Nathaniel Hawthorne

The Birthmark
1. Having read the sample essays (specifically by one J. Smith*) at the inception of this particular course, I found myself unduly distracted by the different names given to the birthmark. Boo hoo.

2. Among the vocabulary, I found 12 new playthings to add to my own private lexicon. Yippee!

3. "Ascend from one step of powerful intelligence to another, until the philosopher should lay his hand on the secret of creative force, and perhaps make new worlds for himself."... in which, methinks, one might perhaps find a cloned human? Coming soon to a neighborhood near you! (Can I get a witness, people?)

4. "It was the fatal flaw of humanity..." The rest of this paragraph is a magnificient evolution of Aylmer's mental morbidity. I could feel my palms bearing half-moons as his elaborate torment climaxed.

5. I laughed audibly at: "...nay, in spite of a purpose to the contrary, reverted to this one disastrous topic... it so connected itself with innumerable trains of thought, and modes of feeling, that it became the central point of all."

6. I liked the personification of "Sleep" and observed something of a parallel between "her" dreams and Aylmer's day-lit ruminations.

7. Aylmer's infectious mental illness, as portrayed in the entire paragraph beginning with "If there be the remotest possibility of it...", is especially tragic. Nothing had me hating him like this. Coercion unto spousal abuse drives poor Georgiana mad. Although particularly vexing, it is not particularly new.

8. "Her husband tenderly kissed her cheek-her right cheek-not that which bore the impress of the Crimson Hand." But of course! Intolerable cur that he is! LOL! A hint of bathos.

9. "Nature assimilates all her precious influences from earth and air..." This paragraph all the way to the phenomenal "She permits us, indeed, to mar, but seldom to mend, and, like a jealous patentee, on no account to make." ... It's truth essential. Words to heed tomorrow and tomorrow.

Also, I thought it was interesting, and somewhat kind, though spoiling, that Hawthorn prefigured repetitively: this, the allusions to Aylmer's failures and the many references to the "fatal" Hand. The reader invariably knows what is coming. There is no gasping end.

Four things come to mind:
Hawthorne wasn't aware of the delicious anticipation factor in psycho thrillers -OR- He was so sure of his writing that he didn't feel the need to tease the reader along -OR- The surprise ending was not in fashion during his time -OR- I am way off in my surmising and actually have no clue as to Hawthorne's logic because I am swimming hopelessly in ignorance.

Personally, being a closet Twilight Zone geek, I've an affinity for anticipation and shocking culmination. Still, this was great fare. "She permits us, indeed, to mar, but seldom to mend..." floored me. Genius! Again, evocative of the current controversy surrounding human cloning. Adds to the uneasiness in a "We hold these truths to be self-evident" way. Shudder.

10. "Aminidab, Aminidab!" Translation: "Igor! Igor!" Right down to the "Yes, master." Clod and earthly mass be he, yet superior to the good doctor in his self-mutterings: "If she were my wife, I'd never part with that birth-mark." Another truth, no? You can package a person in titles, diplomas, every erudition... and yet oft times the clod's spirit is more fully dimensional/functional. I see it on numerous occasions: the unlearned far surpassing the extensively educated, and I relish it. I purely, simply relish it!

11. "Though she had some indistinct idea of the method of these optical phenomena, still the illusion was almost perfect enough to warrant the belief, that her husband possessed sway over the spiritual world." Images of Hedda Nussbaum fling themselves to the forefront.

12. Pure confection: (in reference to perfume thrown into the air) "...filled the room with piercing and invigorating delight." Ahhhh!

13. In keeping with the olfactory theme: "The atmosphere felt oppressively close, and was tainted with gaseous odors, which had been tormented forth by the processes of science." Tormented forth. Tickles the forebrain!

14. "Nay, Aylmer... my share in it is far less than your own." This is where I resign from my position as president of the Georgiana fan club. She possesses a fatal mixture of improper reverence and exaggerated vulnerability. When I read the paragraph that begins "Her heart exulted, while it trembled, at his honorable love, so pure and lofty..." I rolled my eyes and wished them well together knowing that is exactly where they belonged. Praise be that those two found one the other and the rest were spared of either affliction!

15. The very last paragraph seemed somehow out of synch with the preceding text. It somewhat took on an evolved manner. Some writers rush the climax (See: Stephen King in It.) leaving the reader feeling flat, disappointed. In this last bit Hawthorne gives me the feeling that he has switched personas. There are many examples of deep moral reflection in this work, and the last paragraph is no exception. Just something about the manner in which it is delivered seems out of sorts in relation to the rest of the story. Perhaps I merely got hold of a bad pork chop this evening?

At any rate, Aylmer's "hand" was a "profounder wisdom" and ultimately its dearth led to the death of his wife. We find sadly that he made of his own life a downward thrust into "hell" for failing to find "heaven" about him.

Can any afford the elusion of such a message?

Visit Nate's grave.

*Name altered to protect identity.