Nature and Nurture

[This is a small piece touching on two themes found in two of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s stories, the Scarlet Letter and Birthmark. My blog wouldn’t allow me to underline or italicize so excuse me for the temporary mistakes in titling the pieces, i’ll try and fix it soon.]

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Scarlet Letter and Birthmark have obvious, intricate themes. The scarlet letter contains themes of religion, society, isolation, denial, and the human condition. The Birthmark uses themes of human condition, science, courage, superficiality, and love vs. life to tell its story. Hester’s scarlet “A” represents a lot of these themes in that the letter keeps her isolated, scars her in the puritan faith, and affects Arthur Dimmesdale’s human condition. Georgiana’s birthmark puts her through a test of courage, as it contorts her husband’s human condition and heightens his superficiality. As you can see, a simple symbol from each book can exemplify almost all of these themes.
The main, shared, theme in these two stories of symbols is human condition. In the Birthmark, both Aylmer’s and Georgina’s human conditions are morphed by this powerful skin discoloration. Aylmer is to the point of having nightmares about this “crimson stain upon the snow,” before he can confess to his wife his issues with her birthmark. The narrator says that “the birthmark… causing him more trouble and horror than ever Georgina’s beauty, whether of soul or sense, had given him delight” (Hawthorne 2). Aylmer’s disgust in his wife’s birthmark has now caused him more “horror” than anything good he has obtained from her presence. This shows the monster he is slowly, emotionally becoming. As Aylmer continues to transform, his wife goes through the more obvious human condition changes. Her body slowly becomes paler and weaker as the experiments go on. She weakens to the point of death and confronts her husband:

‘My poor Aylmer … you have aimed loftily; you have done nobly. Do not repent that with so high and pure a feeling, you have rejected the best the earth could offer. Aylmer, dearest Aylmer, I am dying!’…. As the last crimson tint of the birthmark … faded from her cheek, the parting breath of the now perfect woman passed into the atmosphere, and her soul, lingering a moment near her husband, took its heavenward flight. (Hawthorne 9)

Georgina is proud of her husband for what he has accomplished in this adventure, but knows her time to die has come. The journey of attempting to perfect the human face drained life from her completely. In Scarlet Letter, Revered Arthur Dimmesdale, who also happens to be Pearl’s secret father, slowly decays as the not yet confessed sin he committed holds a curse over him. The narrator says, referring to the reverend:

It is the unspeakable misery of a life so false as his, that it steals the pith and substance out of whatever realities there are around us, and which were meant by Heaven to be spirit’s joy and nutriment … The only truth, that continued to give Mr. Dimmesdale a real existence on this earth, was the anguish in his inmost soul. ( Hawthorne 127)

This shows the horrible feelings going on inside Dimmesdale as he holds his secret inside.
A theme that greatly affects both of these stories is the theme that as human condition grows worse, the person’s art, or talent blossoms. In Scarlet Letter, Reverend Dimmesdale’s condition grows worse and worse, but his sermons grow stronger. The narrator says:

He had told his hearers that he was altogether vile, a viler companion of the vilest, the worst of sinners, an abomination, a thing of unimaginable iniquity; and that the only wonder was , that they did not see his wretched body shriveled up before their eyes, by the burning wrath of the Almighty! … Would not the people start up in their seats? … Not so indeed! They heard it all and did but reverence him the more. (Hawthorne 126)

Here he begins to allow his emotions behind this strong sin to run his sermons and expects his listeners, neighbors, and friends, to be disgusted, but in fact they respond very well to the new form of preaching. His guilt and pain has lifted him to a new level of preaching. In the Birthmark, Aylmer grows weaker as he works on his wife’s cure, but eventually breaks ground on miraculous potions thanks to his emotions. Hawthorne opines:

He was pale as death, anxious and absorbed, and hung over the furnace as if it depended upon his utmost watchfulness whether the liquid which it was distilling should be the draught of immortal happiness or misery. How different from the sanguine and joyous mien that he had assumed for Georgiana’s encouragement!…. ‘The concoction of the draught has been perfect … it cannot fail.’ (Hawthorne 7)

This shows how weak and pale Aylmer has grown, but at the same time he has managed to create an elixir that will revolutionize the world and proves to work in the end, although not without a toll.
Themes affected both of these tales in great length. The entire Scarlet Letter would be nothing without the theme of sin and forgiveness, and Birthmark isn’t much of a story if you take out the ideas of selfishness and human condition. Themes shape plots and string novels together. Nathaniel Hawthorne does a good job at utilizing themes throughout the entirety of each story and this is shown best in the Scarlet Letter and Birthmark.