Wednesday, May 6, 2020
The Birthmark A Psychological Short Story Essay - 3606 Words
â€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 priority, of understanding the literal psychological dramas in Hawthorne’s fiction. Like all of his best tales, this one is packed with symbolic suggestions and invite a moralistic reading, and the problem it explores appears to be a problem of ethics. Yet†¦show more content†¦Studies in nerves seem to us more important than studies in morals, and certainly we are right in supposing that common sense and a working knowledge of science would have prevented half the casualties of literature. Hawthorne might retort by saying that without a moral sense you have of course no moral tragedies, and an observer of both epochs might add that the value of his literary psychology lies not in the deeds analyzed but in the picture of a struggle between right and wrong where the state of mind of the characters in conflict is immensely significant without regard to the rightn ess of what they think right or the wrongness of what they think wrong (62). 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 T. Williams in â€Å"Hawthorne’s Puritan Mind†says: What he wrote of New England was . . . .the subconscious mind of New England. It was. . . . unforgettable case histories of men and women afflicted by guilt, or, as he called it, by â€Å"a stain upon the soul.†. . . . His were grave and acute reflections uponShow MoreRelatedThe Birthmark: A Psychological Short Story Essay3342 Words  | 14 Pagesâ€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 atRead 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 incooperateing many different situations that keep the read er 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. 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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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