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Obsession In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Birthmark

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Today's society tends to revolve around personal image and culture. It thrives on the newest form of music, fashion, trends, and technology. Society has a way of forgetting the past or irrelevant when they are concerned with maintaining their image or relevance to others. This causes people to become obsessed with their body image. They are affected emotionally and physically trying to stay relevant with today's trends. The impact that today's society has on maintaining body image and relevance is a stain of fault that the world possesses because it makes them desperate, obsessed, and depressed. Obsession within today's world is common. It has bad effects on people and good effects. The results of being obsessed relies on the person. In Nathaniel Hawthorne's story, "The Birthmark" it sums up how obsession and desperation to alter natural beauty and its flaws can lead towards regrettable consequences. The story centers around a scientist and his wife, Georgiana, who has a handprint birthmark on her cheek. Aylmer, the husband and scientist loves his wife but is disgusted by her birthmark. He believes it tarnishes her beauty and prevents him from loving her completely. He becomes obsessed with getting rid of the birthmark. He gambles with his wife's life …show more content…

Depression is a black cloud on a sunny day for a person who walks outside in the world. They are judged upon the images and expectations of today's society images. They become unhappy, distraught, and withdrawn from society itself. Depression is one of the main mental disorders that affects today's society. The more people are affected the more they are judged upon by their actions. It is expected for a person to be happy in today's society. Happiness is essential to showing strength. The people who are affected by depression are perceived as weak beings who cannot control their emotions. The unfairness society has declared on people is

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1165 Words | 5 Pages

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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Aylmer through the story reminds Georgiana how flawed she is with this birthmark that she herself believes she is no longer beautiful, and in so allows her husband to preform the experiments

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791 Words | 4 Pages

When Aylmer and Georgiana got married, Georgiana was taken from her mothers home, making her complete dependent on Aylmer and his opinions. In addition to this, Aylmer’s belief hat he is better than God, and has the ability to remove Georgiana’s birthmark, creates inequality in their relationship. Finally, due to Georgiana’s obsession with what Aylmer thinks of her, paired with Aylmer's rude looks and comments, leads her to do something

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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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Aylmer, however, believes that his wife’s birthmark “destroy[s] the effect of [her] beauty” (341).   He believes that the imperfection is only seen as such because of the beauty that Georgiana possesses and “had she been less beautiful…he might have felt his affection heightened by the prettiness of this” (341) birthmark, rather he grows more and more repulsed by the birthmark as time goes

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Accentuating Georgiana’s awareness of her deteriorating health, is a vital moment in the story. Her declaration of her death finally makes Aylmer realize that this role of “god” and trying to attain perfection wasn’t worth the final result as it had the tragic consequence of killing the love of his life. In conclusion, “The Birth-Mark” by Nathaniel Hawthorne serves as a thought-provoking critique of society’s obsession with perfection, truly showing the dangers of striving for an unattainable

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331 Words | 2 Pages

In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story “The Birthmark” Aylmer is a successful scientist who decides to step away from his work to get married. He marries a woman named Georgiana. She is described as a beautiful woman with a birthmark on her cheek. After marrying Georgiana, Aylmer becomes fixated on the birthmark and soon becomes frightened of it.

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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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Perfection in a world of imperfection. “The Birthmark” is a story of confusing sorrow about a man and a woman whose differences numerous problems for the two. Aylmer a renowned scientist of his time has taken it upon himself to marry a woman of great perfection and beauty. As Aylmer admires his wife, he notices a peculiar “birthmark” (306) upon his wife’s cheek in the shape of a “tiny hand” (305). Thus making the most beautiful woman flawed and imperfect.

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Nathaniel Hawthorne is one of the most important American writers of the romantic era. As part of this influential movement, he contrasted human intellect and nature's forces. In Nathaniel’s short story, “The Birthmark”, the author uses a birthmark and scientific power to symbolize man’s ambition of changing nature’s perfection. He implies that the birthmark on Georgiana's cheek represents Human’s natural flaw while Aylmer’s scientific knowledge represents the envy of pursuing perfection. Once married, Aylmer discovered Georgiana’s natural flaw and becomes obsessed with removing her birthmark in attempt to achieve the perfection implied by the author into the theme.

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Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Birthmark” is a short story detailing the relationship between the married couple Aylmer and Georgiana. Georgiana has a hand-shaped birthmark on her left cheek which Aylmer finds appalling on her otherwise perfect face. The couple eventually decides to remove the mark, with disastrous results (Hawthorne). Barbara Eckstein, author of Studies in Short Fiction, critically reviews “The Birthmark” in her article, “Hawthorne’s ‘The Birthmark’: Science and Romance as Belief.”

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The Price of Perfection Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote the short story “The Birthmark” in 1843 and it is set at a time when science was an emerging field. Science at that time was unexplainable and mysterious to the common person which lead to it being referred to as magic. One of the themes that is common in Hawthorne's work is the sinful nature and impurity that is at the heart of each person. Hawthorne shows the dilemma of the flawed nature of a person and the ultimate price of perfection that will be paid.

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436 Words | 2 Pages

In the short story “The Birth-Mark” written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the reader is introduced to a tragic love story that shows how foolhardy it is to make someone perfect. Hawthorne hammers this theme throughout the story of the scientist Aylmer and his lovely wife, Georgiana, who has a small, hand shaped birthmark on her cheek on the left side of her face. Aylmer develops a fixation on the birthmark that keeps his wife from being the image of perfection, and vows to use his scientific knowledge to remove it. Over the course of “The Birth-Mark” Hawthorne uses imagery and symbolism, figurative language, and type of narrator and narration. Hawthorne's use of vivid imagery and symbols to describe the conflict between Aylmer and the birthmark vividly highlights the conflict of Aylmer's love for Georgiana and his distaste of the birthmark.

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177 Words | 1 Pages

The lives of the protagonist Aylmer and his near perfect wife Georgiana are illustrated by the author. As the reader becomes aware of Aylmer’s dissatisfaction of his wife's one blemish, a birthmark on her cheek, his constant desire

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717 Words | 3 Pages

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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