The Birthmark on Mortal Perfection Hawthorne writes about a subject that is still very prominent now. He examines the obsession with human perfection. The story tells of a very successful scientist and philosopher‚ Aylmer‚ and his very beautiful wife Georgiana. Aylmer is obsessed with perfection‚ as are most scientists. He makes sure he experiments with all possible options to conclude the best results for a perfect solution. Now Aylmer is very much in love with his wife Georgiana‚ and she with
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absolutely flawless? Nathaniel Hawthorne was born in Salem‚ Massachusetts on July 4‚ 1808. He was a famous American novelist and short story writer. In 1821 Hawthorn was accepted into Bowdoin College where he was elected into Phi Beta Kappa. “The Birthmark”‚ one of his short stories‚ was published in March of 1843. During that time science was having many new discoveries. Although‚ many people were still unfamiliar with science and were doubtful of its importance‚ it was increasingly more interesting
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sorrows in their process to become "god". Such examples are introduced in the following two stories: Frankenstein and "The birthmark". In both stories‚ the author created a character that was to symbolize the scientists of the early 19th centuries who believed that anything was possible with science. In "The Birthmark"‚ Hawthorne’s character Aylmer tries to remove his wife’s birthmark with his use of science but ends up killing her. While in Frankenstein‚ the protagonist Victor attempts to use science
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Beauty is the eyes of the beholder. One man’s beauty can be misery for another. For perfectionists it can be difficult to find the perfection. Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Birthmark” is a story of a couple’s foolish search for perfection which ends with a tragedy. Georgiana‚ who is the victim of god’s small mistake‚ is one of the main characters in the story. On the outside‚ she looked so in love with her husband that she was able to give up her life to satisfy him. On the inside‚ she was an egotistical
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Both “The Birthmark” by Nathaniel Hawthorne and “Eye of the Beholder” by Rod Serling are both short stories that introduce two young‚ beautiful women who‚ despite their beauty‚ are castigated by positions of power for their uniqueness. While Hawthorne uses symbolism and third person omniscient storytelling to create an allegory in which perfection among the common is what’s desired by its characters‚ Serling tells of a world in which the thing that’s unacceptable by society’s standards is non uniformity
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Georgiana’s birthmark represents her grasp on humanity as shown in its shape as a hand. The hand symbolizes humanity’s role in nature and the continuous struggle between nature and science. Georgiana is someone who Aylmer sees as created “nearly perfect from the hand of Nature” (Hawthorne 1). Her birthmark is an imprint left by nature and is representative of humanity’s ties to it. Altering nature isn’t something that humans should be able to do because it is more powerful than any creation made
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also evident in the story of The Birthmark. Hawthorne’s dark romanticism story mainly focuses on his belief of science‚ nature and religion. It illustrates how the attempt of changing a human being to your
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was a major asset to the transcendental movement‚ and this short story is a perfect example why. In Nathaniel Hawthorne’sThe Birthmark‚ the main character‚ Aylmer‚ wants to have a perfect wife. His wife‚ Georgiana‚ is a very beautiful woman with just one flaw‚ the Birthmark on her face. As a scientist‚ Aylmer tries to create an elixir that will rid Georgiana of her birthmark‚ thus making her perfect. According to Hawthorne‚ however‚ this is not possible. During the transcendental phase of American
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Hawthorne’s “The Birthmark” is that striving for perfection is foolish. Every day we see the good things that have to do with having the so called perfect body‚ personality‚ or even having perfect skin‚ like Georgiana. First off‚ Georgiana would never have seen the “imperfection” of her birthmark had it not been for other people tearing her down about it‚ and second off‚ perfection itself is relative. Just like the saying “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” And in Aylmer’s eye‚ the birthmark was nowhere
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Controlling Nature: A Losing Battle In the story “The Birthmark” by Nathaniel Hawthorne‚ science versus nature is an essential source of conflict. This theme becomes apparent through Alymer’s persistent desire to interfere with what is natural through his passion for science. This obsession becomes most apparent when Alymer attempts to change his wife Georgiana’s natural appearance. Soon after marrying her‚ Alymer is shocked by the smallest of imperfection‚ and expresses desire to remove it‚ as
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