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Fred Allen Wolf notes in Taking the Quantum Leap that it was not until the 20 th century that scientists realized that to observe is to disturb, for observation breaks the wholeness of nature. If observing disturbs, then when a scientist tampers and tries to perfect nature the result can only be disastrous. The goal of most scientists is to observe and understand the mysteries of nature. Nathaniel Hawthorne realized that the scientists of the 19 th century were beginning to challenge the traditional views of science and man. The traditional view of man holds that man is both material and spiritual.
Advancements in science led some scientists to begin to think that man was only material and therefore with enough enlightenment science could control all of nature including man himself. Hawthorne, however, objected to the idea of mans ability to totally control all aspects of human life. Hawthorne, in his short story The Birthmark, uses the imagery and character to show that man has both a spiritual and material dimension that are deeply interwoven and unable to be completely controlled. Hawthorne presents the prevailing thinking of the man of science with the introduction of Aylmer who typifies the man of science who thinks that he is able to ascend from one step of powerful intelligence to another, until the philosopher should lay his hand on the secret of creative force (Hawthorne 1). Hawthorne hints that Aylmer believes he can posses ultimate and total control of Nature (1). Hawthorne uses the birthmark on Georgiana's cheek to represent the spiritual or non-material aspects of man.
Initially, when Hawthorne describes the birthmark, he views it as merely a physical defect. He refers to it as being the visible mark of earthly imperfection, (1). As Aylmer continues to dwell on the imperfection, it begins to take on a deeper meaning. He begins to see it as the fatal flaw of humanity which comes from the hand of Nature (1). Later, he sees it as the symbol of his wifes liability to sin, sorrow, decay, and death, (1).
Hawthorne uses Georgiana as a representative of all mankind by telling that Nature places a flaw on all her productions, (1). As Aylmer begins to recognize the defect in connection with her immortality, he begins to acknowledge that there is something deeper than the material world. However, early on in the story he seems to view the flaw as something that Nature has imposed but that it can still be dealt with at a physical level. This is evidenced when the narrator makes reference to the fact that Aylmer had studied the wonders of the human frame, and attempted to fathom the very process by which Nature assimilates all her precious influences from earth and air, (2). Aylmer did not want to accept the reality that there was a mystery of life that was beyond our understanding and ability to manipulate. According to the narrator, Aylmer had long laid aside in unwilling recognition of the truth that our great creative Mother, while she amuses us with apparently working in the broadest sunshine, is careful to keep her own secrets, (2).
He laid aside the reality of the real spiritual world that lies beyond the grasp of man because he was unwilling to face his own limitations as a man and scientist. As he embarked on his plan to perfect Georgiana, he continued to lay aside the truth because the truth lay in the path of his proposed scheme for the treatment of Georgiana, (2). William E. Grant comments that Aylmer is the archetype for all Hawthorne's scientists, since he represents both what is best and what is worst about all of them, (3). His goal was honorable, that is to rid Georgiana of her defect, his denial of the truth, that his abilities were in fact limited, was his downfall.
It isnt till later, that we see a glimpse that he has begun to recognize his limitations as he faces the reality of a real and powerful spiritual world. Hawthorne, through the narrator tells us it was the sad confession and continual exemplification of the shortcomings of the composite man, the spirit burdened with clay and working in matter, and of the despair that assails the higher nature at finding itself so miserably thwarted by the earthly part, (5). When Georgiana's birthmark is removed it symbolizes the death of her spirit. Because the physical body, so intertwined with the spirit, cannot live without the spirit, Georgiana dies with her spirit. Hawthorne uses the Character of Aylmer to represent the material view of man that denies the reality and power of the spiritual.
Aylmer symbolizes many of the scientists of his day. William E. Grant explains that with the rise of modern sciences the nineteenth century saw old established principles and authorities for understanding the physical world give way to empirical and experimental methods, (3). Hawthorne reveals their thinking by saying the philosopher should ascend from one step of powerful intelligence to another until he understands the secret of creative force and perhaps make new worlds for himself, (Hawthorne 1). Latter Aylmer exclaims that his triumph will be when I shall have corrected what Nature left imperfect in her fairest work! (2). He, like the other naturalists, believed themselves to have acquired from the investigation of Nature a power above Nature, and from physics a sway over the spiritual world, (4).
They not only believed they were capable of controlling the spiritual world, they in reality denied its existence. When discussing the record of his investigations of nature the narrator says he handled physical details as if there were nothing beyond them; yet spiritualized them all, and redeemed himself from materialism by his strong and eager aspiration towards the infinite, (4). He spoke of the spiritual but only in a superficial manner because in reality, we see that he believed there was nothing beyond the material world. Whether Aylmer ever understood the reality he denied, it is not certain, but the final commentary by the narrator suggests that Georgiana's death settles the question of the reality of the natural and spiritual world and the intertwining of the two. He explains that 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, (7). The angelic spirit and the mortal frame were inseparable and one could not exist without the other.
It was this that Aylmer could not believe, for he was a man of science, fact, and one whom could not grasp the idea of a spiritual dimension of an individual. Through the birthmark and Aylmer, Hawthorne illustrates that an individual has both a physical body seen by all and a spirit that is unseen. Aylmer first believes, like other scientists, that all things are merely physical. But Georgiana's birthmark is used to symbolize the spirit that grasps all humans. Georgiana's death comes when her spirit is removed from her physical body. Hawthorne uses the birthmarks intertwining with the body to reveal that man has a spiritual dimension and a physical dimension, both of which are intertwined.
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Research essay sample on The Spiritual And Physical Dimensions In Birthmark
