Social Norm In The Birthmark By Nathaniel Hawthorne

Throughout the many pieces of writing in history, many of the story tellers followed a social norm from a psychological perspective. These norms and behaviors of certain plots consist of problems such as self-identity and stereotyping, which indeed did exist in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The works of Nathaniel Hawthorne contain layers that can be studied to understand his material on a deeper level. Hawthorne hides psychological concepts in his stories using different perspectives through stereotypes, religion, and personalities.

One of his pieces of writings is The Birthmark, and can be broken down into psychological perspectives. Love, which can be argued, holds a lot of meanings which can be defined through each person’s beliefs

Looking at Aminadab through a psychological standpoint, Hawthorne chooses Amindab’s name to symbolize his character. “The name is a variation of the Hebrew name Aminadav, which means ‘my nation is noble.’ Aminadab is a symbol of an early authority which is now discredited; the belief for which he stands is no longer significant” (Walsh). This means that Amindab was not going to remove the mark but because Aylmer had stereotyped him as an “human machine” and a “man of clay” Amindab question his beliefs and self-esteem just as Georgiana did. The point of the story can conclude that people are born the way they are and changing themselves could change everything else as well. However, the psychological findings in this story conclude that one person, Aylmer, has affected two different people’s perceptions about themselves and about others. Georgiana had decided to remove her mark. The birth mark was a part of her and once that was taken away her personality and life were taken away with

In the beginning of the story, Goodman Brown's Id personality wins a battle over his ego and superego personalities when he makes the decision to leave his wife behind on his call to adventure towards evil. Goodman Brown fears his calling, but he goes anyway which is the example of his Id winning over his other personalities. He wants to fulfill his calling (or as Freud calls it: the pleasure principle) and he needs it to be done immediately (McLeod). McLeod describes how “The id operates on the pleasure principle which is the idea that every wishful impulse should be satisfied immediately, regardless of the consequences” (McLeod). Hawthorne uses Young Goodman Brown as an example of the constant battle between the personalities driven by his id and ego through his action of continuing to his unexplained