a well known scientist that has accomplished many experiments…

Hawthorne writes “…there lived a man of science…” (416). He clearly states that Alymer tries to conquer the natural world, and alter mortality, through his extensive scientific knowledge. Alymer’s strive to create an elixir to remove Georgiana’s sole mark of human imperfection displays a clear example of this attempted conquering (422). Alymer’s statement “Unless all my science has deceived me, it cannot fail,” shows his absolute confidence in science over the natural world (425). Aminadab,…

“The Birth-Mark” by Nathaniel Hawthorne is a story sets itself apart from the many others already read during this semester. Most of the short stories read in this class have had an ironic ending the reader wouldn’t expect. The use of foreshadowing and strange amount of predictability in this short story are what set it apart from others and is what grabbed my attention. Hawthorne uses symbolism that goes even deeper than what can be read in the story itself. Symbolism, foreshadowing, and…

Hawthorne’s short story “The Birth-Mark” is a story symbolic of society’s tendency to put pressure on an individual to conform. Georgiana is an ideal wife; she is beautiful, jubilant, and, most of all, prioritizes her husband’s happiness above her own. She is shocked to learn that her husband, Aylmer, finds her birthmark appalling, and when he proposes to experiment on it, she is willing to subject herself to the tests to please him. Eventually, though Aylmer is able to eradicate the mark he…

Literary Analysis of “The Birth-Mark” by Nathaniel Hawthorne Nathaniel Hawthorne’s, “The Birth-Mark”, illustrates the characteristics of Romantic literature through allegory and symbolism. Romanticism is a type of literature or attitude that arose during the late 18th century and mid-19th century. Romanticism focused primarily on imagination, appreciation of nature and feelings and emotions over science. The purpose of this research is to explain how Nathaniel Hawthorne uses Romantic…

Analysis of The Birth-Mark "The Birth-Mark", written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, is a tale filled with humans need to control things and an unhealthy marriage. The two main characters, Aylmer and Georgina, are intertwined with the husbands need to get rid of his wife's flaw. His story, The Birth-Mark, explores the depth of human imperfection and a man need to play God. In the story, Aylmer is a man who aims for perfection. He is scientist when it comes to the physical world. " a man of science,…

This can be seen in Hawthorne’s The Birth-Mark. The story is based on a man of science named Alymer and his wife Georgiana. Georgiana had a birth mark on her cheek since birth, which Alymer grew increasingly troubled with. He saw the birth mark as an imperfection, “Alymer objectifies his wife, initially idiolizing her as an object of beauty, and then later reconceives her as flawed, requiring “improvement”.” (Tritt). Of course, since Alymer dislikes the birth mark, he wanted to remove it from…

and power is that knowledge is something that comes from the mind, and power is within the individual’s will. These notions are challenged within Alma Luz Villanueva’s “Crazy Courage,” Raymond Carver’s “Cathedral” and Nathanial Hawthorne’s “The Birth Mark.” In each of these literary works, it is implied that intellectual knowledge – that is knowledge that comes from the observation of outward, physical appearances – is not what is real. True knowledge comes from intuition and the unseen. Power…

“The Birth-Mark” by Nathaniel Hawthorne is a short story that carries an important moral. In the story, Aylmer sets out to achieve perfection. He does not consider the consequences of his actions due to the fact that he is too overtaken by reaching ultimate, physical perfection. He is obsessed with his wife’s external appearance to the extent that a small birthmark, considered beautiful by many, deeply bothers him. He wishes to remove it because he believes that it spoils her otherwise perfect…

emphasized intense emotion as an authentic source of aesthetic experiences. One of the most famous Romantic writers of the time was Nathaniel Hawthorne. Hawthorne was an American novelist who specialized in dark romantic writing such as the “Birth-Mark.” In the “Birth-Mark,” Hawthorne uses a character named Aylmer to symbolize how man cannot be god. Hawthorne’s view of man is that man cannot be a creator, while some…