Ashley Zannikos Period 9 English II Honors Exam 1/26/09 Nathaniel Hawthorns short stories‚ such as‚ Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment‚ Rappaccini’s Daughter and The Birthmark all have an underlying meaning and demonstrate a similar recurring theme. Hawthorne uses his stories to clarify his beliefs on the competition between nature‚ religion‚ and science in everyday life. In all three of his short stories he refuses the concept of science coming before religion or nature. Hawthorne
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answering this dilemma. Aylmer‚ a noted and respected scientist‚ is Georgiana’s husband who becomes overwhelmingly obsessed with the tiny birthmark on her cheek and an ill-conceived notion that it can be removed. High intelligence‚ profound egotism‚ and a fanatical perfectionism are
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achieve the theme‚ that it is not a person’s appearance that counts; you need to love a person for who they are and never try and change them. Hawthorne uses the Aylmer’s shallowness‚ scientific need for perfection‚ and his hatred for his wife’s birthmark to help explain why he is trying so hard to destroy this imperfection. Aylmer is a man who associates love with appearances and cannot love his wife without her appearance being perfect. He says to his wife‚ “… you came so nearly perfect from the
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A Dual-Criticism Look at The Birthmark Literature is many things: provoking‚ heartwarming‚ emotional‚ traumatic‚ poetic‚ maybe even life-changing. Literature can also be incredibly ambiguous. While literature can be “simply read”‚ when one takes a step back and looks at a piece through specific lenses‚ the work can take on an incredibly different‚ deeper meaning. Taking the lead of criticisms such as formalist‚ psychoanalytical‚ biological‚ feminist‚ Marxist‚ etc.‚ one can dig deeper into a text
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ANALYSIS OF THE SHORT STORY “THE BIRTHMARK” Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Birthmark” illustrates how one’s obsessions and moral weakness leads to another’s questioning of their self-image and drives the pursuit of perfection in our society. The main character‚ Aylmer‚ develops an obsession with becoming a world renowned alchemist‚ yet falls short when he sets his goals and cannot accomplish them. The unrealistic goals that Aylmer sets reflect how his character is composed; he consistently strives
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Hawthorne’s story‚ The Birthmark‚ these ideals are proved wrong. In year 1843‚ Hawthorne discovered that one of the great issues in society was engraved in a man’s determination to turn imperfection to perfection by any means necessary. Through a literary theorist lens‚ literature can be used to explain and show how unhappy men are themselves and the people around them‚ which often causes the
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representing things by means of symbols or of attributing symbolic meanings or significance to objects‚ events‚ or relationships. In both of Hawthorne’s short stories “The Ministers Black Veil” and “The Birthmark” show symbolism‚ “The Ministers Black Veil” symbolizes sin and strong will; “The Birthmark” symbolizes amour love and imperfection. “The Ministers Black Veil” is a story about a well-liked Minister in a small town named Mr. Hooper. As the story progresses Parson Hooper‚ a looked up to citizen
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Aylmer Feel about Georgiana’s birthmark? How does Georgiana feel about it? a. Aylmer thinks it’s a physical mark of earthly imperfection. At first she likes it. 7. What does her birthmark look like? Where is it located? Why is it important? a. It looked like a red stain on her check that resembles a tiny hand. Men told her a fairly must have placed a hand on her when she was born. Woman saw it as a flaw. 8. Summarize the dream Aylmer had about his wife’s birthmark and his attempt to remove it
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American literatures. For example‚ the debate over genetic engineering and cloning can be related to Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Birthmark”. Genetic engineering and cloning has been a heated debate for a long time. Genetic engineering may work wonders but it is after all a process of manipulating the nature. A similar situation was also presented in Hawthorne’s literature “The Birthmark”. In his story‚ the main character believed science can fix everything. He decided science would make the mark on his wife’s
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Power for women in America in the 1950s was a different for women than in present day. The plays Fences by August Wilson and A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams‚ examines two different women from different social classes and races. Despite these women having vastly different pasts‚ there are some similarities in the role they play in their families and marriages and the way their power is important to the storylines of the two plays in relation to the other characters. Stella and Rose
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