The Experiments Involving Women in Nathaniel Hawthornes - Essay Example

Experiments Involving Women Introduction The issue of women is the governing motive in the Hawthorne’s works. Hawthorne perceives the changes in the women’s lives and their growing of social status, and this are by depicting women as internally complex that belongs to the puritan male dominated backgrounds. On the other hand, he depicts the women to be belonging to the transcendental and self-defining world. Hawthorne does not view women as threatening eves, or as unimportant, but as the men’s intellectual, emotional, vital and spiritual partner. Having grown with two sisters and a widowed mother, hawthorns sees women as companions and without any threat. Hawthorne build a formidable relationship with women characters, in which case he had to inspire many who appear in his fiction, and he had a relationship with women who had some influence in his life, which includes Margaret Fuller among others. Therefore, Hawthorne plays a crucial role in having to think about women and their confronting of the American men and society. Therefore, this paper will embark on the experiments that involve women in Nathaniels Hawthorne, “the birth mark” and the “Rapaccini’s daughter” (Wright). A substance analysis of Hawthorne’s women from the many tales demonstrates the way the Hawthorne uses the women as the objects of warning about the consequences of the fear of men. Analyzing the “The Birth Mark”, Hawthorne tries to introduce the Georgina character, in which case her sole flaw is the birthmark that was on her face. Everything else is perfect, but the flaw that existed was this only birthmark. The husband of Aylmer likes science, and he goes on to suggest that he should try to remove the birthmark. When he was through with the experiment, he goes ahead to announce that the experiment was successful. Having done this, Georgina, in which case she had some characteristics of evil possession, dies because her husband had the insistence on trying to deform nature. Aylmer also has the evil flaw, in which case he is persistence to get rid of the birthmark (Wright). Hawthorne has had to create characters with malevolent or the evil characteristics to the reader an allegorical meaning. To some extent, he may be targeting the women without the justification. Plainly, Hawthorne has had to target the women and the men equally in his works. For instance, in his works of, “Rappaccini’s daughter”, Hawthorne uses Beatrice to be the carrier of deadly poison, in which case men is in use in transmitting the evil. Then men in use have their own flaws, in which case it contributes to the mistakes of women in their works. II. A There is the possibility of interpreting the Georgiana’s sexuality when interpreting the birthmark because Hawthorne works seem to have sexual undercurrent. In the hallmark, Georgiana tries to consider Aylmer to be his master, which is why she is caring about Aylmer’s opinion of her. Aylmer considers the imperfection in the Georgiana’s face and has the confidence of the nature due to his likes of science he plans to remove the imperfection from her face. He persuades her to remove the imperfection in order that they feel happy together. Aylmer then guides Georgiana into the laboratory, in which case it includes beautiful rooms and Aylmer finally succeeds in removing the imperfections. However, Georgiana, in which case she has had to dream, dies. From the two characters, Georgiana and Aylmer, it is quite clear that the birthmark epitomizes natural beauty containing imperfection and explores the hubris of science and art in an attempt to perfect what the nature offers. In addition, there is the revelation of discomfort and fascination with the power of women’s sexuality, in which case it can make a man pursue anything, including endangering a woman’s life, diminishing it (Wright). Aylmer aims at removing the birthmark in Georgiana’s face that made her imperfect. Aylmer wanted to make her to be perfect in order that they would feel happy together. He achieves his mission of removing the imperfection, but he does not achieve his mission of having to feel happy with Georgiana because after removing the imperfection, Georgiana dies. Georgiana’s attitude toward her birthmark changes with the response to various observers. The self-image she had come from internalizing the attitudes towards her of the men around her. Because of what surrounds her, in which case it is the obsession attraction expressed as total revulsion, the consequence is continual self-consciousness, which leads to self-hatred and sense of shame. This eventually utter readiness to be killed. Aminadab is the total oddball character in the hallmark. Aminadab was a man of slow physique. He seems vaguely sinister and a little creepy. He was not capable of understanding science behind the Aylmer’s work, but he had to execute the physical details quite easily. Hawthorne had the attitude that substantially had to influence the puritan lifestyle. Hawthorn attitude mostly seems to write about the relationship of men and their response to sin and consequences. B. In the Rappaccini’s daughter, Hawthorne had to focus on the horrible consequence of having the value of science over humanity. Rapaccini engages in many scientific experiments, in which case he even exposes his daughter to the poisons that he creates. Ultimately, she becomes responsible for her death. Rappaccini’s daughter demonstrates the concept of conflicts that take lave between the love of human and the love of science. The story of Rappaccini’s Daughter is quite similar to that of The Birthmark. Hawthorne tends to be intent is showing the consequences for having the value of science so much, and, on the other hand, Hawthorne portrays Beatrice who is the only female in Rappaccini’s Daughter as poisonous. Therefore, the functions of the characters in the Birthmark seem to be similar to that of the Rapaccini’s daughter (Wright). III In Easton’s essay, Hawthorne and the question of women, Easton analyses the novelist’s ambivalent attitude towards the women issue in terms of gender and class together. Easton demonstrates Hawthorne as acquainted with the emergence of the conflicting class and gender patterns. Her elaborate study shows the historical and the cultural context of Hawthorne short fiction and in more influence of the Quakerism in America in the 1840s. In my opinion, the critics of Easton tries to examine the didactic dimensions of the fiction of Hawthorne and tries to concentrate the relations existing between history and childhood, the socio-economic settings and the choice of literary forms and the stylistic devices. IV Both the Hawthorne’s “The Birthmark” and the “Rappaccini’s Daughter” deals with man in pursuit of beauty. However, men fail to recognize that the true beauty one finds in nature. Man has been trying to improve on what he has, and it is quite often with catastrophic results. Embarking on the “the birthmark”, towards the end, Georgiana dies from having to drink a potion that her husband Aylmer made in order to remove the birthmark from her face, in which case she admonishes him, “my poor Aylmer, you have had the aim loftily, you have had to do nobly. Do not apologize that, with so high and pure the feeling, you have had to reject the best the earth could offer, Aylmer, dearest Aylmer, I am dying”. Similarly in the “Rappaccini’s Daughter”, there is the depiction of a beautiful daughter that he has to use his skills as a scientist to endow her with peculiar, lethal power to award off suitors. However, his efforts results to her death when the suitor, Giovanni, gets the remedy to the poisons her father has had to imbue her (Wright). Conclusion The whole scenario that Hawthorne demonstrates is a warning against what might happen to man when in quest for the scientific development; they attempt to distort the nature. The whole story seems to be allegory of the fall of man in the Garden of Eden, in which case the Rappaccini is the Adam while Beatrice is the eve. References: Wright, Sarah B. Critical Companion to Nathaniel Hawthorne: A Literary Reference to His Life and Work. New York, NY: Facts on File, 2007. Print Read More