Preview

The Mark of Ugliness

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1337 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Mark of Ugliness
The Mark of Ugliness In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Birthmark, there is indeed a representation of a submerged personality in Aylmer. Although the other underlying personality is not represented within himself, it is rather portrayed through his assistant Aminadab. Since Aylmer is lacking so much within himself, he is unable to appreciate his wife even she was dying. Basically if Aylmer had the sensibility of Aminadab he could have realized how beautiful she was even with her birthmark. During the portion of the rising action we discover what type of man Aylmer is. He is a man of science, and held with high regards by other scientists. His love for science is first priority; anything else means nothing compared to his studies.Even though he decided to search for a wife, he does so with hardly any enthusiasm, " He had left his laboratory to the care of his assistant, cleared his fine countenance from the furnace smoke, washed the stain of acids from his fingers and persuaded a beautiful women to become his wife." Two points are brought up; first he leaves his assistant in the lab with all the dirty work to be done, while Aylmer cleans himself up and just decides he needs a wife, pointing out that Aminadab, although only an assistant, has a great deal of responsibility. Second due, to his non chalante attitude towards finding a woman, we find that he wonders if he could love a woman more than his science, " His love for his young wife might prove the stronger of the two; but it could only be by intertwining itself with his love of science and uniting the strength of the latter of his own." Right then we see he could not marry and be truly in love unless he could some how combine it with his science. Luckily for Aylmer, he discovers a birthmark on his wife that makes him look at his wife in disgust. The birthmark which he calls a flaw to perfection, becomes more intolerable after every glance at it. He can not ignore it, he even has a dream where he tries to

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    The Scar

    • 594 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The Scar By Kildare Dobbs Source: The Act of Writing Pages: 43-49 Kiladore Dobbs's short story, The Scar, was written in 1968, and was written to detail the terrors that occur to Hiroshima in 1945. Dobbs himself was not there to experience this horrific event, but Emiko Okamoto was. The Scar is the story told by Emiko, and interpreted by Dobbs. Dobbs's writing style is very descriptive and vivid, thus bringing the reader to this experience, enabling them to have some form of a concept as to what occurred. This style of writing is effective because it makes the reader think that Dobbs was there himself, making him seem more educated and informed on this topic.…

    • 594 Words
    • 2 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
  • 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

    Symbolism In The Birthmark

    • 1103 Words
    • 5 Pages

    In Hawthorne's short story, "The Birthmark," he examines that nature is supposed to be imperfect and cannot be changed. Hawthorne's main character, Aylmer is a static and stock character who does not change and is a mad scientist. He is determined to remove his wive's birthmark and is in denial that nature is imperfect and not everything can be changed. Hawthorne examines the theme that nature is supposed to be imperfect he shows it through Aylmers thoughts about how nature works. Aylmer is a part of nature himself and tries to achieve perfection by making his wife perfect and removing the birthmark. Lastly, Hawthorne uses symbolism to once again portray that nature cannot be changed and it is meant to be imperfect. The dream Aylmer has a deception…

    • 1103 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The protagonist in this story emulates a prime characteristic of a romantic character. Aylmer, a scientist, has a distinguished intuitive perception of man and nature; therefore, he believed that man could be perfected through science. The defects of a person are often…

    • 525 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Symbols in "Uglies"

    • 1900 Words
    • 8 Pages

    3. The first change I made was reducing my summary of the book to as few words as possible. The second change I made was adding on to the analysis of each symbol at the end of each paragraph.…

    • 1900 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Painted Door

    • 456 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Though Ann plays no direct part in her husband’s death, her disloyal actions lead to the tragedy. Only Ann may be held responsible for her faithlessness in the marriage. Not suited for the life of a farm wife, Ann grows terribly lonely when left alone in their isolated house. Though she knows that “‘all farmer’s wives have to stay alone’” (369), she feels neglect in that John “never talks” (370). Out of respect for her husband’s hard work, Ann remains silent about her growing need for a companion rather than provider. In her restlessness, Ann seeks the fulfillment of these needs from Steven, instead of through direct communication with John. In taking advances to present herself in an attractive manner to Steven, Ann enters in to planned infidelity. These actions leave her solely responsible for the broken marriage.…

    • 456 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Thou Blind Mans Mark

    • 370 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Life leads us to excessive wishes that often result in a man’s downfall. Sir Philip Sidney in the passionate “Thou Blind Man’s Mark” portrays his hypocrisy towards desire and shows how it influenced to their downfall and destruction. In his sonnet, Sidney uses metaphor, alliteration, repetition and personification to convey his feelings for desire.…

    • 370 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The novel “Uglies” by Scott Westerfeld has an enormous amount of symbolism within thisnovel, that people can take from. In the story you are born “ugly” and when you turn 16 yearsold you get an operation to make you a “pretty” and then you get to live in New Pretty Townwith all of the pretties. The Ruins was a place that had depended all on oil, and crumbled downwhen they had run out that resource. This city symbolizes how easily things can fall especially ifyou only depend on one thing. Another symbol in the novel is the heart shaped pendant whichsymbolizes Tally’s conscience and all of the tough decisions she has to make. For example atough decision she had to make was when she had to tell Special Circumstances where Shay wasor she would…

    • 266 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Birthmark

    • 412 Words
    • 2 Pages

    1. Our society tends to be obsessed with the idea of physical perfection. How does our society manifest that obsession? How is the "Birthmark" an early version of our modern obsession with physical perfection?…

    • 412 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Humans have ordained their bodies with tattoos for thousands of years. These permanent and artistic marks have always had a personal meaning. The beautiful marks that were so carefully and meticulously etched onto the skin have served many purposes. The tattoo showed signs of love and inspiration while others were used to ward off danger or to protect the human from certain dangers. Some people view tattoos as unnecessary marks on the human body, while others believe the tattoo represents life, death, and inspiration.…

    • 1745 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    An overarching theme for many teen books is a character defying society whether it be the corrupt leaders, ideas, or practices. In the book Uglies by Scott Westerfeld, people live in a world where plastic surgery is expected for them and given to everyone through every stage of their life. However when Tally learns the truth behind the operation, she questions authority and disobey their standards.…

    • 534 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Summary: Symbols Of Evil

    • 504 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Throughout the centuries, scholars, priests, and townspeople have changed their opinions of the defining characteristics of a witch. In their pre-modern treatise Malleus Maleficarum, Heinrich Kramer and James Sprenger argue their definition of a witch (Kramer and Sprenger 12). They emphasize the term “witches” to represent women involved in dark magic using evil spells and temptation to inject misery into the lives of men (Kramer and Sprenger 14). Kramer and Sprenger then continue to state that witchcraft is futile without the Devil, a witch, and the permission of God (Kramer and Sprenger 12). However, the modern article “RELIGIOUS: Witches, not what you’d expect” from Meagan Bolds defines “witches” from a whole new perspective.…

    • 504 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    There is a distinguishable difference in today’s society with the rich and the poor, especially with children between infantry and young adulthood. Of course, there will be differences in their lifestyles after the age of 18, but usually the psychological character of a person is developed in their childhood. Three categories that can be separated between the rich and the poor are the different lifestyles from marriage, materialistic pleasures, and the development of an individual character. Another category is the different education received from a rich child to a poor child usually being that the poor…

    • 919 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Mark of the Beast

    • 934 Words
    • 4 Pages

    It tells a story of a newcomer, Fleete, to India. To celebrate New Year’s Eve, Fleete and his friends went to a pub to drink. He was drunk by half past three in the morning, and as he went home, guided by his friends.…

    • 934 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays