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Imagery And Symbolism In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Birthmark

762 Words4 Pages

The Birthmark observes the life of Aylmer, whose life is eternally plagued by scientific and experimental curiosity, and his wife Georgiana who was born with a small hand-shaped sized birthmark upon her face. Aylmer’s attitudes towards the birthmark quickly turn from sincere recognition to shocking distaste. As Aylmer’s attitude towards the birthmark change, his desire to rid Georgiana of the birthmark increases, but Aylmer quickly discovers that some aspects of nature must never be tampered with. The central theme of The Birthmark, which is the fruitless strive for perfection, becomes clear when observing the symbol of the birthmark, motifs of crimson and white, and deep characterization. As a central part of the short story, the birthmark …show more content…

Georgiana is evidently uncomfortable by the idea of Aylmer removing the mark. In order to increase Georgiana’s confidence in the experiment, Aylmer reveals some of the secrets of science discovered in the laboratory. However, all of the ‘experiments’ Aylmer shows Georgiana fails in some way. Aylmer found a way of creating portraits using light against metal; however, when used on Georgiana, only the crimson hand upon her face appeared in the image (Hawthorne, 295). Additionally, Aylmer reveals a magical flower to Georgiana, which when plucked released a lovely perfume and withered down to its seeds (Hawthorne, 295). Unfortunately, when Georgiana touched the flower, its leaves withered to a state of black dust like coal. The failures of these experiments foreshadows the failure of Aylmer’s experiment to remove the mark from Georgiana’s face. Georgiana herself becomes aware of the possibility of failure when Aylmer dreams of removing the mark but its roots have spread deep down into Georgiana’s heart. Georgiana questions her husband about the dream, and Aylmer begrudgingly obliges to share its contents. From this dream, Georgiana is self-aware of the forthcoming failure of the experiment to remove the mark. Conclusively, the narrators foreshadowing of Georgiana’s death and the experiments failure leads the attentive reader to

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Hawthorne uses imagery sense of smell to get readers to imagine the scene, “When Georgiana recovered consciousness she found herself breathing an atmosphere of penetrating fragrance, the gentle potency of which had recalled her from her deathlike faintness” (Hawthorne). “The Birthmark” also creates irony with “Aminadab, the less inferior man to Aylmer is the one who speaks sensible to Aylmer by disclaiming that if Georgiana was his wife, he would not try to remove the birthmark” (“The Birthmark”). The figurative language helps enhance the story. Nathaniel Hawthorne’s meaning for the story was a man’s strive to perfection only caused the death of his wife. Aylmer was too focused on what perfect could be, and Georgiana blindly agrees with him and decides to remove the birthmark, despite never having a problem with it.

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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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Analysis Of Nathaniel Hawthorne's Short Story 'The Birth-Mark'

1470 Words | 6 Pages

As you can see evidence suggests that Aylmer has love for both science and Georgiana, but his love for science exceeds more greatly than his love for Georgiana. Immediately after getting married Aylmer asked Georgiana to get the birthmark removed, and of course by the use of science. It seems that he wants to treat her like a simple experiment nothing more. Aylmer states that it shocks him that something so little ruined her appearance, and tries to convince Georgiana to scientifically get rid of the mark. Hawthorne provides proof by writing, “No, dearest Georgiana, you came so nearly perfect from the hand of Nature, that this slightest possible defect----which we hesitate whether to term a defect or a beauty----shocks me, as being

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Symbolism in “The Birthmark” In “The Birthmark” Nathaniel Hawthorne gives us a story that is telling us on some level to accept your own, as well as other people's imperfections or it could destroy not only your relationship with them, but also your relationship with yourself. In this story Hawthorne uses symbolism to show us exactly how this kind of behavior can lead to not just ruining relationships, but in this case even death. In “The Birthmark” Hawthorne uses a wide variety of objects and people such as a withering flower, a birthmark, poison, Aylmer's dream and Georgiana's death, and even a character named Aminidab to symbolize that nobody is in fact perfect and we all must accept each others flaws in order to have good and healthy relationships.

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It describes him as “Proficient in every branch of natural philosophy”, (Hawthorne, 365) to the extent that he even discovered an elixir that he could determine if a man would drop dead instantly or linger out years after only of a breath of this substance. We see a great irony in how intelligent Aylmer is, and yet how many scientific mistakes he makes. When he uses the elixir of life upon the flower, it grows beautifully but also self-combusts. He then tells Georgiana he will need to use a much stronger substance on her, in order to fix her birthmark. The flower very obviously foreshadows Georgiana’s death, and the result proves that Aylmer’s science can produce extremely unpredictable results.

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In “The Birthmark,” both Aylmer and Georgiana show that striving for perfection is something that everyone does. That is why this theme is so evident throughout the entire story. Aylmer, being a man of science, thinks very highly of himself. He is considered to be “an eminent proficient in every branch of natural philosophy.” Aylmer also has a lab portfolio with detailed descriptions of all of his experiments,

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The hand serves as the image of mankind. Aylmer sees his wife’s birthmark as “the symbol of his wife’s liability to sin, sorrow, decay, and death” (2). The way he views the mark on her cheek serves as a reminder that death is inevitable for both him and Georgiana. It contrasts Aylmer’s idea of achieving perfection through science and it disturbs him. When Aylmer dreams of removing Georgiana’s birthmark, he sees that the hand’s “tiny grasp appeared to have caught hold of Georgiana’s heart; whence, however her husband was inexorably resolved to cut or wrench it away,” (3).

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