Tuesday, May 19, 2020
The Birthmark A Psychological Short Story Essay - 3342 Words
â€Å"The Birthmark†– a Psychological Short Story Nathaniel Hawthorne’s â€Å"The Birthmark†may require a psychoanalyst to properly interpret because it is indeed a â€Å"psychological†short story in its themes and approach to character portrayal - and this essay will amply demonstrate these assertions. Henry Seidel Canby in â€Å"A Skeptic Incompatible with His Time and His Past†talks about the value of Hawthorne’s â€Å"literary psychology†: This irreverent generation [of the 1950’s] has mocked at Hawthorne’s struggling souls who torture themselves over peccadilloes like adultery and are morally wrecked by obsessions that (so it is assumed) any good psychoanalyst could remove. Studies in nerves seem to us more important than studies in†¦show more content†¦. . .†(43) Edmund Fuller and B. Jo Kinnick in â€Å"Stories Derived from New England Living†state that Hawthorne liked to â€Å"explore uncertainties of belief that trouble a man’s heart and mind†(31). Clarice Swisher in â€Å"Nathaniel Hawthorne: a Biography†states that Hawthorne’s interest tended toward the heart and the psychological effects of these moral and ethical issues†(13). A. N. Kaul considers Hawthorne â€Å"preeminently a ‘psychological’†writer – â€Å"burrowing, to his utmost ability, into the depths of our common nature, for the purposes of psychological romance. . . . He was deeply preoccupied with the modern themes of alienation, isolation, and guilt consciousness – and with modern spiritual problems generally†(2). There appears to be more agreement among literary critics regarding the interpretation of Hawthorne as a â€Å"psychological†writer than upon any other aspect of his writi ng. Now let’s establish the themes in this short story, â€Å"The Birthmark,†and select the dominant theme. The theme is the â€Å"general concept or doctrine, whether implicit or asserted, which an imaginative work is designed to incorporate and make persuasive to the reader†(Abrams 170). Morse Peckham in â€Å"The Development of Hawthorne’s Romanticism†explains what he interprets Hawthorne’s main theme to be in his short stories: â€Å"Henceforth Hawthorne’s theme is the redemption of the self through the acceptance and exploitation of what society termsShow MoreRelatedThe Birthmark: A Psychological Short Story Essay3606 Words  | 15 Pagesâ€Å"The Birthmark†Is a Psychological Story              The psychological dimension of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s writing, typical of his best short stories, is well demonstrated in his tale â€Å"The Birthmark.† Frederick C. Crews in â€Å"The Logic of Compulsion in ‘Roger Malvin’s Burial’†explores the psychological drama that prevails in Hawthorne’s short stories:  . . . I chose this one tale to analyze because it illustrates the indispensability, and I should even say the priorityRead MoreBirthday Mark by Nathaniel Hawthorne1146 Words  | 5 Pageschallenged scientists of the nineteenth century. Nathaniel Hawthorne writes of some challenges that man could run into during the exploration and application of new technology in The Birthmark. These challenges are not entirely physical but they are more so about an internal struggle within Victorian mindsets. In The Birthmark there are only three characters: Aylmer, a scientist, Georgiana, Aylmer’s wife, and Aminadab, Aylmer’s lab assistant. Hawthorne isolates the characters in their caste to presentRead More Hawthorne Essay855 Words  | 4 Pagescompelling story in just a few pages. Within these few pages, flows an elaborate and complex story. These stories flow so steadily and with such complexity that Hawthorne seems to create his own romantic style. He does this by inco operateing many different situations that keep the reader intuned to the story. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;In many of his short stories there seems to be a character that is infatuated with a person or an object. The reason for Hawthorne creating stories like this couldRead 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 MoreGothic Literature : The Dark Side Of Romanticism1518 Words  | 7 PagesRomanticism. The theme of Gothic stories is either mysterious, horror, or even death. Nathaniel Hawthorne an d Edgar Allan Poe are authors that demonstrate Gothic literature. Some of their work include, â€Å"The Cask of Amontillado†written by Edgar Allan Poe and â€Å"The Birthmark†by Nathaniel Hawthorne. The Cask of Amontillado tells how the narrator Montresor seeks revenge on his acquaintance, Fortunato. Montresor to desperate measures and did not catch. However, in â€Å"The Birthmark†, Aylmer, a scientist has becomeRead MoreLiterary Analysys of the Birthmark1060 Words  | 5 Pagesconflict of Nature and Science I. Introduction paragraph II. Theme of the story    A. 1st piece of evidence supporting this tool    B. 2nd piece of evidence supporting this tool    C. 3rd piece of evidence supporting this tool III. Characterization    A. 1st piece of evidence supporting this tool    B. 2nd piece of evidence supporting this tool    C. 3rd piece of evidence supporting this tool IV. Symbolism    A. 1st piece of evidence supporting this tool    Read MoreThe Birthmark Literary Analysis914 Words  | 4 PagesIn â€Å"The Birthmark†, a short story by Nathanial Hawthorne, the use of the archetypal conflict Nature vs. Science, the character of Damsel in Distress, and the symbol of the Incurable Wound show how easily beauty is overlooked in the endeavor for perfection. The archetypal conflict of Nature vs. Science is shown in Aylmer’s intention to remove the birthmark, nature’s constant reminder of human mortality, from Georgiana’s cheek. Aylmer believed that the birthmark might heighten Georgiana’s beautyRead MoreThe Birthmark By Nathaniel Hawthorne Essay1399 Words  | 6 PagesThe Birthmark Criticism Analysis The short story â€Å"The Birthmark†by Nathaniel Hawthorne was written in 1843 at the beginning of the largest feminist movement in the United States of America which occurred between the years 1840 and 1920 (National). Furthermore, during the 1830s and 1840s there were many women who spoke out about women’s rights. They argued for many changes with one of them being a social change in their duties to be subdominant to males. They rallied around the prohibition by fightingRead MoreThe Raven A Man By Edgar Allan Poe1737 Words  | 7 Pagesemotion, passion and wildness. The characters in these passages are very distinguished, they are also iconic. The stories are usually set a unknown place for example in a castle or in the woods, or they are set in a known place where something is out of the ordinary. There is something supernatural going on within the passage of writing. There are many thing that happen in the story that doesn’t happen in everyday life. For example in the poem The Raven a man is talking to a raven, this is personaRead More The Psychological Dimension of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Birthmark3161 Words  | 13 PagesThe Psychological Dimension of â€Å"The Birthmark†            This essay will analyze Nathaniel Hawthorne’s â€Å"The Birthmark†in order to demonstrate that it is a â€Å"psychological†short story both in its themes and in its emphasis on the moral-psychological aspect of the main characters. There is probably unanimity among literary critics that Hawthorne is a â€Å"psychological†writer. Consider some of their statements chosen at random from various critiques of Hawthorne’s literary works: Stanley
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