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Romanticism In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Birthmark

Decent Essays

When one is reading American Literature, we must understand the meaningful difference between each period of the literary movement. By doing so, we can recognize the authors rational thought to better understand how clear or perplexed the author may want to convey the story to the reader. Though there are several periods of American Literature, Romanticism was an era when authors changed the balance of writing by incorporating traumatic, intense and dramatic events into the story. By doing so, the complexity of these stories evolved to let the author include an array of various characteristics; including a vivid imagination, rich individuality and a strong sense male dominance during this time. In this essay, I will discuss three stories …show more content…

The year was 1843, a time when the industrial revolution was occurring in Europe, and man had the inspiration to reach his full potential by perfecting their work. The Birthmark, is a short story that reflects romanticism in the sense of male control, and the preeminence over nature. By including this characteristic in the story, Hawthorne exposes the obsession of human perfection during this period with chilling consequences. One of the main characters in the story is Georgiana, a beautiful woman who was considered flawless by the realms of nature, even though she carried a tiny birthmark that was visible upon her left cheek. The main character in the story was Aylmer, a scientist who sought perfection within his work. Hawthorne briefly portrays Aylmer as “too unreservedly to scientific studies ever to be weaned from them by any second passion” (Hawthorne 465); describing him as a man who is deeply passionate about his work. However, he pauses his research long enough to find love and married Georgiana. With Aylmer always striving for perfection, it was only a couple months during their marriage before he started to view the tiny blemish as “the symbol of imperfection” (Hawthorne 467). With intense and traumatic influences, and taking advantage of Georgiana’s love for him, Georgiana relinquishes her fate and relies on Aylmer’s scientific knowledge to have the “tiny hand” (Hawthorne 466) removed from her cheek. Believing he could alter nature’s course by removing the minute failure of nature in itself is a reflection of romanticism. By exhibiting this quality of man being superior over nature, it is a true testament that Hawthorne is demonstrating his ability to create the romantic hero. Another clue of romanticism is a statement from Aylmer stating “you came so nearly perfect from the hand of Nature that this

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