Preview

Summary Of The Haunted Mind

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
306 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Summary Of The Haunted Mind
The author that I chose to research is Nathaniel Hawthorne. The short story that I found is located in Hawthornes book Twice-Told Tales, called The Haunted Mind. Hawthorne’s short story The Haunted Mind Closely relates to things that we have covered in class. The two main connections between The Birth Mark, The Artist of the Beautiful, and The Haunted Mind are transcendency and acceptance of imperfections in humanity. In the Birthmark we see these themes in Aylmer’s views on women. He sees women as an ideal that makes women beautiful but not useful in todays world, he sees them in a bodiless transcendent world. By Aylmer removing his wife’s birthmark, which ultimately represents her humanity, he is removing the one thing that ties her down

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    “Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American West” is a biography of American explorer Meriwether Lewis, written by Stephen Ambrose and published in 1996. The biography is supported by historic texts (letters and logs produced by Jefferson, Lewis, Clark and the Corps of Discovery members – some of which appear in the book) and outlines the trials and triumphs of the Corps of Discovery Expedition (also commonly known as the “Lewis and Clark Expedition” – which was the first American mission crossing western North America from St. Louis all the way through the continental divide and to the pacific coast). Ambrose provides some context by also writing about Lewis’s youth, his career as a planter and assistant…

    • 729 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Have you ever thought of yourself as untouchable? Maybe you just won the soccer league you play in or got a raise at work. Now have you ever had a dream? Chances are pretty good you have, but the second you woke up it vanished. In The Haunted Mind by Nathaniel Hawthorne and The Masque of the Red Death by Edgar Allen Poe the philosophical idea of dreams collides with the stubborn feelings of being sacrosanct.…

    • 85 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the story “The Birthmark” written by Nathaniel Hawthorn, the author sets a dark and cold mood of hatred through Aylmer and Georgiana’s relationship. Aylmer especially has hate towards the birthmark which leads to his change of attitude towards Georgiana. When Aylmer says, “a defect or a beauty shocks me” hurts Georgiana because she believes “you cannot love what shocks you” (Hawthorne 219). The quote implies that the birthmark is a part of Georgiana and Aylmer cannot love her for her true self if he cannot look past a simple “earthly imperfection” (Hawthorn 219). Aylmer had so much hatred towards the birthmark that he thought it was a “frightful object, causing him more trouble and horror than ever”(Hawthorn 221). The hatred which Aylmer continuously has for Georgiana’s birthmark creates a consistent darkness over Aylmer because he could never appreciate his wife even when she was dying.…

    • 522 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In "The Birth-Mark" by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the author floods the story with many forms of symbolism to show there is no true form of perfection on earth. Although trying to accomplish such a thing, Aylmer not only highlights his failures as a scientist, but also kills his beautiful wife. After many nights of gazing upon his wife's porcelain face, slaying her heart with his disgusted looks, Aylmer convinces his wife Georgiana to let him conduct an experiment on the hand-shaped, rosy birthmark she flaunted upon her cheek, to remove such flaw and achieve pure perfection on earth. Within Aylmer's laboratory exists two contrasting rooms that display not only the workplace for the grungy men, but the heavenly boudoir of which his wife so pleasently…

    • 265 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    However, this mark represents much more than a cosmetic disfigurement. It represents the imperfection we strive to eliminate everyday. This is proven because Georgiana never thought of her birthmark as such a horrible thing until Aylmer pointed it out, then she wanted nothing more than for it to be removed. Also, as Aylmer tries everything to eliminate the mark it shows humanity’s obsession of trying anything and everything to achieve perfection, even if it means certain death.…

    • 487 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Battle Royal

    • 1222 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The Birthmark story takes place in a time where some individuals thought that spells and magic existed, and that alchemy was a sure way to cure any illness or imperfections of the body. In this time, even the most prestigious scientist thought that people’s illnesses could be cured by merely creating a concoction with the components of Mother Nature and with a little assistance from the spiritual world. Birthmark also centers around a hand shaped birthmark, on the cheek of a newly wedded woman, and the extent; she would go through to ensure her husband’s happiness. Some people saw this birthmark as a charm, while some were disgusted by it, like her husband. "Georgiana," said he, "has it never occurred to you that the mark upon your cheek might be removed?"(Hawthorne, 1843). Her husband in his obsession, being this magnificent scientist believed that he could remove the mark, but the deeper he dug, the more he emotionally hurt her. These two short stories speak about inequality, social discrimination and to what extent people are willing to please the one’s they adore.…

    • 1222 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “No, dearest Georgiana, you came so nearly perfect from the hand of Nature, that this is the slightest possible defect- which we hesitate whether to term a defect or a beauty- shocks me, as being the visible mark of earthly imperfection (Hawthorne 645).” Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Birth-Mark” uses symbolism to explore the stain of sin on the world and in the individual. Georgiana is the picture of pure perfection, with one exception, a hand shaped birthmark on her left cheek. There are many themes in this piece. They include, the mark of sin brought in the world and the inability for a human to cleanse themselves from sin. Another theme in this story is the necessary imperfection within people. Each of the characters in “The Birth-Mark” are appalled by the imperfection on the surface. But are unaware of the imperfection within themselves. Hawthorne’s “The Birth-Mark” examines the sinful nature of the world and mankind’s desire to remove it from the surface.…

    • 810 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Alymer already has a plan to try to remove the birthmark itself to make his wife perfect. In the text Alymer says “Dearest Georgiana, I have spent much thought upon the subject” (Booth 216 ), meaning he has had this all planned out and he was going to make sure this flaw would be removed. Alymer is a schemer and his wife had no idea that this procedure was going to take place. It was not until he had brought up the birthmark to her and how it disgusted him that she was aware of how obsessed her husband became over this tiny…

    • 561 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Each year people from the tri-state area travel to different haunted houses to experience some of the scariest moments of their lives. The scariest haunted house of the state is located in Tuxedo Park, New York, called The Forest of Fear. This event is more extreme than ever this year, containing five attractions for one admission price between $20 and $30. The five attractions are Uncle Jimmie’s Place, Das Kamp, Blind Panic, The Graveyard, and the Slaughterhouse. This haunted house is not recommended to children under the age of 12 due to the gory, disturbing characters walking throughout the forest. Sara Abouaf, a junior at LHS, is going to the Forest of Fear with the Lady Lions Soccer Team for team bonding the weekend of the 23rd. Sara stated,…

    • 684 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Birth-Mark

    • 610 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Georgiana shows many different ways a wife would be perceived as devoted. Georgiana listens and trusts Aylmer's opinions about her birthmark. At first Georgiana is hesitant about trusting Aylmer, but like any good wife she does. Georgiana states,"If there be the remotest possibility of it let the attempt be made at whatever risk. Danger is nothing to me; For life—while this hateful mark makes me the object of your horror and disgust—life is a burthen which I would fling down with joy. Either remove this dreadful Hand, or take my wretched life" (648)! Georgiana says that she would rather die than live a life where her husband thinks of her as something disgusting. She puts his feelings before her own, and that is an extremely important characteristic in being a devoted…

    • 610 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Aylmer’s wife is a beautiful woman with pale white skin. Georgiana’s nearly perfect beauty is flawed with the hand on her cheek. It is a birthmark deeply interwoven within her face. It is in the shape of a tiny hand, such as one…

    • 1168 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    "The Birthmark" by Hawthorne is a short fiction that warns readers to take a second thought towards pursuing physical perfection. Throughout the story, Hawthorne uses a great deal of symbolism. These symbols in Hawthorne's "Birthmark" not only foreshadow the outcome of the story but also reinforce the theme significantly. The birthmark in the story is a tiny, hand-shaped imperfection on Georgiana's cheek. This tiny mark on Georgiana's cheek may seem to be charming by others. However, to her husband, Aylmer, the birthmark is far from charming. In fact, it is perceived as a "crimson hand"(329) that lures him into destruction. By trying to manipulate Georgiana's natural beauty with science, Aylmer acts as a devil and brings Georgiana to the end…

    • 837 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Symbolism In The Birthmark

    • 1103 Words
    • 5 Pages

    In his dream he kept cutting deeper and deeper but it would not go away. The dream Aylmer had is very symbolic to the story. In the dream Aylmer, "attempting an operation for the removal of the birth- mark; but the deeper went the knife, the deeper sank the hand, until at length its tiny grasp appeared to have caught hold of Georgiana’s heart" (Hawthorne 306). The birthmark made Georgiana who she was and it was a part of her deep down that could not be disfigured. The birthmark in a way is what kept her alive. The dream symbolizes ultimate reality and the nature of her birthmark. If Aylmer would of let go of the idea to remove the birthmark the ending could of been different. Since he is a static and stock character his determination to remove it only became stronger. He refused to accept that the birthmark was meant to stay on his wife's face. He truly believed in himself that he could obtain perfection when it came to his wife. The dream Aylmer had symbolizes the reality of the situation and that no matter what he does or how highly educated he cannot change nature. Nature is beautiful yet full of natural disaster and many unpleasant things because it is not meant to be perfect. Throughout the whole story Aylmer has a constant struggle with himself and…

    • 1103 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The relentless pursuit of human perfection has always been an intrinsic trait of human nature and science has been a mean to achieve it. This statement brings us to the main idea of Hawthorne 's short story "The Birth-mark." It shows the story of a scientist who is obsessed with the removal of his wife 's birthmark, considering it a symbol of her human imperfection. "The Birth-mark" is possibly influenced by Hawthorne 's times where science began to gain knowledge about our world and was considerably glorified, through scientific experiment, humankind can discover, know, and do just about anything. As the narrator explains, “In those days when…

    • 1490 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Ghost's Child Essay

    • 952 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Sonya Hartnett’s The Ghost’s Child reveals the mystifying story of Matilda’s remarkable journey up the mountain of life. Even though the departure of Feather pained Maddy emotionally, the overall outcome significantly boosted her emotional strength and confidence. Feather loved Maddy so much, but he knew he couldn’t change, so he had to do what was best for Maddy in order for her to be happy. The loss of Feather as well as the Fay encouraged Maddy to embark on many new adventures. At the end of Matilda’s glorious journey of life, she was, truly, happy.…

    • 952 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays