A Losing Battle In 'The Birthmark' By Nathaniel Hawthorne
Controlling Nature: A Losing Battle
In the story “The Birthmark” by Nathaniel Hawthorne, science versus nature is an essential source of conflict. This theme becomes apparent through Alymer’s persistent desire to interfere with what is natural through his passion for science. This obsession becomes most apparent when Alymer attempts to change his wife Georgiana’s natural appearance. Soon after marrying her, Alymer is shocked by the smallest of imperfection, and expresses desire to remove it, as a result having control over nature. This drive to remove what is natural is what results in the death of his wife. In doing so, Alymer, being a man of science, struggles with nature. In “The Birthmark”, through, Alymer’s attempt to manipulate what …show more content…
Alymer resorts to science in order to remove his wife’s birthmark, making her his patient. He refers to Georgiana’s imperfection as a stain, and finds this one defect becoming more and more intolerable. Georgiana’s birthmark shocks Aylmer, because he saw her as perfect, but to him, the birthmark is a serious imperfection that marks mortality. Hawthorne writes, “It was the fatal flaw of humanity which nature, in one shape or another, stamps ineffaceably on all her productions, either to imply that they are temporary and finite, or that their perfection must be wrought by toil and pain.” (14). As a man of science, Alymer wishes to remove this imperfection, causing tension between him and Georgiana, as she does not see her birthmark as a serious defect. She is deeply hurt by this, to the point where Georgiana learns to “shudder at his gaze” (14). She feels disgusting, and cannot have her husband look at her. Because Alymer loves his wife and science so much, he finds himself torn between the love for his wife and his infatuation with science. Aylmer is unable to accept the imperfections of life, resulting in the love for his wife to be “intertwining itself with his love of science.” (12), thus abusing his relationship with his
In the story “The Birthmark” by Nathaniel Hawthorne, science versus nature is an essential source of conflict. This theme becomes apparent through Alymer’s persistent desire to interfere with what is natural through his passion for science. This obsession becomes most apparent when Alymer attempts to change his wife Georgiana’s natural appearance. Soon after marrying her, Alymer is shocked by the smallest of imperfection, and expresses desire to remove it, as a result having control over nature. This drive to remove what is natural is what results in the death of his wife. In doing so, Alymer, being a man of science, struggles with nature. In “The Birthmark”, through, Alymer’s attempt to manipulate what …show more content…
Alymer resorts to science in order to remove his wife’s birthmark, making her his patient. He refers to Georgiana’s imperfection as a stain, and finds this one defect becoming more and more intolerable. Georgiana’s birthmark shocks Aylmer, because he saw her as perfect, but to him, the birthmark is a serious imperfection that marks mortality. Hawthorne writes, “It was the fatal flaw of humanity which nature, in one shape or another, stamps ineffaceably on all her productions, either to imply that they are temporary and finite, or that their perfection must be wrought by toil and pain.” (14). As a man of science, Alymer wishes to remove this imperfection, causing tension between him and Georgiana, as she does not see her birthmark as a serious defect. She is deeply hurt by this, to the point where Georgiana learns to “shudder at his gaze” (14). She feels disgusting, and cannot have her husband look at her. Because Alymer loves his wife and science so much, he finds himself torn between the love for his wife and his infatuation with science. Aylmer is unable to accept the imperfections of life, resulting in the love for his wife to be “intertwining itself with his love of science.” (12), thus abusing his relationship with his