Romanticism In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Birthmark

Words: 495
Pages: 2
Open Document
First off, the main character in The Birthmark is Aylmer, who is the scientist. Because he is surrounded by science and experimentation all the time and through his life, he represents the anti-Romantic. He thinks that he has power over nature because of his work in the field of science. He tells Georgiana, his wife, that he has potions that can turn base metal into gold, give one eternal life, get rid of one’s freckles, and even kill someone. Aylmer begins to hate a blemish or birthmark on his wife’s cheek that has the shape of a hand. This hand could be thought of as the hand of nature as he is trying to control it. Aylmer then convinces his wife that her blemish is so bad that he has to remove it to make her perfect. He believes that his science and experimentation can correct the mistake that Nature created. He keeps trying to get rid of the blemish and none of the attempts were working. Aylmer tells his wife to trust him and eventually the blemish starts to fade. Unfortunately, Aylmer’s efforts were futile as he ends up killing Georgiana in the process. He represents the anti-Romantic as he tried to control nature with his science and ended up failing. …show more content…
She represents the emotion aspect of Romanticism in the story. Georgiana is happy with her body and the beginning and sees it as a gift from God or of nature. As the story continues, he starts to hate her blemish because he trusts Aylmer completely and is so innocent. She only agrees to having experimentation done on her body due to her romantic love for her husband. Georgiana understands his huge love for science after reading his journal, and she comes to the conclusion that the only way for Aylmer to be satisfied is for him to conduct the experiment. Her love for him and his love for science cancel out, which does not allow them to exist in the same world as each
Show More

Related Documents: Romanticism In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Birthmark

Similarities Between The Black Cat And Edward Scissorhands

"Edward Scissorhands" are great examples of what modern dark romantics might create. Dark romantic writers like Edgar Allen Poe of "The Black Cat" and Nathaniel Hawthorne of "The Birthmark" used their diction, or word choice to create haunting stories. "The Black Cat" focused on a man on death row for a heinous crime involving an unlucky cat. "The Birthmark" focuses on a married couple, but the madam has a strange mark on her cheek and her husband's attempts to remove it. By far the most significant technique…

Words 443 - Pages 2