The

Birthmark
by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Compreensão e Análise de Texto da Língua Inglesa

Students: Márcio, Maria Conceição and Samiri
Professor: Daniel Aguiar e Silva
 Nathaniel Hawthorne: Life
Born – July 4, 1864 in Salem, Massachusetts.
Died – May 19, 1864 (aged 59) Plymouth, New Hampshire.
He published his first work in 1828, the novel Fanshawe.
He published several short stories in periodicals, which he collected
in 1837 as Twice-Told Tales.
He married with Sophia Peabody 1842.
Returned to Salem with his family in 1845
The Scarlet Letter was published in 1850.
Nathaniel Hawthorne assumed office in 1853, the United States
Consulate in Liverpool.
 Written Style

Dark romanticism.
Puritanism.
Long, descriptive sentences.
Formal and exaggerated dialogues.
Devoid of any conflicts between the characters.
Notion of neutral territory.
Symbolism.
 Works

● Fanshawe (1828)
● Twice-Told Tales (1837)
● Mosses from an Old Manse (1846)
● The Scarlet Letter (1850)
● The House of the Seven Gables (1851)
● The Blithedale Romance (1852)
● The Marble Faun (1860)
 Themes
● Sins.
● Cautionary tales.
● Deep psychological themes and symbolism.
● Little traces of surrealism.
● Perception of human nature.
● Duality
● Human isolation.
 General Aspects- The Birthmark
● Written: March of 1843

● Book by: Nathaniel Hawthorne.

● North American literature

● A story that involves readers to think

about science, life and love .
 Plot - The Birthmark
● This story tells the life of a brilliant scientist named Aylmer, who has abandoned
his experiments for a while to marry the beautiful Georgiana.

● Georgiana has a birthmark on her face which later becomes on problem in his
marriage.

● A long time ago, there lived a skillful scientist who had experienced a spiritual
reaction more striking than any chemical one.

● He had left his laboratory in the care of his assistant, washed the chemicals from
his hands and asked a beautiful woman to become his wife.
 Point of View- The Birthmark

● Story narrated in third person (omniscient)

● Observer narrator

She, said He said

Do you remember, my dear Aylmer, said she, with a feeble attempt at a smile,
have you any recollection.[…] (HAWTHORNE, 1843, p.2)

“ It is resolved, then, said Georgiana, faintly smiling.” (HAWTHORNE, 1843, p.3)

 Character Analysis
Aylmer

● Meaning - “Noble and/or famous”

“[...] a man of science, an eminent proficient in every branch of natural

philosophy [...]” (HAWTHORNE, 1843, p. 1)

● Skilled scientist
● He is torn between his wife and science.
● Perfectionist
● Persuasive
● Not given Aylmer’s age, habits, childhood, or birthplace.

“[...] cleared his fine countenance from the furnace smoke [...]”
(HAWTHORNE, 1843, p. 1 )
 Character Analysis
Georgiana

● Meaning - “Farmer”
● Aylmer’s wife.

“Noblest, dearest, tenderest wife” (HAWTHORNE, 1843, p. 3 )

● A beautiful, intelligent, and passionate woman.

● She is physically and spiritually lovely
● Perfect
● Her only flaw is a small red birthmark shaped like a tiny hand on her left
cheek.
● She is undone by her allegiance to her husband.
 Character Analysis
Aminadab

● Meaning – “the name of a high priest in the Bible”

● Aylmer’s assistant.

“[...] a man of low stature, but bulky frame, with shaggy hair hanging about his
visage, which was grimed with the vapors of the furnace.” (HAWTHORNE, 1843, p. 3 )

“[...] the seemed to represent man's physical nature [...]” (HAWTHORNE, 1843, p. 3 )

● Mysterious
● What is going on with Aminadab’s laughter at the end of the story?

“If she were my wife, I'd never part with that birthmark.”
(HAWTHORNE, 1843, p. 4 )
 Setting
➔ The narrator opens by placing the temporal setting in “the latter part
of the last century”. which to his contemporary audience was the
eighteenth.
➔ Various details, however, call attention to the nineteenth century’s.
➔ Post Industrial setting.

● In terms of place:

The two dominant settings of the story are the laboratory and the boudoir.
The laboratory is the place for science, intellectual
activity, and risk.
The boudoir is the site of passivity, decoration, and safety.
The boudoir offers an “atmosphere of penetrating fragrance”.
The laboratory turns out to be a filthy place of labor.
 Central Conflict - The Birthmark
● Perfect and imperfect opposition begins to permeate the narrative.

“Such a union did take place with truly remarkable results.

But one day very soon after their marriage.
(HAWTHORNE, 1843, p.1)
Georgiana, he said, have you considered that the mark upon
your cheek might be removed?

“No, she said, smelling…”

“To tell you the truth it has been so often called a charm that I
was simple enough to imagine it might be so."
( HAWTHORNE, 1843, p.1)
 Rising Action- The Birthmark

● Aylmer does not accept Georgiana's birthmark

Ah, upon another face perhaps it might, but never on yours. No

dear, nature has made you so perfect that this little defect shocks
me…

● Aylmer’s obsession

During a period that should have been their happiest, Aylmer

could only think of Birthmark on Georgiana's face.
 Climax- The Birthmark
● Georgiana’s decision

Danger is nothing to me; while this hateful mark makes me the object
of your horror and disgust [...] (HAWTHORNE, 1843, p.3)
Remove this little mark for the sake of your peace and mine.

● Finally the big moment

“He bore a crystal goblet containing a liquor colorless as

water.”(HAWTHORNE, 1843, p.9)
The concoction of the draught has been perfect," said he
(HAWTHORNE, 1843, p.9)

● She drinks the liquid and immediately fell asleep.

● Success, Success! Said he.

 Resolution- The Birthmark
● Pursuit of perfect beauty, using science

My poor Aylmer. She said gently, you have aimed so high with high
and pure a feeling, you have rejected the best the earth could offer.
Aylmer, dearest Aylmer, I am dying!” (HAWTHORNE, 1843, p.10)

It was true the hand on her face had been her link to life. As the last
trace of color despaired from her check, she gave her last breath.

● Plurisignification
 Symbolism
● The birthmark

“[...] in the centre of Georgiana's left cheek there was a

singular mark, deeply interwoven, as it were, with the texture
and substance of her face. [...]” (HAWTHORNE, 1843, p.1 )

● Georgiana’s birthmark symbolizes mortality.

“The crimson hand expressed the ineludible gripe in which

mortality clutches the highest and purest of earthly mould [...]
[...]selecting it as the symbol of his wife's liability to sin, sorrow,
decay, and death.” (HAWTHORNE, 1843, p.2 )
 Allusions
“Even Pygmalion, when his sculptured woman assumed life [...]”
(HAWTHORNE, 1843, p.3 )

“They were the works of philosophers of the middle ages, such as

Albertus Magnus, Cornelius Agrippa, Paracelsus [...]”
(HAWTHORNE, 1843, p.6) Cornelius Agrippa

Source: Google images

Paracelsus Albertus Magnus
 REFERENCES
Nathaniel Hawthorne. Avaliable in: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Nathaniel-Hawthorne/
Access in: 21 May 2021.
PINTO, Maria Márcia Matos. Representações do corpo humano no entrecruzamento
ciência, tecnologia, arte e ética. Avaliable in:
https://periodicos.fclar.unesp.br/letras/article/download/4704/3997/0 Access in: 10 May 2021
The Birthmark. Avaliable in: https://www.shmoop.com/study-guides/literature/birthmark Access
in: 12 May 2021
The Birthmark. Avaliable in: https://www.sparknotes.com/short-stories/the-birthmark/ Access in:
8 May 2021.
The Birthmark Summary. Avaliable in: https://www.enotes.com/topics/birthmark/ Access in: 20
May 2021.