Thursday, September 20, 2012

O'Donnell Hawthorne Post

In three of Nathaniel Hawthorne's stories, "Young Goodman Brown," "The Birthmark," and "Roger Malvin's Burial," the protagonist's life is ruined because of a violation of the human heart. Also, in all three, the male protagonist causes his own marriage to fail. In "Roger Malvin's Burial," Reuben listens to his much older fellow soldier, Roger Malvin, and leaves him in the woods to die after battle. At first, this act seems innocent, since Reuben is so concerned about stay, but is convinced to leave. However, when he returns to his town, he tells a different story, like Malvin told him, and claimed to stay by the old man until his death. Malvin's daughter, Dorcas, was moved and eventually married the young frontiersman. However, the man cannot live with the guilt and often alienates his faithful wife. Perhaps in this story, Reuban's unpardonable sin is the lie that lasted for 18 years that haunted the main character. Or perhaps it was the cowardice he exhibited by leaving Dorcas' father in the woods to die. Either way, it eventually lead to his family losing everything they had, which resulted in him accidently killing his son in the woods when they were moving in order to start a new life.

The main character in "The Birthmark" is a much less sympathetic character, for he is cruel and hurtful to his wife. Aylmer, a scientist, decides that his beautiful wife, Georgiana, has a birthmark that is too hideous to remain on her face. He insists that she has a surgery to remove it, and after a long time of degradation, she cannot take the constant insults and would rather die than have the hand-shaped mark on her face. As surgery and medicine is not understood to the same extent it is today, Aylmer kills his wife by accident. I believe that the unpardonable sin in this story is Aylmer's inability to acknowledge Georgiana's beauty, and putting science before reason. In the story, it is often said that the protagonist loves science and experimentation. Also, he seems to be the only one who wishes to remove this birthmark from her face. Therefore, it could be logically assumed that deep down, the scientist just wanted to begin experimenting again, and used his innocent wife to quench his lust for science. However, in doing so, he sacrifices something more important than scientific reason: his wife's life and her love.

"Young Goodman Brown" depicts a newly married young man who ventures into the woods to achieve some unnamed task. He runs into a man similar to himself as well as many other members of his church. These people turn out to be witches who are meeting for a magical gathering. Goodman Brown is so traumatized by the sight of this that it drives him mad. He loses faith in God, and eventually loses his wife as well. His wife Faith seems to be a symbol, and the loss of her could be directly related to an unpardonable sin. Perhaps this sin is doubting god and losing faith. His mysterious walk through the woods could symbolize self analyzation and inward thinking. By the end of this walk he loses Faith-- his wife, as well as what she symbolizes.

3 comments:

  1. I used the three stories, "Young Goodman Brown," "The Birthmark," and "Roger Malvin's Burial," similar to your blog. Your findings, “the male protagonist causes his own marriage to fail,” is very good and can be found in all three stories. I found it very interesting that all three stories start with a happy beginning and show the couples are in love, but the ending is very tragic. In “Young Goodman Brown,” the couple uses loving words when addressing each other, “Dearest heart,” “My love and my Faith,” “dear husband.” In “The Birthmark,” Aylmer describes his wife’s beauty as, “My peerless bride,” “You are perfect.” In “Roger Malvin’s Burial,” Reuben’s wife is described as, “fair maiden,” and provides him comfort as the author narrates, “administered all those comforts that are in the sole gift of woman's heart and hand.” Did you know that in all the three stories the result of the Unpardonable Sin ends in a similar fashion with all three losing their loved ones in a tragic ending? In “Young Goodman Brown,” Goodman has lost complete faith in his wife and when his wife Faith looks at him with joy when he returns from the forest, “But Goodman Brown looked sternly and sadly into her face, and passed on without a greeting.” In “The Birthmark,” Aylmer is so obsessed with removing the birthmark, that he ends up violating the human heart, “Aylmer, dearest Aylmer, I am dying!" Alas! it was too true! The fatal hand had grappled with the mystery of life, and was the bond by which an angelic spirit kept itself in union with a mortal frame.” In “Roger Malvin’s Burial,” Reuben accidently kills his son and this is punishment for his Unpardonable Sin of not keeping his vow, “His sin was expiated,--the curse was gone from him; and in the hour when he had shed blood dearer to him than his own, a prayer, the first for years, went up to Heaven from the lips of Reuben Bourne.”

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  2. As noted above, self-sabotage is an interesting consistent theme with Hawthorne. These stories show that no matter how happy the marriage, what manner the offense, dishonesty and betrayal on any level can destroy even the strongest of marriages. I also appreciate the fact that you pointed out that violations can take many forms/directions:

    "Perhaps in this story, Reuban's unpardonable sin is the lie that lasted for 18 years that haunted the main character. Or perhaps it was the cowardice he exhibited by leaving Dorcas' father in the woods to die. Either way..."

    This comment illustrates what many of us encounter in daily life: convoluted/multi-faceted nature of sin. How often is sin a simple, black-and-white event?

    I believe you're correct in noting that the unpardonable sin in "The Birthmark" is Aylmer's action of placing emotion(surgery to attain the "perfect" wife) over reason/reality (the fact that he ALREADY has a beautiful wife). I hadn't considered the fact that his original goal may not have been a beautiful wife, either; rather, he may have put science even above his love for his wife.

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  3. I think it is important to distinguish Reuben's fall from grace as the fact of lying about Roger Marvin's death rather than the act of leaving him. This is because upon leaving Marvin, Reuben feels no sense of corruption within, as Marvin had instructed him to do so. In "The Birthmark", you are correct to note that the unpardonable sin is his inability to recognize the beauty in front of him. This is because his perception of his wife comes from within and therefore it is his perception that taints him rather than the actual treatment of his wife. The same goes for Young Goodman Brown. The unpardonable sin does not appear in his ominous existence preceding his apparition, but rather in the ways in which Goodman Brown takes in his surroundings and sees them as gloomy and terrible. Goodman Brown and Aylmer are quite similar. The problem lies within inner feelings, which is essentially something we cannot control.

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