A Comparison Of “The Birthmark” By Nathaniel Hawthorne

A Comparison of â€Å"The Birthmark† by Nathaniel Hawthorne and â€Å"Barbie Doll† by Marge Piercy When reading a story, people do not often think about how much it might relate to another story they have read in the past. In â€Å"The Birthmark† Georgiana simply wants her unique birthmark removed from her face. Similarly, in â€Å"Barbie Doll† the unnamed young lady wants her nose and legs removed. In both of these stories the reader can see that these women are chasing society’s idea of perfection. The short story â€Å"The Birthmark† written by Nathaniel Hawthorne and the poem â€Å"Barbie Doll† written by Marge Piercy have almost the exact same theme because both of these short works of fiction are about a woman that is influenced by her peers to become†¦show more content†¦From this moment on, every acceptable quality she has will mean absolutely nothing to her. As long as she has her big nose and her two thick legs, that is all she will see herself as wholly. This leads her to thinking about permanently removing her unwanted flaws. She believes that if she removes her flaws, she will finally be accepted by society. In both stories, the reader interprets that both the woman and the young girl have specific qualities that someone in their lives has pointed out as flaws. The opinions of these certain people obviously matter to both of them, so they eventually decide that they want their flaws removed for good. When the main characters of the stories decide that they are certain that they want their flaws removed, they do not hesitate to immediately remove their imperfections. These abrupt decisions go entirely wrong for both women in the end. After all of the pressure from their peers, they remove their flaws permanently. As the unwanted mark fades from Georgiana’s face, â€Å"the parting breath of the now perfect woman passed into the atmosphere† (Hawthorne 301). Her flaw f inally leaves her face, but it unfortunately takes Georgiana’s life along with it. Similar to this situation, in â€Å"Barbie Doll† the main character decides to remove her flaws by simply cutting them off. She removes her nose and legs â€Å"and offered them up† (Piercy 771). Piercy writing that she is offering her flaws up, the author is unmistakably symbolizingShow MoreRelatedThe Puritan Effect1703 Words   |  7 PagesNathaniel Hawthorne is respected as â€Å"one of the great masters of American Fiction† (â€Å"Hawthorne, Nathaniel† 363). He is an accomplished author who wrote novels as well as children’s literature. However, Hawthorne’s strength is American short story; his â€Å"haunting† tales are undeniably responsible for establishing this genre as a â€Å"significant art form† (â€Å"Nathaniel Hawthorne† Columbia 1). He is known for his â€Å"penetrating explorations† of the conflicts within one’s conscience and the consequences thatRead MoreNathaniel Hawthorne s The Birthmark1476 Words   |  6 Pagesto the destruction of nature. In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s â€Å"The Birthmark,† it appears that Aylmer the main character wants to show the world that perfection is not beauty, and he demonstrates this with his wife Georgiana and that science should not alter the way that nature set man on this world to be. Hawthorne was a major asset to the transcendental movement, and this short story is a perfect example why. Nathaniel Hawthorne attempts to show the world the comparison between perfection and beauty mainlyRead MoreTwo Mad Scientists: a Comparison of Hawthorne’s Short Stories â€Å"the Birthmark† and â€Å"Rappaccini’s Daughter1572 Words   |  7 Pages 3 2. A Comparison of Hawthorne’s Short Stories â€Å"The Birthmark† and 3 â€Å"Rappaccini’s Daughter† 3 3.1 The Role of the Scientist 3 3.2 The Role of the Wife and daughter 4 3.3 Nature vs. Science 5 3. Conclusion 6 Works Cited 7 Honestly Declaration 8 1. Introduction In the main part of the following paper with the topic â€Å"Two Mad Scientists: A Comparison of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Short Stories â€Å"The Birthmark† and Rappaccini’sRead MoreA Comparative Analysis of the Concepts of Science and Nature in Nathaniel Hawthornes The Birthmark and Rappaccinis Daughter1531 Words   |  6 Pages Nathaniel Hawthornes The Birthmark and Rappaccinis Daughter both address the concepts of science and nature and the conflicts that the two typically generate. The protagonists in both stories feel that it is essential for them to do something in order to improve the persons they love. Moreover, they appear to consider that they actually want to help the persons they love instead of actually helping themselves by doing so. The women in the two stories focus on being as good as they can possiblyRead MoreNathaniel Hawthorne: A Brief Biography1277 Words   |  6 Pages On July 4, 1804, an author by the name of Nathaniel Hawthorne was born (Meltzer). As Hawthorne grew, he began to develop a view of himself as â€Å"the obscurest man in American letters.† Through the use of popular themes such as isolation, guilt, and earthly imperfection, Hawthorne was able to involve much of his life and ancestral past in his work to answer his own political and religious wonders (â€Å"Nathan iel†). Hawthorne successfully â€Å"confronts reality rather than evading it† in many of his storiesRead MoreSymbolism : The Birthmark, By Nathaniel Hawthorne849 Words   |  4 Pages In the short allegory â€Å"The Birthmark†, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, a newly-wed couple becomes consumed by the existence of a small birthmark on the wife’s face. When the wife, Georgiana, allows her husband Aylmer, a scientist, to remove the birthmark, both realize that Georgiana will inevitably sacrifice her life for the sake of its removal. As the story progresses, so does the confliction of the newlyweds as they realize exactly what the birthmark symbolized to and for each other. Hawthorne’s hallmarkRead MoreSymbols, Symbolism, And Symbolism Essay960 Words   |  4 Pagessituation or word to represent something else, like an idea, in literature. There are common types of symbolism in literature. Some are Metaphors, Allegory, Colors, and objects. Metaphors are a figure of speech which makes an implicit, implied or hidden comparison between two things that are unrelated but share some common characteristics. In other words, a resemblance of two contradictory or different objects is made based on a single or some common characteristic. This is commonly used in Poetry and shortRead MoreNoble Love in The Birthmark Essay1710 Words   |  7 PagesNoble Love in  The Birthmark     Ã‚  Ã‚   Often billed as a story of an unsuccessful attempt to beat Nature at her own game, â€Å"The Birthmark† by Nathaniel Hawthorne certainly lends itself to a somewhat deeper interpretation.   Over the years many scholars have noted that the story of Aylmer and Georgiana is riddled with traditional Hawthorne themes such as the evils of selfishness and pride, coupled with an element of solitariness (Arvin xvi).   However, we are want to consider whether Aylmer’s motivesRead MoreThe Call Of Cthulhu, By Nathaniel Hawthorne1472 Words   |  6 PagesIn Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story, â€Å"The Birth-mark,† and H.P. Lovecraft’s horror story, â€Å"The Call of Cthulhu,† there are both similarities in themes and style, however, their characterization and narration is entirely different. This lends itself to creating two different short stories, both can be classified as horror or suspenseful. Hawthorne’s story, published ear lier, shares a similar theme of humanity and union with â€Å"The Call of Cthulhu.† The documentary style of H.P. Lovecraft’s shortRead MoreElements of Comparison between Hill’s Like White Elephants and The Birthmark1268 Words   |  6 PagesBoth â€Å"Hill’s like White Elephants† by Ernst Hemingway and â€Å"The Birthmark† by Nathaniel Hawthorne have many common elements of comparison between them. The main element of the stories that will be compared is this thought of an operation. Both stories stem from these two operations and the comparisons derive from how the women react and respond to the two men in the story. Both stories are comparable by the common theme of a life changing operation, how the women first react to the operation and how