Research and Analysis

Analysis

The below paper was for my Literature of the American Renaissance class in fall 2014. The teacher had stringent requirements regarding paragraph length and thesis statements, as well as content, so it was a challenge. We had to choose one of the works we studied over the semester and make and argument based off of class discussions. I chose Nathanial Hawthorne's "The Birthmark" and the argument that this text destroys Hawthorne's apparent support for feminism.

Flying Too Close to The Sun: Challenging Perfection in Hawthorne’s “The Birth-Mark”

The United States in the 1800s had, like many other countries at the time, a great number of expectations placed on many of its people. Society exalted scientists, driving them to crazy lengths with dreams of fame and fortune and recognition. Additionally, women were supposed to be gentle, kind souls that never raised a hand even to protect themselves, and were not expected to voice their thoughts and opinions. Today, many riff on Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story, “The Birth-Mark,” claiming that the supposedly forward-thinking man was exalting these conservative views by writing Alymer’s wife, Georgiana, in what at first looks to be a traditional view of the perfect woman. However, looking closely at the text, it’s much more likely that the protagonist, the scientist Alymer, is being portrayed as nothing more than a fool in his experiments and overall treatment towards his wife. Hawthorne’s text significantly and harshly challenges the role and subsequent treatment of women in society, the traditional roles in a relationship, and the ever-increasing reach of the scientists of the time. Through Hawthorne’s narrative, Alymer’s character is examined alongside that of his wife, Georgiana, as well as through the appearance and reactions of his assistant, Aminidab. This paper will examine how Hawthorne condemns not only the traditional role of women in society at the time, but also the weight placed on scientific discovery by making Alymer, by comparison, ridiculous in his thoughts and actions.

Georgiana is a special character in that, while she does embody certain characteristics of the ideal woman at the time, she still retains a measure of independence and intelligence despite what many current readers of the story believe. Just as she supports Alymer in his experiments and respects him despite his failures, she also refuses to keep her feelings unknown. In the beginning of the story, in response to Alymer’s admittance that her crimson hand “shock[ed]” him, she exclaims, ““Shocks you, my husband!...Then why did you take me from my mother’s side? You cannot love what shocks you!”” (Hawthorne 419). After this exclamation she then turns red with anger and begins to cry. The normal expectation here would be that Georgiana should quietly agree, if she responds at all. Instead she does the opposite. In addition, she later refuses to leave the laboratory when Alymer orders her out, instead stating firmly, “it is not you that have a right to complain. You mistrust your wife!” (Hawthorne 427). In this exchange, she refuses his demand, and then calls him out for his actions. While this exchange results in a better understanding between husband and wife, a point Hawthorne likely includes on purpose to gently suggest what a marriage should be like, this is a prime example of how Georgiana’s defiance ultimately challenges Alymer’s authority as the man in the relationship.

In many instances, Georgiana also retains her common sense and intelligence, honing them instead of ignoring them. Not only does she spend considerable time over the course of the experiment reading Alymer’s collection of books on philosophy, poetry, and the sciences, but she also displays to the reader her own analytical skills by voicing her own conclusions: “Perhaps [the birth-mark’s] removal may cause cureless deformity. Or, it may be, the stain goes as deep as life itself” (Hawthorne 421). In this statement, it becomes obvious that she has weighed the situation and has discovered both of these possibilities on her own. She certainly did not receive any help from Alymer who, at this point, was still half-heartedly trying to hide his disgust with the birth-mark. She continues to inquire about the surety of the experiment, in an attempt to fully understand what she is getting herself into, instead of blindly accepting her husband’s words. Some readers view her decision to submit herself to her husband’s experiments as a result of what was expected of her, but this reaction proves that she has heavily considered the process and come to the decision on her own. Likely, she decides to go through with it not because she necessarily trusts him to succeed, but because she finds it the more attractive option than being a creature of disgust to her husband. She is trapped by her marriage and society’s disdain for separations, and her affection for her husband makes it difficult to stomach his reactions to the hand on her cheek.

Georgiana most certainly retains aspects of the ideal womanly perfection throughout the work. However, even these aspects are laced with a deeper intelligence than the reader sees in Georgiana at first. Georgiana’s reaction to Alymer’s records, included in Hawthorne’s narrative rather than in her own spoken words, prove a respect for her husband not just because of his place in her life, but also because of his own intelligence and efforts:

He handled physical details, as if there were nothing beyond them; yet spiritualized them all, and redeemed himself from materialism, by his strong and eager aspiration towards the infinite…Georgiana, as she read, reverenced Alymer, and loved him more profoundly than ever, but with a less entire dependence on his judgment than heretofore” (Hawthorne 425-426)

It becomes obvious here that she respects him, but realizes that “his most splendid successes were almost invariably failures” (Hawthorne 426). She came to her own conclusion about Alymer’s experiments through what she saw in the book, making the connections that others might not have, proving her position as a thoughtful woman who values reason. Her respect for him is still obvious, however, when she does not mention this concern when he walks in, instead saying only that “it has made [her] worship [him] more than ever!” (Hawthorne 426). Georgiana respects the decision she made. It’s possible, even, that she’s valuing this time she spends with him, happy to have a short, comfortable time with him, than decades of awkwardness and a failing marriage.

These elements of Georgiana’s character definitely portray a more modern woman than what would have been accepted at the time. As critics point out, she does still retain a measure of devotion to her husband that meets societal standards. However, this does not weaken her character, but instead weakens Alymer’s, and also raises questions about the treatment of all women in the 1800s by their husbands. Georgiana at one point states her respect for her husband: “her heart exulted…at his honorable love, so pure and lofty that it would accept nothing less than perfection” (Hawthorne 427). Georgiana makes similar statements throughout “The Birth-Mark,” reminding the reader of the role of a woman in her position. Hawthorne chose this dialogue for her, breaking up her more innovative moments, to showcase a reverence for the expectation of the perfect woman. He is trying communicate that women gave up a lot for men, even if it’s just following standards. They give men their freedom, their voices, even their emotions and intelligence. Instead of respecting them for these sacrifices and treating them well, they are often ignored and taken for granted. These moments of the perfect woman that Georgiana occasionally reveals contrasts fiercely with the will of her husband, truly portraying him as a fool and revealing the vulnerable position women are consistently forced into.

While Georgiana’s role is integral to the story, showing the injustice that often plagued women, Alymer’s assistant also played a vital part in the destruction of the scientist’s character. The lab assistant, Aminidab, plays a small but vital role in revealing the mockery Hawthorne is making of Alymer and of scientific men in general. Aminidab is very different from Alymer. Aminidab’s foreign background is immediately obvious from his name. When Hawthorne first introduces him, he emphasizes his physical characteristics and contrasts them with Alymer’s:

With his vast strength, his shaggy hair, his smoky aspect, and the indescribable earthiness that incrusted him, he seemed to represent man’s physical nature; while Alymer’s slender figure, and pale, intellectual face, were no less apt a type of the spiritual element (Hawthorne 422)

Hawthorne here draws a line between the two characters, emphasizing Alymer’s more delicate features just as he does with Aminidab’s more “earthy” aspects. The two characters represent two different world views, Aminidab’s being a relation with the earth and nature, while Alymer’s is something beyond that, reflecting his mission to defy reality. However, this does more than to just show the gap between the two, it also highlights a difference in class. Aminidab is consistently referred to as a “human machine” and “man of clay” (Hawthorne 427) by Alymer, again referencing his connection with the earth, but also suggesting something about his background. This is further solidified by Georgiana’s reaction to Aminidab’s voice: “…more like the grunt or growl of a brute than human speech” (Hawthorne 424). This firmly places him in a very common racial discourse in the nineteenth century—the argument that those with darker skin are not as intelligent at their white counterparts. This, combined with Aminidab’s comment: “if she were my wife, I’d never part with that birth-mark” (Hawthorne 422), is a fatal blow to Alymer’s character, given that the story was written in the 1800s. If Aminidab, this man described in comparison to an animal who, by society’s standards, is below Alymer, respects Georgiana and her birth-mark, then why can Alymer not see past the crimson hand? Aminidab’s role only reinforces the traits that Georgiana personifies, truly calling Alymer into question.

Having examined the characters he is contrasted against, Alymer himself now needs to be considered. Hawthorne makes good use of his narrative voice to describe Alymer and his nature. Alymer comes off as weak, even in his excitement and determination in science, often being passive-aggressive about issues and being incredibly obsessive about his work. Hawthorne mentions this trait in the very first paragraph of the work

[Alymer] had devoted himself...too unreservedly to scientific studies, ever to be weaned by them by any second passion. His love for his young wife might prove the stronger of the two; but it could only be by intertwining itself with his love of science…(Hawthorne 418)

His obsession is drawn from a deep-rooted fear that even he himself doesn’t fully realize, a fear of mortality. He allows this fear to control him into experiment after experiment, through countless errors and accidental successes. Alymer “select[ed] [the birth-mark] as the symbol of his wife’s liability to sin, sorrow, decay, and death, [his] sober imagination was not long in rendering the birth-mark as a frightful object” (Hawthorne 420). Just as mentioned in the opening lines, Alymer’s love for his wife is intertwined with the base of his scientific obsession, his search for immortality, driving him to preserve her and destroy all reminders of her mortality. His mind focuses on the birth-mark, the one sign that Georgiana is still an imperfect mortal. Her birth-mark is, by the end of the story, revealed to be the manner in which Georgana’s soul is bound to her body and so, when Alymer treats the mark with droughts intended for immortality, it’s no surprise that it does get rid of the birth-mark, the symbol of her mortality, and in doing so releases her to heaven and a different kind of immortality. He ended up getting his wish to remove her from the mortality of the human race, but not in the way he had originally hoped. Instead of ignoring the birthmark and living out his years with his wife so they could both ascend to heaven and the immortality it brings, he hastens the process for her and leaves himself years of torment knowing what he could have had.

Hawthorne uses his narrative to thoroughly describe Alymer’s increasing obsession and lack of restraint throughout the story, especially in contrast to the warnings against the experiment that Alymer received on multiple occasions. In the dream he had which Georgiana overheard, the hand had “caught hold of Georgiana’s heart…” (Hawthorne 420), signifying that the mark was indeed tied to her life. In addition, the tricks he showed her to relax her backfired, the plant “suffer[ing] a blight” as soon as she touched it, and the portrait coming out “blurred and undefinable; while the minute figure of a hand appeared where the cheek should have been” (Hawthorne 424). Instead of taking these as signs that removal of the mark would not end well, like a fool he ignored them and, if anything, they only served to fuel his obsession as his references to the mark evolve from the birth-mark, to the crimson hand, and finally, to the fatal hand.

Within the confines of his story, “The Birth-Mark,” Hawthornes examines multiple angles of society at the time. The most prominent of which is the role of women in society, but he also brings in the stigmas attached to minorities like Aminidab. Additionally, Hawthorne scorns the obsession men of the time had with scientific experimentation. Alymer is the personification of such a man, striving through his failures to achieve immortality. Hawthorne, while challenging the roles of husband and wife, focuses on teaching more than one lesson: one of knowing your limitations and being happy with what you have. Alymer oversteps his boundaries and can’t appreciate what occurs around him naturally, nothing mortal is good enough for him. In this case, his attempts end up resulting in immortality—but immortality of the soul, not the body. Georgiana, now “perfect” without the birth-mark on her face, can no long remain attached to the earth, and so Alymer in his success also fails because he loses his wife. Hawthorne manages, within one short story, to challenge societal norms as well as the role science should play in the life of humans. He conveys to the reader that one should find value in what is around them, both in the character of a wife, and in the world in general, instead of constantly trying to achieve his view of “perfection” in everything they come across.

Hawthorne, Nathaniel. “The Birth-Mark” The Norton Anthology of American Literature Volume B. Ed. Nina Baym. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2012. 418-429. Print.