Preview

Compare And Contrast The Birth Mark And Young Goodman Brown

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
355 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Compare And Contrast The Birth Mark And Young Goodman Brown
The short stories by Nathanial Hawthorne, "The Birth-Mark" and "Young Goodman Brown" was the most talked about. Everyone knew that in "The Birth-Mark" man thinks they could change nature using science. In the short story “Young Goodman Brown” showed charctericts of Dark Romanticism.
When it came to looking for charctericts of Romanticism, "The Birth-Mark" stuck out more to me and Natalie. We both saw that Aylmer believed that science was superior over nature and man cannot change nature. Through the whole story Aylmer was trying to “fix” his wife, Georgiana, because he thought nature made a mistake. She was perfect in every way, except for her birthmark, The Crimson Hand. When he did find the cure and gave it to his wife, she died. Thus showing

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Romanticism deals with more imaginative writing, such as fictional stories that have a dramatic plot. Washington Irving’s fictional story “Rip Van Winkle” is the perfect example. It is the story of a man who has a strange encounter with a group of old Dutchmen, falls asleep after drinking a funny drink, and wakes up to find that 20 years had gone by while he was sleeping. This story, with its fictional plot, exemplifies the new type of literature that emerged during this time of Romanticism. On the other hand, James Fenimore Cooper’s writing exemplifies the “natural” aspects of Romanticism which is one of the most dominate themes of this literary era. An example of this is shown in the beginning paragraph of “The Last of the Mohicans” when the scene between Natty and Chingachgook is being…

    • 749 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The eighteenth century innovated the way authors wrote, rather than writing in a Classicism style, poets and writers wrote Romantic Literature. Two authors that really set forth with writing short stories and poems in Romantic Literature were Washington Irving and Edgar Allen Poe. Romantic Literature is primarily concerned with nature, the inner world of human nature and the past.…

    • 383 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “The Minister’s Black Veil” by Nathaniel Hawthorne and “The Raven” by Edgar Allan Poe were wrote in the Dark Romanticism Period. Dark Romanticism is a literary subgenre of Romantic Literature that emerged from the transcendental philosophical movement popular in nineteenth-century America. So, what is the characteristics of Dark Romanticism? The characteristics of the Dark Romanticism are the belief in sin and evil, the struggles of human nature, and the focus on the tragic. The dark romantic view countered the optimism of transcendental writers.…

    • 453 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Nathanial Hawthorne is known for his works in the area of dark romanticism. His fascination with science and alchemy lead him to explore the consequences of human experimentation. This is evidenced by his two short stories: “Rappaccini’s Daughter” and “The Birthmark”. Both stories contain dark undertones and share the theme that science is dangerous. The scientists, Rappaccini and Aylmer, are obsessed with perfection and will stop at nothing to obtain it. The antagonists use their scientific abilities to manipulate nature. This ultimately leads to the death of their loved ones.…

    • 500 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Nathaniel Hawthorne includes many complex literary devices in his short stories to get his point across. Hawthorne uses literary devices, such as science and nature in both his short stories, “Rappaccini’s Daughter” and “The Birth-Mark, which both display relations.…

    • 744 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    By being able to look into the thoughts of all three main characters, readers are able to see the theme clearly right from the moment Aylmer questions his attraction to wife, to Aminadab claiming he would never change her. Lastly, when Georgiana dies in the very end, and Aylmer finally realizes what he has done, the reader’s see how his need for perfection overshadows what he has really needed and loved the most all along. Had Aylmer realized in the beginning what he had while he had it, he may have reacted and treated his wife differently. Perfectionism can have a great impact on someone and the people around them. Hawthorne demonstrates this in the story very well. Throughout the story the readers slowly see Aylmer’s perfectionism and overpowering love of science take over his life and his marriage. This caused Aylmer to doubt and eventually lose his feelings of love and attraction towards his wife, and almost shifting those feeling over to science. It’s always important to remember that sometimes…perfection can be the one very thing that could…

    • 1184 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Romanticism is the keen sense of life of the natural person. It was a cultural movement from 1770 to 1860. This movement established nature as the beginning and the end. A notable writer of the Romanticism era was Nathaniel Hawthorne. One of his more significant Romantic works is “The Birthmark”. This story reveals the pursuit of perfection in a world where it is non-existent.…

    • 525 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    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…

    • 873 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Poe vs HAWTHRONES

    • 1637 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Poe and Hawthorne were two American writers who have defined literature as we know it today. They greatly elevated the standards for short fictional stories (“Poe Defines the ‘Well Made Tale’”), and were the first to speak to the human heart and to convey truths that withstand the test of time (“Hawthorne Introduces the Concept of Romance”). Poe placed the emphasis of story writing on a single effect that he wanted to leave with the reader, and developed his stories around that effect or final emotion (“Poe Defines”). Hawthorne, on the other hand, placed importance on the actual representation of the author’s imagination and conception of the world around himself (“Hawthorne Introduces”). These innovative thoughts and experimentations in language have forever changed what we appreciate in writing. Poe and Hawthorne were vital in the development of American literature today because of their inventive uses of symbolism, theme, language, characterization, and setting to embody the main purposes in their short stories, but we see distinctive differences in the way these are used to set the completely different moods required for romance writing and gothic writing.…

    • 1637 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Barbara Eckstein states that “it is clear that Aylmer’s obsession with his science makes him unfit for human companionship, but what so motivates him to ‘correct… Nature’?” The desire for perfection not only kills Georgiana, it also ruins her husband because his desire to create the ideal woman becomes a fixation that prevents him from seeing the good in his…

    • 1168 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Dimmesdale's Romanticism

    • 1030 Words
    • 5 Pages

    From tragic adventures on the high-seas to nonsensical battles between white settlers and native tribes, romanticism provoked some of the most epic works of American literature. Notable Romantic authors such as James Fenimore Cooper utilized romantic characteristics to develop plot or accentuate the strength of the protagonist. His credibility as a successful romantic author stems from his use of certain romantic characteristics to advance his plot and themes. Nathaniel Hawthorne continues this tradition through his fiction novel The Scarlet Letter. Hawthorne’s significant use of prominent romantic characteristics to establish themes and symbols dignify him as a prosperous Romantic author.…

    • 1030 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    It seems that Aylmer himself is not sure and needs assurance for him. For example, Hawthorne writes, "I would not wrong either you or myself by working such inharmonious effects upon our lives" (2445). Aylmer reassures Georgiana not to worry but to trust him; that he would not do anything to harm her or himself. Aylmer tries to play the role of creator, but fails his wife. The powers that Aylmer thinks he holds because of science are merely just experiments without definite conclusions. Aylmer has become so evil and obsessed that his love for science makes him make a crucial mistake with the potion for Georgiana. After drinking the potion, and after every breath, Georgiana was losing life and dying. Georgiana says, "Aylmer, dearest Aylmer, I am Dying!" (2450). She was dying. Insisting that a birthmark was imperfection defect that what once considered a charm; the vanity of a person who thought his hands could change what nature created. All this because Aylmer wanted to dominate what he thought science could alter; the result, death of a perfect wife, who would to anything to please her…

    • 845 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Symbolism In The Birthmark

    • 1177 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Aylmer sees Georgiana as neither his wife nor a woman. He sees her as a flaw; an object that he can alter. Aylmer treats Georgiana as a plant and gives her an elixir that he uses to take away disease from a geranium. Georgiana is the flower that needs Aylmer 's help, an object that Aylmer will desire when the birthmark is removed. Aylmer has an "artistic vision;" he sees Georgiana as the canvas with an unintentional defect on its white fabric. Aylmer cannot see past appearances he "neither recognizes the differences between the real and ideal worlds" (Folsom 46). The real world has defects and flaws that "Nature, stamps ineffaceably on all her productions, either to imply that they are temporary and finite" (Hawthorne 170). Georgiana becomes the object after she marries Aylmer, because until that time he did not see her birthmark. Georgiana is an object because she is not Aylmer 's ideal woman and until she is, he will not look past her facade to see her inner being. Aylmer being a scientist hopes "to make the Ideal manifest in an imperfect world". He attempts to make Georgiana the perfect object in a world where nothing is perfect. Aylmer sees Georgiana as an object that can withstand Nature 's grasp and become immortal when he says, "You are fit for heaven without tasting death!"(Hawthorne 178). Objects do not taste death and can be immortal. Aylmer wants Georgiana 's beauty to withstand time to tell the…

    • 1177 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Birthmark Symbolism

    • 380 Words
    • 2 Pages

    obsession for his wife to be perfect. However, to Aylmer, her birthmark was an obstacle for her…

    • 380 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Romanticism, commonly known as American romanticism, is writing in which feelings and intuition are valued over reason. It had a great influence over literature, music, and painting in the early eighteenth and well through the nineteenth centuries. It was commonly thought of as a trip into our imagination and could be written as stories, music, and paintings, but it was mainly found in poetry. In this essay, I will discuss the romantic qualities of “The Devil and Tom Walker” by Washington Irving, “Thanatopsis” by William Cullen Bryant, and “The Pit and the Pendulum” by Edgar Allen Poe.…

    • 603 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays