What Is The Foreshadow In The Birthmark

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Hawthorne’s short story “The Birth-Mark” was written when the society was more fascinated by science and technology than the dependence of religious miracles and mystic transformations. Society began to believe that science and technology could achieve anything. The main character, Aylmer, is a genius scientist who believes that through science, technology, and alchemy, perfection could be achieved. He supposes that his wife is a divine being, until he sees the earthy defect on her face; the birthmark. He becomes so obsessed with this little flaw that he becomes unable to see the good in her. He strives to perfect his wife, and is blinded by this impossible task through his humanistic flaw; that perfection could be achieved. This flaw in human…show more content…
Georgiana begins to question the outcomes of the process of removal. She asks, “Perhaps its removal may cause cureless deformity; or it may be the stain goes as deep as life itself. Again: do we know that there is a possibility, on any terms, of unclasping the firm gripe of this little hand which was laid upon me before I came into the world?” (Hawthorne, page 4) This is a foreshadow of her death. Georgiana thinks about the fatal consequences that may happen, but Aylmer has such a high self-esteem and belief of self-prominence that he fails to listen and compels her to remove it. She then says she would risk her life to remove it because she knows it would make him happy. They continue to the procedure, and he creates a potion to eliminate his wife’s birthmark and her life slowly comes to an end. Aylmer gazes at his wife, and he feels delighted and horrified to see it disappear. Georgiana dies at the fate of her husband because he tried to attain the…show more content…
Although this question appears in the seventeenth century, it is still extremely relevant to the 21st century. Dr. Jennifer Howard describes the situation that comes with this task as, “It's easy to get swept up by the fear that we just aren't enough. We think we aren't pretty enough, smart enough, tall enough or thin enough. For example, when we feel we aren't enough physically, we're compelled to diet, exercise, wax, pluck and tuck in an attempt to achieve the "perfect" look.” (Huffington Post) This new thin, tall, “perfect look” is not achievable in any form or fashion, and yet it still continues to be a craze. People start to doubt themselves as complete, and try to change their own body to be socially acceptable. Television, magazines, social media, advertisement, and any form of Photoshop all affect the way people think about themselves. They find common insecurities of people and try to sell their products. Any tabloid always has a front-page headline instructing people how to live their life to be “perfect”, showing the socially unacceptable, or the “TOP 10 MUST-HAVES”. Advertisement uses Photoshop as away to persuade their customers that if they buy this, they will look like

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