Quotes from the birthmark by nathaniel hawthorne. Nathaniel Hawthorne Quotes (Author of The Scarlet Letter) 2022-11-17
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In Nathaniel Hawthorne's short story "The Birthmark," the main character, Aylmer, is obsessed with removing a small birthmark from his wife Georgiana's cheek. The birthmark is a small, reddish mark in the shape of a hand, and Aylmer believes it detracts from Georgiana's otherwise perfect beauty. Despite Georgiana's initial reservations about the procedure, Aylmer is determined to remove the birthmark at any cost, and he eventually succeeds in removing it with a potion he has created.
Throughout the story, Hawthorne uses a number of quotes to highlight the themes of obsession, perfection, and the dangers of tampering with nature. One quote that particularly stands out is when Aylmer tells Georgiana, "My dearest Georgiana, you have led me deeper into science than ever before. Do you not see that I have grown gray over this birthmark?" This quote reveals Aylmer's obsession with the birthmark and his willingness to devote all of his time and energy to removing it.
Another quote that is significant is when Georgiana says, "I would not be so vain as to wish the birthmark gone, for it is a part of myself. I might as well think of being ashamed of my hand, or foot." This quote speaks to the theme of acceptance and the idea that we should embrace our imperfections rather than trying to change them.
Hawthorne also uses quotes to explore the dangers of tampering with nature. Aylmer tells Georgiana, "Nature, in her most benign aspect, has created us with a certain unity of character; but if we tamper with her laws, by any extraordinary or violent means, we may be forced to pay a heavy penalty." This quote suggests that attempting to alter nature can have unintended consequences and that we should be cautious in our attempts to control it.
Overall, Hawthorne's use of quotes in "The Birthmark" serves to highlight the themes of obsession, perfection, and the dangers of tampering with nature. These themes are still relevant today, and the story serves as a cautionary tale about the dangers of attempting to change or control things that are beyond our understanding or control.
A Summary and Analysis of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s ‘The Birthmark’
In this manner, selecting it as the symbol of his wife's liability to sin, sorrow, decay, and death, Aylmer's sombre imagination was not long in rendering the birthmark a frightful object, causing him more trouble and horror than ever Georgiana's beauty, whether of soul or sense, had given him delight. The severe and homely simplicity of the apartment, with its naked walls and brick pavement, looked strange, accustomed as Georgiana had become to the fantastic elegance of her boudoir. The latter pursuit, however, Aylmer had long laid aside in unwilling recognition of the truth—against which all seekers sooner or later stumble—that our great creative Mother, while she amuses us with apparently working in the broadest sunshine, is yet severely careful to keep her own secrets, and, in spite of her pretended openness, shows us nothing but results. Science at that time was unexplainable and mysterious to the common person which lead to it being referred to as magic. An electrical machine stood ready for immediate use.
In this situation she was found by her husband. But if any shifting motion caused her to turn pale there was the mark again, a crimson stain upon the snow, in what Aylmer sometimes deemed an almost fearful distinctness. Georgiana identifies the impossibility of his standards and, as such, regains some much-needed agency in her final moments. I feel myself fully competent to render this dear cheek as faultless as its fellow; and then, most beloved, what will be my triumph when I shall have corrected what Nature left imperfect in her fairest work! Do not repent that with so high and pure a feeling, you have rejected the best the earth could offer. But then her eyes sought Aylmer's face with a trouble and anxiety that he could by no means account for. You have earned the right to laugh.
Georgiana assented; but, on looking at the result, was affrighted to find the features of the portrait blurred and indefinable; while the minute figure of a hand appeared where the cheek should have been. The story is about a couple facing a tremendously difficult decision. Mingled with this mood, however, was the philosophic investigation characteristic of the man of science. Were I weaker and blinder it might be happiness. Obsession is is a trait that can affect you and the others around you. In the first paragraph of the story, Hawthorne tells us, In those days when the comparatively recent discovery of electricity and other kindred mysteries of Nature seemed to open paths into the region of miracle, it was not unusual for the love of science to rival the love of woman in its depth and absorbing energy.
Either remove this dreadful hand, or take my wretched life! Nathaniel shows an example of this act by publishing this story of Aylmer and his non-perfect wife, who has a birth mark in the shape of a hand on her cheek. The sound of her husband's footsteps aroused her. There was a distilling apparatus in full operation. The momentary circumstance was too strong for him; he failed to look beyond the shadowy scope of time, and, living once for all in eternity, to find the perfect future in the present. Aylmer bade her cast her eyes upon a vessel containing a quantity of earth. Your case demands a remedy that shall go deeper. Also, the quote sets up the essential conflict between Nature and science.
She considered the character of Aylmer, and did it completer justice than at any previous moment. The crimson hand, which at first had been strongly visible upon the marble paleness of Georgiana's cheek, now grew more faintly outlined. However, Georgina has one glaring imperfection: her left cheek contains a birthmark or blemish, a small crimson mark in the shape of a hand. He now knelt by his wife's side, watching her earnestly, but without alarm; for he was confident in his science, and felt that he could draw a magic circle round her within which no evil might intrude. Aylmer is determined to remove the birthmark even after Georgiana hints that it might have some kind of connection to her life.
The Birthmark Thesis Statements and Important Quotes Essay Example 🎓
His brightest diamonds were the merest pebbles, and felt to be so by himself, in comparison with the inestimable gems which lay hidden beyond his reach. Think not so unworthily of me, my husband. Hastening after her husband, she intruded for the first time into the laboratory. Only one thing remains to be tried. Obsession is when someone is constantly worrying about something or someone.
Is this beyond your power, for the sake of your own peace, and to save your poor wife from madness? In a little time, when the roots of the plant had taken up the moisture, the unsightly blotches began to be extinguished in a living verdure. Aylmer was pale; but it seemed rather the consequence of a highly-wrought state of mind and tension of spirit than of fear or doubt. The walls were hung with gorgeous curtains, which imparted the combination of grandeur and grace that no other species of adornment can achieve; and as they fell from the ceiling to the floor, their rich and ponderous folds, concealing all angles and straight lines, appeared to shut in the scene from infinite space. If Lane had loved her or even said that he loved her then they would not be in the conflict of Lane containing his true feelings. After hours of absence, Aylmer reappeared and proposed that she should now examine his cabinet of chemical products and natural treasures of the earth. Thus ever does the gross fatality of earth exult in its invariable triumph over the immortal essence which, in this dim sphere of half development, demands the completeness of a higher state.
As we read the passage, we realize with mounting horror that Aylmer has become a madman. He was pale as death, anxious and absorbed, and hung over the furnace as if it depended upon his utmost watchfulness whether the liquid which it was distilling should be the draught of immortal happiness or misery. Individuals foolishness to achieve perfection has led to critical decisions in society. Thy sensible frame, too, shall soon be all perfect. With the morning twilight Aylmer opened his eyes upon his wife's face and recognized the symbol of imperfection; and when they sat together at the evening hearth his eyes wandered stealthily to her cheek, and beheld, flickering with the blaze of the wood fire, the spectral hand that wrote mortality where he would fain have worshipped.
Nathaniel Hawthorne Quotes (Author of The Scarlet Letter)
When she wakes up, Aylmer shows her that the birthmark has disappeared and he has been successful. Furthermore, Aylmer does not view Georgiana as his equal. The volume, rich with achievements that had won renown for its author, was yet as melancholy a record as ever mortal hand had penned. Intense thought had set its stamp upon every previous page of that volume, but the thoughts of years were all concentrated upon the last. Nathaniel Hawthorne uses symbolism and figurative language to help convey the meaning of the short story to readers.
