The+Birthmark

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"By Heaven! it is well-nigh gone!" said Aylmer to himself, in almost irrepressible ecstasy. "I can scarcely trace it now. Success! success! And now it is like the faintest rose color. The lightest flush of blood across her cheek would overcome it. But she is so pale!"====== He drew aside the window curtain and suffered the light of natural day to fall into the room and rest upon her cheek. At the same time he heard a gross, hoarse chuckle, which he had long known as his servant Aminadab's expression of delight. "Ah, clod! ah, earthly mass!" cried Aylmer, laughing in a sort of frenzy, "you have served me well! Matter and spirit--earth and heaven --have both done their part in this! Laugh, thing of the senses! You have earned the right to laugh." These exclamations broke Georgiana's sleep. She slowly unclosed her eyes and gazed into the mirror which her husband had arranged for that purpose. A faint smile flitted over her lips when she recognized how barely perceptible was now that crimson hand which had once blazed forth with such disastrous brilliancy as to scare away all their happiness. But then her eyes sought Aylmer's face with a trouble and anxiety that he could by no means account for. "My poor Aylmer!" murmured she. "Poor? Nay, richest, happiest, most favored!" exclaimed he. "My peerless bride, it is successful! You are perfect!" "My poor Aylmer," she repeated, with a more than human tenderness, "you have aimed loftily; you have done nobly. Do not repent that with so high and pure a feeling, you have rejected the best the earth could offer. Aylmer, dearest Aylmer, I am dying!" Alas! it was too true! The fatal hand had grappled with the mystery of life, and was the bond by which an angelic spirit kept itself in union with a mortal frame. As the last crimson tint of the birthmark--that sole token of human imperfection--faded from her cheek, the parting breath of the now perfect woman passed into the atmosphere, and her soul, lingering a moment near her husband, took its heavenward flight. Then a hoarse, chuckling laugh was heard again! Thus ever does the gross fatality of earth exult in its invariable triumph over the immortal essence which, in this dim sphere of half development, demands the completeness of a higher state. Yet, had Alymer reached a profounder wisdom, he need not thus have flung away the happiness which would have woven his mortal life of the selfsame texture with the celestial. The momentary circumstance was too strong for him; he failed to look beyond the shadowy scope of time, and, living once for all in eternity, to find the perfect future in the present.

** Author- **
· Written by [|Nathaniel Hawthorne]. · It was first published in the March, 1843 edition of //The Pioneer//. · It was published later in //Mosses from an Old Manse//, a collection of short stories by Hawthorne. ** Context- ** · Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote "The Birthmark" at a time when the scientific method was being glorified and people were starting to think science really could take us anywhere we wanted to go. He set his story about 60 years earlier, in the 100-year-long wake of the Newtonian Revolution, in the Age of Enlightenment, when science was gaining its momentum. History argues that, despite the general optimism, science really does have its limitations. There are certain things that humans are not privileged to know, not capable of doing. It is not only ignorant, the story seems to say, but downright dangerous to try and play God. ** Synopsis- ** · After marrying Georgiana, Alymer begins to hate her Birthmark because it is a symbol of her imperfection. Alymer’s obsession with her birthmark drives him to create an elixir to remove it which ends up killing her. · ** In this excerpt, Aylmer has succeeded in removing Georgiana’s birthmark, however he soon discovers that it has cost Georgiana her life. ** ** Narrator- ** · Third Person- Usually is simply explaining the events as they happened. ** Aminadab- used as a Foil and is used in the theme of playing God- ** · ** FOIL ** o Aminadab is the Alymer’s foil. He represents the physical, earthly aspect of humans while Alymer is the spiritual part. o Aminadab accepts Georgiana for what she is. o "a man of low stature, but bulky frame, with shaggy hair hanging about his visage, which was grimed with the vapors of the furnace" (15) · ** Theme of playing God ** o Aminadab was a minor character in the Book of Genesis, so he could also be a man of religion while Alymer is a man of science. o When the birthmark begins to fade Alymer hears "a gross, hoarse chuckle, which he had long known as his servant Aminadab's expression of delight" (23) when Georgiana dies, "a hoarse, chuckling laugh was heard again!" (23) this laugh symbolizes God winning over science, and shows religion having, literally, the last laugh. **__ Themes- __** · ** Science has its limitations and it can’t be used to play God ** o Alymer has failed in the past and he does again with Georgiana. o The Birthmark was written when the scientific method was being praised, Hawthorne is writing against the idea that through scientific experiment anything can be discovered, known, and done. Science has its limitations o Similar themes can be found in other works, such as Frankenstein. o The Birthmark can be viewed as a moral allegory, //The Birthmark// can be views as a moral allegory. Aylmer's pride causes him to use science for the wrong reason. · ** Obsession with human perfection- “Man doesn’t know what he’s got until its gone” ** o The birthmark’s presence gradually becomes an obstacle in Alymer’s life. o The Birthmark ends with: “//Had Aylmer reached a profounder wisdom, he need not thus have flung away the happiness which would have woven his mortal life of the selfsame texture with the celestial. The momentary circumstance was too strong for him; he failed to look beyond the shadowy scope of time, and, living once for all in eternity, to find the perfect future in the present//. (23)”   § Alymer didn’t know how lucky he was to have Georgiana until he killed her. · ** Man’s spiritual and earthly halves ** o The story also examines the division between man's physical, earthly (Alymer) and his lofty, spiritual half (Aminadab). "The Birthmark" argues that part of us is necessarily earthbound, yet part of us will always seek to be immortal and spiritual. o “Matter and spirit- earth and heaven- have both done their part in this!” (23) · ** Man is inherently flawed ** o Being imperfect is just part of being human. If you're not flawed, you're not human anymore. To strive for perfection is to deny one's own mortality, to deny what makes us human, and to achieve such perfection is essentially impossible while alive. § Georgiana loses her birthmark, but loses her life as well. ** Symbolism- ** · ** Birthmark- ** o **Hawthorne literally tells the reader that the birthmark symbolizes Georgiana’s imperfection**. “In this manner, selecting it as the symbol of his wife's liability to sin, sorrow, decay, and death.” (12) and “that sole token of human imperfection” (23) o In the shape of a hand- The hand of God o Is the color red- the color of blood and of passion- symbolizes his wife’s sexuality ** Foreshadowing- ** · **Alymer’s Dream** o Georgiana’s death was foreshadowed in Alymer’s dream. The birthmark goes deep as Alymer tries to cut it away and sets itself on Georgiana’s heart, foreshadowing Alymer’s determination to remove the birthmark even at the expense of his wife’s life. · Irony o “A faint smile flitted over her lips when she recognized how barely perceptible was now hat crimson hand which had once blazed forth with such disastrous brilliancy as to scare away all their happiness"
 * __ Literary Devices- __**

1. Plot

a. Aylmer is a man that will wants to surround himself with things that are beautiful are hard to obtain so when he marries his wife Georgiana he sees the birthmark in the shape of a small cheek to be an imperfection and not like most others consider a charm that adds to the woman’s beauty. He then goes through many experiments to try and remove the mark from his wife’s cheek, and she being the good wife that she is allows him to experiment on her because she was raised in the day where women did what their husbands asked of them with no argument or questions asked. Throughout the trials Aylmer finally succeeds in ridding her of the dreadful blemish but at the high price of his wife’s death. 2. Characters

a. Aylmer

i. A power hungry man that has dabbled in the sciences and finds himself superior to others because of his heightened sense of knowing, meaning that he is on a different level of humanity because he sees himself as the ideal man and because of his desire for perfection he must surround himself with things that are beautiful. So when he married Georgiana he did love her but as time went on the birthmark began to haunt him and tease him of his and his wife’s own mortality in the world. Aylmer is unable to come to grips with the fact that the is nothing that can be done and that her blemish is in fact a symbol of beauty, but all he sees is a mark of death, decay, and original sin that is in the very roots of everyone since the garden of Eden. When his wife dies she ascends to heaven leaving her husband and his assistant that he describes as a “man of clay” and a “brute” remain on Earth because Aylmer does not understand how to love and it is that fault which prevent him from loving and appreciating his wife’s imperfection as something that makes her that much more special.

b. Georgiana

i. Is the symbol and central focal point of the story, where the presence and resemblance of her birthmark is brought into question, and her birthmark was considered a “kiss from God” but after her husband points out how he believes that it is a fault of hers she begins to become self-conscious about the way that she looks and it makes her willing to do anything to appease her husband. She is the spiritual form of perfection and is aware of it but her husband is trying to make it more of a physical perfection because he is unable to understand his wife’s true beauty.

c. Aminadab

i. Is the earthy side of human nature and is alluded to being Amminadab found in the Old Testament who was a high priest and is mocked by Aylmer who is a man of science and does not understand the true graces of spiritual beauty. Though throughout the story he does not do much to try and stop Aylmer from changing his wife into something that she is not through science.

**3. Setting**

**a. There are two main settings in the story and it is showing the realms of man and woman, Aylmer’s laboratory being a place of intellect and science, and Georgiana’s boudoir as a place of safety, passivity, and decoration. Georgiana’s place of safety however was false because it was an extension of Aylmer’s laboratory, showing how women were created from man and why it made Georgiana have a false sense of security. The furnace in the laboratory is a resemblance of the two classes of people and their opposition between one another and yet they must work together as well as the domination of man over the woman.**

**4. Narrator**

**a. A distinct character that comments on only and comments on the irony and touches on the characters faults and hindrances that ultimately leads to their downfall he is the one that explains and mocks the faults of the characters as they attempt to appease one another in their goals to reach ultimate perfection of mind and body**.

5. Representation of reality

a. It is showing how men who need to be the dominant force in a relationship will find imperfections in everyone but himself and try to change the other person so that they are still an acceptable match. Having someone that is not equal to him will only make him hate the person that his is with even more because there is nothing that can be done to stop the hatred from growing stronger until he finally takes to drastic measures to fix his problems or rather his wife’s problems.

6. World View

a. Men have been the dominating force over women for years and it is because of this that they feel they have the right to change their wives into what they want rather than seeing their wives for who they truly are as people. For some time they have been able to treat their wives as lesser people or a prize that they have captured from other men, a hunting trophy that they wish to show off to the world. When Aylmer only focuses on the ugliness of the birthmark on the left side of his wife’s cheek al he can think about is how terrible it looks and how much it is mocking him so he takes it upon himself to rid her of the blemish that all others find a charm.__

page 22-23 this is the section where Georgiana is dying and Alymer is "successful" is his attempts to rid his wife of her birthmark. Aminadab laughs at him (Aylmer) because his master does not yet understand perfection. And so Georgiana is taken from him because she was the best God could offer but once he made her perfect and took out the imortal sin that was in her she was no longer meant for Earth but the kingdom of Heaven, this shows how mankind can never be perfect and beautiful

Aminadab’s description page 15

When Aminadab is first brought into the scene he comes from the inner apartment of the room, showing how all men are slaves to their baser instincts and somewhere inside of themselves. Aminadab represents that baser instinct that is inside of Aylmer. The way in which Aminadab is portrayed is that of a man that is less evolved than the other two people that are in the room, with his low stature and bulky frame representing that of a man that is not as divine or beautiful but rather more of an earthly type of man who does simple things and leads a simple life. Aminadab’s hair is shaggy and hung in front of his eyes and he was covered with the soot of the furnace. Aylmer does not regard him that highly and only sees him as a lowly person that is not capable of thinking or comprehending a single principle of the science that he does though he is capable of performing every task to Aylmer’s specifications. Aminadab is more of the physical aspect of nature because of the way that he acts and appears while Aylmer is pale with an intellectual face is more of a spiritual element than anything else.

Page 22-23

Aylmer aimed to high in his attempts to make Georgiana perfect and has taken the best that God could offer and in making her perfect in a divine state that no mortal could hold he took her from Aylmer who still does not understand the error and fault of his ways