Chapter 5: Symbol and Figurative

Language

Amanda, Emily, Scooby, and Angela

The Birth-Mark by Nathaniel Hawthorne

We focused on symbolism and figurative language!

Our close reading questions were directed to a short story,

the Birth-Mark. It is about a scientist in the late 1700s that married a women that had an imperfection on her face. The story reveals what happened

due to that.

Plot Questionsa. After the first few paragraphs, it was easy to tell that something was going to happen to the wife of the scientist. We believe that he is going to somehow kill his wife. Also, the paragraph gave us an idea that the conflict will be about a birthmark.b. Alymer does not like the looks of his wife’ birthmark and therefore wants to remove it. This conflict brings discontent to the characters.

inciting incident: an action that sets a plot in motion by creating conflict; an event that causes a loss of equilibrium.

Plot Questions Cont.c. The external conflict would be the birthmark that is on Georgianna’s cheek that

Alymer is not fond of. However, an internal conflict for Alymer would be the scientific good and evil and success or failure vs. Georgianna’s love and alienation. The secondary conflict is simply between nature and science.

external conflict: when it pits a character against something or someone outside himself or herself-- another character(s) or something in nature or society

internal conflict: opposing forces are two drives, impulses, or parts of a single character

secondary conflict: an event that is important but isn't a part of the main conflict

d. When Alymer is having a dream about Georgianna’s birthmark and dreaming of cutting into it for removal, it says that he continues to cut until he removes her heart. The fact that he is having these dreams makes us realize that he is losing love for this women simply because of a natural imperfection. We didn’t believe that Georgianna would actually allow her husband to remove the birthmark, but she trusted in him and knew that if the birthmark wasn’t removed, their marriage would fail to begin with.

Plot Questions Cont.e. The climax is when Georgianna tells Alymer that she is dying because she

finally has spoken words and also the lab assistance was laughing indicating a bad spirit floating around so something must be going on. Also, there is only about one paragraph left for us to find out whether or not she makes it or dies.

climax: the most intense, exciting, or important point of something

f. The resolution was Georgianna’s death. There was obviously no love in their relationship anymore and therefore her dying resolved that tension between the two. We figured since at the beginning of the story it explained how passionate Alymer was for science and how he was so great at his job, so we thought that because of this, he would be able to remove his wife’s birthmark without creating any harm.

Plot Questions Cont.g. Alymer foreshadows about what is going to happen throughout the rest

of the story within the first few paragraphs by saying that his wife’ birthmark was a visible mark of earthly perfection. So, being that he is a scientists, he would find something in nature to remove the birthmark to try and make his wife perfect. Following this, the reader becomes aware of the fact that Alymer has a fixation of removing her birthmark because of the dream. During the dream, the birthmark had reached her heart and he must remove it. This all builds on each other and the scientists hints on her dying at the end.

h. It follows a tragic plot. It is a short story and there for a lot happens within a small amount of time. It was very straight forward. Alymer liked science and didn’t like the birthmark, therefore used science to remove the birthmark.

Narration Questionsa. The narrator in the short story speaks in third person point of view.

b. The story is narrated in the past tense. The verb tense affects my reading of it because it shows that all of this had already happened and that it might be a chilling tone if someone else wants to “retell it”.

c. The narrator uses a very distinct “romantic” vocabulary. He uses long descriptive words for the entirety of the story.

Narration Questionsd. The narrator is not identified as a character, he is identified rather as an outside

source.

e. The narrator never speaks the the reader directly, but it does seem as if he is telling a large group the story. He does not use “you”, but he does pause to further explain events as if he is all-knowing.

f. You know what the main character is thinking.

g. The narrative voice’s focus seems to remain constant throughout the story. He may have been trying to allow the reader to digest the entirety of the story without adding bias.

h. I feel that the narrator and the readers, may have gathered a deeper level of understanding because we were told flashbacks, and some more minor details instead of just reading the present dialogue between the main characters who only know what they have told each other.

Character Analysis Questions a. Some may say that Alymer is the

protagonist, but that seems opinionated. Although he is the main character of the story, I feel that his mind is his own antagonist of the story. Georgianna is also a main character (his wife), and Aminadab is his servant who is a minor character.

b. Alymer’s most distinctive traits are that he is very confident, smart, and determined. Removing the birthmark from his wife’s cheek using his science is his most present motive during the story. He seems to be at an internal war with loving his wife, but hating the birthmark. There is also the conflict between his wife and himself because he constantly makes his wife feel ashamed by her birthmark.

Character Analysis Questions Cont.c. I believe that when Alymer is trying to persuade Georgianna to the

surgery, it reveals the most about his character. It was very surprising to me near the end of the story when he kissed the birthmark, this showed that he cared about her in that moment more than his disgust for the mark. I feel that you do not know a great deal about his past, or about his love for Georgianna. In the story, it seems that his love for her is clouded by the birthmark, but I’m wondering if it has always been that way.

d. I do not believe that a character is a antagonist in the story. If anything, I see Alymer as both a protagonist and an antagonist. I feel that the two main characters are foils of one another, they both ultimately lead to the other’s undoing. There would not be a story if any of the characters were the disappear, I feel that they need one another. He is showing how opposite these character really are, and maybe showing how blinding love can be.

Character Analysis Questions Cont.e. I feel that Hawthorne wants us to

sympathise with Georgianna because of all the negativity Alymer directs towards her outward appearance. He writes about how she shudders whenever Alymer glances negatively towards her, and how started to despise her birthmark because of it.

f. My views do not really change throughout the story. I think that Alymer changed some because he started focusing less on the birthmark, and saw Georgianna as a whole instead.

g. Characterization is indirect in the story. We do not know much about Georgianna other than her birthmark and how people dislike it. We also only know that Alymer is a scientist. We get more information through the character’s actions throughout the story.

Setting Questions

a. Alymer’s laboratory in the late 1800s. We know this because it says in the first sentence that it was the latter part of the last century (footnote informs us that is the 18th century). We also know that it takes place in a laboratory because of context clues telling us that he is a scientist.

temporal setting: the timegeographical setting: imagined space; national borders; natural

settings

b. The setting (Alymer’s laboratory) is important because if it didn’t take place there, then Alymer would have been performing the procedure of the removal of the birthmark somewhere where is shouldn’t be or the removal would not have happened at all. However, regardless of the setting, Alymer would still hate the birthmark and their marriage would still be very weak with the absence of love.

general setting: the time and place of the action in a work of fiction, poetry or drama

Setting Questions Cont.c. the setting creates:

i. since the setting is in the laboratory, it creates conflict, because if Alymer wasn’t a scientist, then he wouldn’t be turned off by nature’s imperfection on his wife’s cheek.

ii. the setting leads Alymer believe that he is capable of performing such surgery on his wife and his wife believes that since his husband is a scientist that he has the ability to remove her birthmark without harm.

iii. in the late 18th century, I think of acupuncture and crazy scientist doing insane “medical healing techniques” because there was no breakthrough of medicine back then.Therefore Alymer using all of those potions and his wife being bewitched made the time period seem real.

iv. When we think of an at-home lab, we think scary, creepy people with scalpels in their hands waiting to kidnap someone to be their next victim.

Setting Questions Cont.d. In the beginning, Alymer

becomes a scientists within his lab, then he marries a woman and they live in his lab, and then she dies in the lab. This is happening over the course of a few years.

e. When they are in the bedroom, Alymer is thinking about death (dreaming that he is going to remove her heart) and then in the bedroom again, he kills her with the potions.

f. Alymer has failed many times with more lofty events in his laboratory and therefore he feels okay when he fails at the removal of his wife’s birthmark.

Symbolism Questionsa. Significant details in the story are

the birthmark and the potion. Repeated statements and actions are Aylmer’s wishes to remove his wife's birthmark at any cost. The birthmark is reference to frequently, it is the main symbol in the story.

b. The repetition of the birthmark as a point of conflict in the story show a pattern, Aylmer even dreams about trying to remove it. Removing Georgiana’s birthmark becomes his obsession.

Symbolism Questions Cont.c. The symbol from mythology found in the story is a reference to Pygmalion, a

very talented sculptor in ancient greece. He chiseled a statue of a beautiful woman and brought it to the temple of Aphrodite, goddess of love, and prayed for a wife just like his statue. Aphrodite loved the sculpture and answerer Pygmalion’s prayers and turned his sculpture into a real woman whom he married. In this story the birthmark is not just a birthmark, it is a symbol for imperfections.

d. The symbol is extended beyond a few sentences, it is the main focal point of the entire story.

e. The major symbol in the story is Georgiana’s birthmark. It is a symbol for humanity because humans are flawed. In Aylmer’s dream he sees that the birthmark goes deep into Georgiana’s heart, symbolizing how human flaws run deep. It is also shown when Aylmer gives his wife the potion and removes her birthmark, killing her in the process. This symbolizes that without our flaws we are no longer human and therefore can’t survive.

Theme Questions.a. The title “The Birthmark” introduces a main focus of the story. The birthmark

will play a very important role in the story and function as a symbol for human flaws.

b. The recurring idea is the removal of the birthmark. Aylmer frequently brings it up and even has a dream where he tries to surgically remove the birthmark but it goes all the way down to Georgiana’s heart. This dream symbolizes that flaws of humanity run deep. The story culminated in Aylmer giving his wife a poisonous potion to remove the birthmark, which it does, but it also kills her in the process.

c. The story makes a statement about human nature and that humans are flawed. The wife’s birthmark is seen as a flaw by her husband, something he must correct. When he tries to change her by changing her flaw, he is taking away what makes her human. When he succedes in removing her birthmark he rids her of her humanity. Once Georgiana is perfect she can no longer live because she is longer human.

Theme Questions Cont.d. Aylmer is obsessed with changing his

wife and risks everything to make her perfect. When he succedes he realizes he had made a grave mistake. He loves the idea of her more than he loves her.

e. A conflict present in the story is whether or not Aylmer should use his knowledge as a scientist to remove his wife’s birthmark. He knew the potion was poisonous and could kill his wife, but he chose to ignore this fact and give it to her anyways.

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