Hawthorne The Birthmark Analysis

The limitations of a world overly focused on science and technology in Hawthorne, Von Schiller, and Poe

Throughout history science and technology have had big impacts in society. In the 18th and 19th centuries Hawthorne, Von Schiller, and Poe saw the terrible things that science can do to society, thus, they decided to write a warning. In “Sonnet-To Science” and “The Birthmark” Poe and Hawthorne state that perfection is something that scientist seek for although it is something unachievable. In “To Astronomers” and “The Birthmark” Von Schiller and Hawthorne illustrate how scientists have an obsession with success which makes some of their scientific discoveries unreliable. They also illustrate how science was taking the beauty out of nature,
In “The Birthmark” Hawthorne suggests that scientist are never pleased with how things naturally are, this because nature tends to be imperfect to scientists’ eyes. He is able to illustrate this by showing how Georgina’s “whole spirit… prayed that, for a single moment, she might satisfy [Aylmer’s] highest and deepest conception. Longer than one moment she well knew it could not be; for [Aylmer’s] spirit was ever on the march, ever ascending/… something that was beyond the scope of the instant before”(Hawthorne, “The Birthmark” 100). Moreover, Aylmer in this context is a representation of science, showing how he will never be satisfied with Georgina’s natural appearance. He states that Georgina’s problem is no longer just a superficial birthmark that can be treated with a “powerful cosmetic [which] With a few drops… freckles may be washed away…/A stronger infusion would take the blood out of the cheek, and leave the rosiest beauty a pale ghost” (Hawthorne, TB 98), but something much more complicated than that which now “demands a remedy that shall go deeper” (Hawthorne, TB 98). He has changed his original goal and now he wants to remove the birthmark from the root. Poe in “Sonnet-To Science” questions himself in a satirical way “How should [I] love three? Or how deem thee wise, / Who wouldst not leave him in his wandering/ To seek for treasure in the
In “The Birthmark” Hawthorne shows how Aylmer becomes obsessed with removing Georgiana’s birthmark so much that he is “Either [will] remove this dreadful hand, or take [his] wretched life! You have deep science. All the world bears witness of it. You have achieved great wonders. Cannot you remove this little, little mark, which I cover with the tips of two small fingers? Is this beyond your power, for the sake of your own peace, and to save [his] poor wife from madness?”(Hawthorne, TB 95). Aylmer is troubled by the fact that he has not been able to remove the mark yet since he thinks of himself as a scientist that can achieve anything. He sees the mark removal as a challenge rather than something important that has to be treated carefully. In “To Astronomers” Schiller illustrates how scientist claim to understand how nature works: “Though your object may be the sublimest that space holds within it, / Yet, my good friend, the sublime dwells not in the regions of space” (Schiller, “To Astronomers” 88). Schiller refers to some “objects” which can be represented as constellations. He is saying that just because you have constellations figured out it does not means that you understand the space or nature. Schiller also states how he does not believe what scientists say, since he tells them to “Prate not to me so much of suns and of nebulous