#nathaniel hawthorne

[eboniu]

Crime and Punishment.

[xoluciferxo]

(Here is a discussion post I wrote about Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story, “The Birth Mark.” In the post, I compare the short story to the fall of man written about in Genesis. Do you think this is a valid comparison? I’m curious to hear others’ thoughts.)

Birth-Marks and Forbidden Fruit

(Jack C. 2024)

In terms of surface-level allegory, Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story, “The Birth-Mark,” depicts an allegorical interpretation of human mortality and imperfection; nevertheless, I believe that an even darker allegory lies beneath the surface. One thing truly stood out to me as I read the story, and that is how the first sentence of dialogue is phrased. The sentence reads, “‘Georgiana,’ said he, ‘has it never occurred to you that the mark upon your cheek might be removed?’” (1). The key here is that the sentence is posed as a question. I was immediately reminded of Genesis 3:1, where the serpent in Eden asks Eve, “‘Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden?’” (New International Version).

Both Eve and Georgiana seem indifferent to the question at first, but later, they succumb to doubt and end up attempting to “perfect themselves,” resulting in, essentially, the loss of life. Before the birthmark is removed, Hawthorne writes, “Not even Aylmer now hated it so much as she” (9). All it took was the suggestion of imperfection to make Georgiana begin to doubt and hate when she previously thought her mark added to her, “…charm…” (1).

This juxtaposition of Georgiana with Eve due to the first spoken dialogue being posed as a question leads me to believe that Hawthorne offers a double allegorical interpretation. The deeper symbolic meaning of Georgiana exemplifies the theme of innate human sin, or, the fall of man in terms of human doubt.

Works Cited

Hawthorne, Nathaniel. “The Birth-Mark.” 1843.

New International Version, Bible. Hodder &

Stoughton Ltd, 2007.

[dzgrizzle]

[c0riiander]

two guys from the guild

[no1deahow]

White silver and gray 🤍⚪️

[dazaislanderer]

PART ONE: oozing cheese for this year's corporate exploitation of love

edit: part 2 here

[ilovemesomevincentprice]

Vincent Price with his co-star behind the scenes of Twice-Told Tales (1963)

[flowerytale]

Nathaniel Hawthorne, from The Scarlet Letter: A Romance

[dazaaaai]

BUNGOU STRAY DOGS SEASON 4 PV. 2

[fukuchh]

me and the devil

[sskk-manifesto]

Btw friendly reminder that the anime cut the scene where after jumping off the sinking ship Mitchell and Hawthorne encountered James L. - the Guild's top-level's secretary that the pm killed at the end of season 1 -... Only to find out it was actually his corpse standing tall, eviscerated and filled with lemon bombs, complete with graphic depiction of his face splitting open and lemon bombs rolling off it

[charlies-a-thief]

Oh, I love drawing ships that only like 10 other people care about 🫶

[reparrishcomics]

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[sy5t3merr0r]

I had a vision and too much free time...

[thoughtkick]

No man, for any considerable period, can wear one face to himself and another to the multitude, without finally getting bewildered as to which may be the true.

Nathaniel Hawthorne

[the-chikyuu-times]