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How Does Nathaniel Hawthorne Use Dramatic Irony In The Birthmark

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“The Birthmark” was written by an author of the name Nathaniel Hawthorne. This short story is a sorts of life lesson story in which people should always be grateful for what they have. This story also has a great sense of humor that keeps the reader entertained but also informed of what is happening in the story. Nathaniel Hawthorne, an English native, created this very interesting entertaining and detailed short story that focuses on dramatic irony, imagery, and symbolism to convey its ideas of romance and science.
Nathaniel Hawthorne was born in Salem, Massachusetts (Nathaniel Hawthorne Biography). He lived a very short life from 1804 to 1864. John hathrone, Nathaniel's grandfather, was one of the three judges in the Salem witch trials. Nathaniel wanted to distant himself from his family so he …show more content…

The birthmark on georgina is constantly referred to as the crimson hand. This Almost indicates that there will not be a happy ending. The birthmark represents Georgiana's humanity, which Hawthorne indicates is equivalent to representing her flaws. It is man's nature to be mortal and imperfect, he argues in this story. That's just what it means to be a human. Aylmer wants to rid Georgiana of her “flaws” one being the birthmark. He wants her to be perfect. In a sense he does cleanse her of all her imperfections. “In the centre of Georgiana's left cheek there was a singular mark, deeply interwoven, as it were (The Birthmark).” Deeply Interwoven shows symbolically that man's flaw can not be separated from us to make us “perfect.” The birthmark gives a sense of imperfection and creates this feeling of self doubt. It gives a theme of being content with what you have because it might not be there forever. In the story Aylmer loves his wife Georgiana but thinks she is imperfect and becomes unsatisfied with her. He tries to change the fact that she has a birthmark and ends up killing her in the

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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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Georgiana at first didn’t care that she had the mark on her face. She enjoyed the mark because she had been told by many people that “some fairy at her birth hour had laid her tiny hand upon the infant’s cheek”. But eventually, in her eyes it seemed like a devil had laid his hand upon her cheek. This fairy vs. devil symbolizes the way that Aylmer changes her point of view of the birthmark in a negative way. As the male authority figure Aylmer is convincing her to change her looks, whether she wants to or not.

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Intro: Nathaniel Hawthorne’s fictional short story “The Birthmark” and The Twilight Zone’s darkly romantic episode “Eye of the Beholder” both use gothic elements and delve into the realm of science to explore concepts of beauty and perfection. Through their contrasting characterizations of the scientist and employments of irony and allusions, each work comes to its own conclusions about how to define and treat beauty. Body #1: The Birthmark From the very first paragraph, Hawthorne’s story revolves around Aylmer, a scientist who supposedly gives up his career to marry the beautiful woman of his dreams, Georgiana.

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The birthmark itself symbolizes morality. Aylmer, this brilliant scientist and husband to Georgiana, sees it has as fatal flaw. It also represents this imperfection of human nature. Nothing is perfect in nature, but science can help improve to make it seem flawless.

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Later on Aylmer would come to understand how connected the birthmark was to Georgiana, just as Aminadab had understood earlier. Selfish and blinded by his obsession he continues the course of removing the birthmark costing Georgiana her

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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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“Good fiction creates empathy. A novel takes you somewhere and asks you to look through the eyes of another person, to live another life”. (Barbara Kingsolver) Fiction is an imaginary thing or event, postulated for the purposes of argument or explanation as defined by Dictionary.com. There are many literary devices that writers incorporate into their works. The main reason literary devices are used is to connect with the reader.

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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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It shows that our flaws make up a large part of who we are which make it very difficult to separate the two. To remove it would only result in failure. Aylmer finally is able to remove “the last crimson tint of the birthmark -- that sole token of human imperfection” (13). The mark shows that people are inherently imperfect and it’s what makes us human. Once Aylmer removes that imperfection, Georgiana dies because it is impossible to obtain perfection as a person.

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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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Aylmer wants his wife to be perfect, however he believes that the birthmark on her face is keeping her from being so. The birthmark can be a symbol for many things, but the most important being human imperfection. Georgianna’s beauty is hidden behind this mark and that can be interpreted as outer and inner beauty. Almyer wants to rid his wife of physical imperfections and internal imperfections as well. Hawthorne shows that Almyer becomes even more disgusted with Georgianna as he thinks more of this mark (388).

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) This piece of evidence displays Aylmer's selfishness. Even though he was aware of the dangers of the procedure, he carried through with them. He was so caught up in the one imperfection in his wife that he was ready to do anything he could do to discard it. With so much passion for getting rid of the defect, he ultimately killed his beloved wife.

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A character having an ability to be an influence of fatality is a dangerously powerful trait to have. The victim’s life is placed into the hands of the influencer. This power of fatality can be seen within Robert Frost’s poem, “Out, Out,” when a personified buzz saw cuts the hand off the boy using it. This injury causes him to die. This power of fatality can also be seen in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story, “The Birthmark,” a scientist, named Aylmer creates a risky and unreliable potion that was expected to remove his wife’s birthmark but, it ultimately kills her.

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Aylmer is consumed with a pursuit of perfection in his scientific studies and also in nature. The leads to Aylmer being appalled at the blemish on his wife Georgiana’s cheek. He tells Georgiana “you came so nearly perfect from the hand of Nature, that this slightest possible defect..shocks me, as being the visible mark of earthly imperfection” (216). This is the catalyst for Aylmer's seeking for perfection in his wife who is a natural being. Aylmer recognizes that there is a “fatal flaw of humanity, which Nature...stamps ineffaceable on all her productions” (216).

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The true essence of “The Birthmark” is infiltrated through the hidden structure of the strength of a woman. As we unpack the passion behind the obsession that Aylmer presents with his genius in science, on the surface, one may recognize his obscenity and categorize it as a reflection of masculine control. Though, this is in fact true, what strikes as an unbeknownst strength is the hidden sacrifice that Georgiana represents as she succumbs to her spouse and his desire to make her “perfect”. As Hawthorne structures this sacrifice as a mere testament of how women of the late 1700’s - 1800’s valued the perspective of their spouse, it is necessary to extract how this act of selflessness attributes to the amount of love and respect Georgiana has for

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