Literary Analysys of the Birthmark Essay Example

The author's intention to convey a message through his writing is clear, as demonstrated by Hawthorne's creative use of symbolism and characterization. Ultimately, the cautionary tale of the negative consequences of science interfering with nature remains relevant even in today's society.

The main theme of "The Birthmark" is the superior and controlling power of nature as a creator. The author intends to reveal nature's tendency to restrict man's ability to mimic or manipulate its creation, much like an envious holder of a patent. While Science, Perfection, and mortality could be additional themes that the author aims to transmit, the recurrent message conveyed is that interfering with natural beauty is ultimately doomed to failure since there is only one creator.

At the start of the tale, Aylmer is a strong believer in science while his wife, Georgiana, is unaware until he expresses his disdain for the birthmark on her cheek. Aylmer's confidence in his scientific knowledge leads him to believe he can remedy the flaw. This represents a clash and shift between traditional nature-based beliefs and modern scientific beliefs. In this case, Aylmer represents science while Georgiana embodies nature. Hawthorne envisions this conflict as a product of a future society. The story delves into several instances where the disagreement between the two characters intensifies.

Both characters in the story go too far in their beliefs, leading to the death of Georgiana. While Aylmer initially rejoices at his supposed success, the true message Hawthorne conveys is that natural beauty is the only true beauty and nature is the sole creator. Hawthorne's ability to creatively characterize Aylmer, Aminadab, and Georgiana is exceptional and his narrative skillfully presents Aylmer as both

emotional and romantic, as well as rude and psychologically disturbed upon seeing the birthmark on Georgiana's cheek.

Georgiana's character sees beauty in herself and expects her husband to see it too, while also valuing nature and the outside world. She is a unique character that may be difficult to believe in the modern era. On the other hand, Aminadab's character is short but impactful in certain events.

The portrayal of the main character is quite multifaceted. Aylmer assumes various roles in different situations and adeptly manages all three minds, as depicted here. The story utilizes symbolism in a significant manner. Despite the fact that Aylmer is never shown succeeding as a scientist in public and none of his experiments prove successful, he consistently behaves like a scientist with unwavering confidence in his scientific knowledge. This effectively represents his failures as symbolic acts. However, he remains indifferent towards his actual abilities.

Without knowing the consequences, he chose not to use the new chemical on his wife. He perceived her birthmark as a flaw of nature that created her, thus symbolism for imperfection attributed to Nature's creator. The characters' conflict symbolizes the epoch of transitioning from perceiving inner beauty and natural beliefs to utilizing science as a modifier for artificial beauty. V.

In conclusion, Hawthorne has expressed his stance on the conflict between man and nature through his short story. He effectively conveys his viewpoint through well-crafted characters and symbols. Aylmer's character is pivotal in the story as he manipulates others to achieve his own goals. The source of this analysis is Hawthorne's work.

In

1996

, the book The Birthmark was published in Raleigh, NC by Alex Catalogue. Additionally, The American

Tradition in Literature was written by G. Perkins and B. Perkins in

2009

.The article "The Best That Earth Could Offer: 'The Birth-Mark,' A Newlywed's Story" by L. Rosenberg was published in 1993 by McGraw Hill in New York, and appeared in Studies in the Short Fiction, volume 30, issue 20, spanning pages 145-147.