The+Birthmark

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The Birth-mark

1846

“The Birth-mark” -- Georgiana’s mark as an external sign of her human condition. To be human, the story suggests, is to be imperfect. Science, which attempts to control and manipulate nature, aspires to too idealistic a notion for reality. When Aylmer attempts to remove the mark of nature, he is also opposing the original act of creation. Authors have described the tale as one concerning “the striving for perfection beyond the human and the recognition that such striving can be fatal.” (Zanger, 365) Aylmer’s dominance over Georgiana exemplifies prevalent gender roles in the nineteenth century. Georgiana’s commits totally to her husband, even though she knows that his experiment will likely fail, just as his prior experiments have failed. She becomes the prototype of the good wife, who is his willing subject, even in the face of death.

Aylmer, on the other hand, can be regarded both as a heartless scientist, vainly seeking the impossible, but also as a loving husband who believes his wife deserves nothing less than perfection.

Hawthorne, through the narrator, is critical of Aylmer's actions at the close of the tale. The narrator suggests if Aylmer possessed "a profounder wisdom", he would not have "flung away" happiness in the empty pursuit of perfection. This can be interpreted as criticism of man's attempts to control nature and also women.

Some have observed a similarity between Aylmer and a vampire, one of the most well-known characters in nineteenth-century romanticism. Like in vampire myths, the victim, Georgiana, participates in her own destruction.

Other readings have shown a connection between Aylmer’s laboratory and images of industrialism. Instead of a clean, crisp study, we are instead presented with a furnace, soot, an electric machine, gaseous orders, and naked walls and a brick pavement. Hawthorne imbues his story with contemporary literary and social influences.

The symbolism of the birthmark itself is open to a variety of interpretations. Aylmer views the mark as "the symbol of his wife's liability to sin, sorrow, decay, and death". Authors have drawn the connection between the “bloody” hand and menstruation, which, at the time, was considered a mysterious and secret subject. Menstruation was considered unclean, requiring seclusion, toxic to others, and hindering of certain labors. Aylmer's disdain for the birthmark arises only after the couple are wed, which gives a sexual undertone to the birthmark as well; Aylmer detests its "glimmering to and fro with every pulse of emotion that throbbed within her heart". Lastly, mortality itself - humanity's ultimate imperfection - is represented by the birthmark. Its redness mars the otherwise angelic beauty of Georgiana and reminds Aylmer of her - and his - inevitable death.

Aylmer's assistant Aminadab is contrasted sharply with his master. While Aylmer is slender, pale and "spiritual", Aminadab is earthly, brutish and "physical". Though he is physically equipped to assist Aylmer, he cannot understand the experiments. At the end of the tale, Aminadab laughs once in delight at the success of the experiment, and then once again when Georgiana dies. The narrator explains: "Thus ever does the gross fatality of earth exult in its invariable triumph over the immortal essence". Nature cannot be thwarted by man. Aminadab's name is also considered a variant of Amminadab, a high priest and a Levite in the Bible. If Hawthrone indeed meant to link the two characters, the story’s crude assistant could be viewed as representative of a religion that, though in its decline, retains greater respect for human life than does “amoral science.”

THEME – the worst corruption is the corruption in man’s heart

As R appears, he is described as having a demeanor of walking amomg savage beasts, spirits or shakes which could wreak havoc on Him. In reality the evil is R - His ultimate sin is pride – the father of all sins – defies God and nature – enhances his reputation, turning garden into evil – corrupts his body – turns his daughter to poison

Lisbetta is part of the plot to ensnare G – informs him of the secret door – in spite of his doubts, he goes willinginly into the garden and is therefore filled with poison – He turns his anger on B. . "Accursed one!" cried he, with venomous scorn and anger. "And finding thy solitude wearisome, thou hast severed me, likewise, from all the warmth of life, and enticed me into thy region of unspeakable horror . . . Thou hast filled my veins with poison! Thou hast made me as hateful, as ugly, as loathsome and deadly a creature as thyself—a world's wonder of hideous monstrosity! Now—if our breath be happily as fatal to ourselves as to all others—let us join our lips in one kiss of unutterable hatred, and so die!" ..

The real poison is the poison within his heart, Beatrice then assures Giovanni that she never intended to harm him. “I dreamed only to love thee,” she says, “and be with thee a little time, and so to let thee pass away, leaving but thine image in mine heart. . . But my father!—he has united us in this fearful sympathy.” ....... When Giovanni reveals Baglioni's phial as an antidote for the contaminants in their bodies, she says, “Give it to me! . . . I will drink but do thou await the result.” Her response indicates that she suspects foul play but is willing to test the antidote on herself.

Whether Giovanni's love for Beatrice is as strong as her love for him—or whether he even experiences love rather than infatuation—is unlikely. After all, he curses her in the belief that she willingly contaminated him, a development revealing that he lacks faith in her. His outrage suggests that his is a “fair weather” passion. When things go right, he will love her. When things go wrong, he will withhold his love. Beatrice apparently senses that his love is insincere. When she is dying, she tells him, “ Farewell, Giovanni! Thy words of hatred are like lead within my heart—but they, too, will fall away as I ascend. Oh, was there not, from the first, more poison in thy nature than in mine?"

And what of Professor Baglioni? Is he too corrupt? The evidence suggests that he is. He provides a phial of liquid that he says will restore Beatrice to normalcy. Instead, it kills her within minutes. One may argue that his purpose in providing the poison was to protect Giovanni, the son of his good friend in Naples. But other evidence suggests that his motive was a mixture of revenge and ambition. Remember, he has been competing with Rappaccini for recognition as the best physician in Italy, as he implies when he tells Giovanni, “The truth is, our worshipful Doctor Rappaccini has as much science as any member of the faculty—with perhaps one single exception. . . .” The “single exception” is of course Baglioni—or so Baglioni appears to think.

It is clear, then, that Baglioni and Rappaccini despise each other. To get the better of Rappaccini, Baglioni plans to poison Beatrice. He muses to himself: “This daughter of his! It shall be looked to. Perchance, most learned Rappaccini, I may foil you where you little dream of it!" ....... After Beatrice dies, Baglioni peers down from the window and, as the narrator says, “called loudly, in a tone of triumph mixed with horror, to the thunder-stricken man of science: "Rappaccini! Rappaccini! And is this the upshot of your experiment?"

COMPARE THE MOTIVES OF THESE THREE MEN.

COMPARE THE LOVE OF AYLMER WITH THE LOVE OF RAPPACCINI

COMPARE GEORGIANA AND BEATRICE

VICTIMS? WILLING ?

BEATRICE = PURITY and goodness – her father has corrupted her body, but her soul remains pure “untainted water” “She who makes people happy”

__ marble fountain __ : Symbol of physical corruption and purity of soul. In this respect, it is like Beatrice. Consider the description of the fountain:

T]here was the ruin of a marble fountain in the centre, sculptured with rare art, but so wofully [woefully] shattered that it was impossible to trace the original design from the chaos of remaining fragments. The water, however, continued to gush and sparkle into the sunbeams as cheerfully as ever. A little gurgling sound ascended to the young man's window, and made him feel as if a fountain were an immortal spirit, that sung its song unceasingly.

__ purple __ : Possibly a symbol representing experimentation requiring the mixture of one thing with another. (Purple is a "hybrid" color that results from blending blue and red.) Purple may also represent human beings, who are mixtures of good and bad.

7. .. Does science have a right to jeopardize the life of one human being in order to improve or save the lives of many human beings?