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How Does Nathaniel Hawthorne Use Allusions In The Birthmark

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Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Birthmark” is a short story illustrating the struggle of a man who is obsessed with his wife’s one imperfection. The protagonist has dedicated his life to science, but his passion becomes his fault when it leads to his wife’s death. Hawthorne uses allusions, symbolism, and his characters to send the message that being imperfect is part of being a human being and that one cannot “play God.” The message permeates this nineteenth century short story allowing it to continue to be relatable today. In today’s society the main character, Aylmer, would be the jerk husband who insists his wife get plastic surgery. His wife Georgiana is beautiful with a red birthmark on her cheek. As a scientist Aylmer is convinced that …show more content…

She is beautiful even if others see her birthmark as a flaw. The men, excluding her husband, saw her as the most gorgeous girl they have ever seen, never viewing the birthmark as a flaw. The other women were jealous of her and the attention she got from other men so they deemed her birthmark as an imperfection calling it “the bloody hand.” Before Aylmer mentioned the story of Pygmalion he condemned the women that spoke of Georgiana in this way and he said “But it would be as reasonable to say that one of those small blue stains which sometimes occur in the purest statuary marble would convert the Eve of Powers to a monster” (Hawthorne 1321). He is implying that God created Georgiana with the image of Eve and because she was tainted by sin, Georgiana had to be created with this birthmark. Each reference, the bible and the story of Pygmalion, both connect back to Aylmer striving to be God-like. Hawthorne alludes to several different meanings behind the birthmark, one of them being that it was created by God and could be representative of his touch. The birthmark is shaped like a hand, which could indicate that her creator touched her personally while creating her beauty. This is one of the reasons the birthmark taunts Aylmer. Hawthorne then adds to the birthmarks symbolism by claiming it looks like a “human …show more content…

“The crimson hand expressed the ineludible gripe in which mortality clutches the highest and purest of earthly mould, degrading them into kindred with the lowest, and even with the very brutes, like whom their visible frames return to dust” (Hawthorne 1322). The birthmark represents Georgiana’s mortality and humanity. Morality links to imperfection because that’s what being human means. Aylmer wants to make Georgiana perfect, which is impossible, but that is his goal. To make someone perfect or immortal would give Aylmer the control that he so badly yearns

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These scholars’ arguments contribute to the story, “The Birth-Mark”, Nathanial Hawthorne expresses the common personal issue that individuals possess. The Birth-Mark was about a man named Aylmer and his obsession of science and the birth mark on his wife’s face. The birth

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The hand on Georgiana’s cheek is a symbol for the sins of this world. Even Aylmer states that, “as being the visible mark of earthly imperfection.” I personally think Georgiana knows that she will die in order for Aylmer to remove the Birth Mark. That is why she keeps putting the surgery off. Rosenberg explains, “Aylmer never truly sees his wife; even when she is dying, he misperceives the true import of her symptoms.

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In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s,”The Birthmark,” Alymer, the scientist, knew all along that his science would kill his wife because he himself is imperfect. Sometimes, scientists become so involved in their work that they forget about others. Alymer’s forgetting about his wife and their future was what happened when he decided that his science was more important to him than she was. His obsession with her looks, and his obsession with performing experimental surgery caused him to lose the most important person in his life. First, Alymer knew from the beginning that he was not a good scientist.

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The birthmark means mortality. It 's a symbol that everyone has flaws. It shows that even though you might not have a birthmark as a flaw, there is still something there that 's a flaw. No matter what there will never be another person exactly like you in this world, and that 's what the birthmark represents. It doesn 't even necessarily have to be an external flaw though.

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“The Birthmark by Nathaniel is a short story about a man wanting to perfect his wife. His main purpose in life becomes to find a process that will remove the birthmark from his beautiful wifes Georgina's face. Analyzing the story further, the reader can use symbolism, point of view/tone, and setting to better understand the conflict between nature and science. One can analyze “The Birthmark” by understanding the symbolism found throughout the story. The actual birthmark is a small red hand shaped mark in the middle of Georgiana's left cheek.

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Francisco Villegas Dr. Richard Coronado English 2326 September 29, 2014 Perfection Is Not A Goal Worth Pursuing In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story, “The Birth-Mark,” Aylmer apparently after getting married with Georgiana noticed the birthmark Georgiana had in her left cheek. Aylmer is very troubled how the birthmark resembles in Georgiana’s face. He proclaimed that it is a natural flaw that has affected her vivid human perfection. Since Aylmer is a scientist he propose to Georgiana to get rid of her birthmark once and for all. At first she angrily questions Aylmer’s proposition, but her love for him changes her thoughts and she accepts to permanently get rid of the birthmark.

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The first and most important use of symbolism we receive is that of the birthmark. We learn that, “in the centre of Georgians's left cheek, there was a singular mark, deeply interwoven, as it were, with the texture and substance of her face” (205). Upon further reading Hawthorne tells us that, “Its shape bore not a little similarity to the human hand” (205). Georgiana had a birthmark right in the middle of her left cheek that resembled a tiny hand in which Aylmer thought was very imperfect. The birthmark symbolizes mortality or an imperfection of

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On Georgiana’s face, there is a tiny handprint birthmark. Aylmer, her husband, grows strongly obsessed with the birthmark after they are married.. Consequently, all the time he spends observing the birth mark he believes that everything mortal is flawed and are on Earth temporarily. “It was a fatal flaw of humanity which Nature, in one shape or another, stamps inefficace bility on all her

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In the story “The Birthmark” by Nathaniel Hawthorne, he uses several techniques to help build his story. Hawthorne tells a story of a man of science whose name was Aylmer. He married a beautiful women named Georgiana, although she was quite beautiful she had a birthmark on her face which, in Aylmer’s eyes was an imperfection. Aylmer tries to perfect Georgiana, but in the end Aylmer’s attempts to change Georgiana causes him to lose her. Aylmer does not accept the idea of imperfections in people.

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In The Birthmark, Hawthorne depicts the obsession for perfection, the tole it takes on one and the consequences it has. The quest for perfection is unrealistic and unobtainable as we are only mere humans incapable of reconstructing our DNA. In The Birthmark, Hawthorne tells the story of a woman named Georgiana and her scientist husband Aylmer, who are both fixated on a birthmark similar to the look of a tiny human hand. Aylmer is disgusted by Georgiana’s birthmark, wanting to please her husband Georgiana is willing to do anything for him to look at her in a normal manner “Danger is nothing to me;for life which this hateful mark

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One review writes; “If Aylmer could eliminate his wife's crimson mark of creation, then he would be the only one in the family with creative powers” (Eckstein). Georgiana further influences his desire when she taunts his scientific abilities which is reviewed as; ”Challenges Aylmer's masculinity and his power in science” (Jeffery). Another reason Aylmer may have wanted to remove Georgiana's mark was because he feared that she might leave him, since she was exceptionally beautiful and young. He became obsessed with the desire to change her natural facial features. His moral as a scientist consisted in changing nature by using knowledge and scientific power.

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He gets so caught up in wanting that so called perfection he ends up killing her and the birthmark. The short story The Birthmark was written more than century ago but still manages to possess our modern day obsession with physical perfection. In trying to perfect Georgiana, Aylmer is messing with God’s creation.

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Nathaniel Hawthorne 's short story, "The Birthmark" shows the silliness of a crazed scientist named, Aylmer aspiring to create a perfect human being, which is Georgiana, and by doing so, he opens the prospect of rivaling nature with his own scientific skillfulness. He uses symbolism of the birthmark to show how science 's attempt to ultimate failure often leads to control of nature, foolish obsession, and mortality. Georgiana is Aylmer 's wife. She is beautiful, intelligent, and a caring person. Her only imperfection is a tiny-red birthmark resembling the shape of a hand.

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The complication of the story is Georgina’s flaw is not as easy as it seems. Aylmer’s dreams: he tried to remove her birthmark, the deeper he cut, the deeper the birthmark went, until it was deep to reach protagonist’s heart to take it out. This dream made protagonist very up sad: it made her consider she was not perfection enough for her husband. Therefore, she was submission to the antagonist, as well as taking her social responsibility of serving his crave and living a life of achieving his satisfaction. As we can look into the story that narrator never mentioned that the protagonist opposition on antagonist physical appearance.

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When Aylmer demanded assistance from his servant, Aminadab, with Georgiana who was in a “lifeless form,” he muttered to himself: “If she were my wife, I’d never part with the birthmark” (Hawthorne 343). The ironic aspect of this part of the story is the servant, the scientist's personal laboratory rat, knew that the removal of such a tiny “defect” would end in a great loss. The “man of science,” the “philosopher,” the faith in man’s “ultimate control over nature,” all meant nothing. He could not see past his wife’s imperfection and look at what was truly important, her inner beauty. Destruction of beauty in this story, “The Birthmark,” is developed through the use of symbolism, conflict, and irony.

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