Comparison of “The Birthmark” and “Rappaccini’s Daughter” by Nathaniel Hawthorne : Women, Science, Beauty and Nature

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Other essays and articles in the Literature Archives related to this topic include :   Full Plot Summary and Analysis of "The Birthmark" by Nathaniel Hawthorne   •   Analysis and Plot Summary of "Rappaccini's Daughter" by Nathaniel Hawthorne  •   Nathaniel Hawthorne : An Overview of the Author and Thematic Analysis of Works   •   Full Summary and Analysis of "The Minister's Black Veil" by Nathaniel Hawthorne       Analysis and Plot Summary of "Young Goodman Brown" by Nathnaiel Hawthorne    •     The Use of Allegory in The House of Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne    •    Puritan Influences on Modern American Culture and Thought  

 

When it is stated in the short story by Nathaniel Hawthorne “The Birthmark” (full summary here) that  “Aylmer’s somber imagination was not long in rending the birthmark a frightful object, causing him more trouble and horror than ever Georgiana’s beauty, whether of soul or sense, had given him delight” (1022) this parallels the growing realization of Giovanni that his love must to be perfected. By offering her the vial and bidding her to drink it, his motivations are also selfish because he wants her all to himself and will use science to obtain her completely. In the end, both of these stories involve man’s desire to prefect the already perfect and the use of science as a flawed tool to attain this perfection.

 

A cursory reading of these two short stories by Nathaniel Hawthorne might make a reader wonder if Hawthorne has “women issues” but clearly, after considering these two tales in light of man’s desire to perfect and thereby destroy, it appears that this is not the case. Rather, the tales are told with a sympathetic understanding of women’s beauty; that is it is something precious and may already be the height of nature’s perfection.

 

It would seem then, in comparing these themes in “The Birthmark” and "Rappaccini's Daughter" (full summary and plot analysis here) by Nathaniel Hawthorne, that the main idea or underlying message behind both of these short stories is that trying to subvert nature and perfect nature then is the surest way to destroy what is sacred. Furthermore, both of these tales show that women of such perfection as these two characters created by Hawthorne cannot be obtained, which leads to a more perplexing topic, whether or not perfection can ever be touched or handled, particularly when the selfish interests of men are a factor.

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References

Brenzo, Richard. “Beatrice Rappaccini: A Victim of Male Love and Horror.” American Literature 48.2 (1976), 152-164

Cervo, Nathan. “Hawthorne’s The Birthmark” Explicator 42.4 (1984), 19-21

Hawthorne, Nathaniel. “The Birthmark” The Electronic Text Center at the University of Virginia. http://etext.virginia.edu/etcbin/toccer new2?id=HawBirt.sgm&images=images/modeng&data=/texts/english/modeng/parsed&tag=public&part=1&division=div1