The Birthmark By Nathaniel Hawthorne

1. The Birthmark By Nathaniel Hawthorne Ryan Kelly, Jonathan Gilmore and Marco Stallone

2. Brief Biography • Nathaniel Hawthorne • -Born in Salem, Massachusetts on July 4th, 1804. • -Puritan, which influenced his writing career. • -Father was a sea captain, died when Nathaniel was young. • -A leg injury made Hawthorne not able to be mobile. Left him to do a lot of reading and thinking. • - Attended Bowdoin College from 1821 to 1825. • - Most of early stories published anonymously. • -Died on May 19, 1864.

3. Plot The story starts off with a man named Aylmer that is a scientist and natural philosopher who marries a woman named Georgiana. Aylmer's wife is beautiful, but there is a birthmark on her cheek that is the shape of a hand. He one day asks her if she would like to have it removed. Georgiana seems to be taken back by her husband ask her if she would want to remove this mark that she has always had and some even considered it to be a charm and even admirer it. Aylmer starts to become obsessed with the birthmark. One night he has a dream about it, that he was cutting in to his wife skin and kept cutting so deep that he cut her heart out. Georgiana seeing Aylmer's obsession that he has on removing the mark she says that she is willing to risk her life to remove it. They decide to remove the birthmark in Aylmer's laboratory. In the laboratory Aylmer leaves Georgiana for a couple hour and she start read over his journals and reads one about her own experiment and starts to cry. Aylmer brings her the potion and shows her how it works on a flower taking away any blots that is on it. After Georgiana drinks the potion she falls asleep and while she sleeps Aylmer studies everything about her. Georgina wakes up from her sleep only to tell Aylmer that she is dying and that “you have rejected the best that earth could offer”(Hawthorne 235).

4. Themes • Man vs. Nature (God) • Man “would ascend from one step of powerful intelligence to another, until the philosopher should lay his hand on the secret of creative force, and perhaps make new worlds for himself.” Page 225 • Man is trying to obtain God like powers in their search for power over nature • Humans attempt to obtain power over God can never be achieved. • The plant • Georgiana's portrait • Georgiana's death • Humans are inherently imperfect, but this imperfection is what makes us perfect. • In Aylmer's dream the Crimson Hand reached all the way down to Georgianna's heart. • Our imperfections are what make us unique (page 226) • To rid our imperfections would be to get rid of our human nature • Aylmer's sleep can be interpreted as a type of death • Georgiana loved Aylmer more after reading his log of scientific failures. • Can only love once we accept imperfection

5. Themes • Ultimate sacrifice out of love • Georgiana died to make Aylmer happy • She was aware of the risk but did it for Aylmer's sake • Our flaws, which are what makes us perfect, are what align us with God • “The fatal Hand had grappled with the mystery of life, and was the bond by which an angelic spirit kept itself in union with a mortal frame.” Page 235 • Georgiana was a perfect soul in a perfect body • Removing the birthmark left only a perfect soul, accomplished only through death • Pygmalion • Perfect statue brought to life so sculptor can marry her • Opposite of Aylmer • Aylmer could not see her true perfection and decided to remove it making her imperfect resulting in her death