Beauty has no official definition. This may seem like a good thing, because everyone can be beautiful in his or her own way. But often times, the quest for perfection traps people from seeing the ugliness of those who desire it. When someone isn’t considered beautiful, they might be considered a monster. “The Birthmark” by Nathaniel Hawthorne and the episode of The Twilight Zone “The Eye of the Beholder” both explore ideas about the evilness of satisfaction.
Here’s some background info…
In “The Birthmark”, Alymer is a passionate scientist who seeks to correct the imperfections of nature. One of those imperfections is the birthmark on his wife’s cheek. However, when he attempts to remove it, his wife dies because there can be no true perfection in the natural world. What an ending!
In “The Eye of the Beholder”, Miss Tyler is undergoing a procedure to fix her face, because she was born ugly. She doesn’t look like most of the other people in the society, and if she can’t fix her face, she’ll have to live with those who are different. When this procedure is also unsuccessful, she is forced to leave the city.
The two women were considered ugly and outcasts, which pretty much meets our qualifications for a monster. Besides the scary teeth and destructible size, of course. Alymer considered the birthmark a, “symbol of his wife’s liability to sin, sorrow, decay, and death,” (Hawthorne 2). The two women are both monsters because they are different, imperfect and … well aren’t they just human?
Miss Tyler lives in a society that wants conformity and defines normal by sameness. Miss Tyler will never fit in because she couldn’t change her face. After 11 attempts, she wasn’t able to alter what she was just born with.
Alymer is trying to correct Georgiana because he wants to defy what is natural. He says, “what will be my triumph when I shall have corrected what Nature left imperfect in her fairest work!” (Hawthorne 3). He wants to use the power of science to constantly make everything better, which is a concept we often see in today’s world.
A thought about human nature: normal isn’t satisfactory. And something that doesn’t meet “normal” expectations…. well, that can’t even exist.
In order to exceed expectations that seem to have no limit, humans take desperate measures to prevent being “normal”. Anything less, and you might be deemed a monster. However, in both stories, neither Georgina nor Miss Tyler accomplished perfection or conformity, and were stuck with the consequences of their natural appearance. In Georgiana’s case, perfection killed her. “Thus ever does the gross fatality of earth exult in its invariable triumph over the immortal essence,” (Hawthorne 9). The power of nature continues to triumph over us. Powerless humans turn into monsters as they continue their fruitless efforts to erase the harmless beauty of imperfections.
Therefore, the ugliest part of these stories was neither the birthmark nor the face.
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. "The Birthmark." Selected Tales and Sketches (the Best Short Stories of Nathaniel Hawthorne). By Nathaniel Hawthorne. Stilwell: Digireads.com, 2007. N. pag. Print.
The Twilight Zone. "Episode 39: The Eye of the Beholder." Online video clip. Youtube. Youtube, 30 Apr 2003. Web. 30 Aug 2014.
Here’s some background info…
In “The Birthmark”, Alymer is a passionate scientist who seeks to correct the imperfections of nature. One of those imperfections is the birthmark on his wife’s cheek. However, when he attempts to remove it, his wife dies because there can be no true perfection in the natural world. What an ending!
In “The Eye of the Beholder”, Miss Tyler is undergoing a procedure to fix her face, because she was born ugly. She doesn’t look like most of the other people in the society, and if she can’t fix her face, she’ll have to live with those who are different. When this procedure is also unsuccessful, she is forced to leave the city.
The two women were considered ugly and outcasts, which pretty much meets our qualifications for a monster. Besides the scary teeth and destructible size, of course. Alymer considered the birthmark a, “symbol of his wife’s liability to sin, sorrow, decay, and death,” (Hawthorne 2). The two women are both monsters because they are different, imperfect and … well aren’t they just human?
Miss Tyler lives in a society that wants conformity and defines normal by sameness. Miss Tyler will never fit in because she couldn’t change her face. After 11 attempts, she wasn’t able to alter what she was just born with.
Alymer is trying to correct Georgiana because he wants to defy what is natural. He says, “what will be my triumph when I shall have corrected what Nature left imperfect in her fairest work!” (Hawthorne 3). He wants to use the power of science to constantly make everything better, which is a concept we often see in today’s world.
A thought about human nature: normal isn’t satisfactory. And something that doesn’t meet “normal” expectations…. well, that can’t even exist.
In order to exceed expectations that seem to have no limit, humans take desperate measures to prevent being “normal”. Anything less, and you might be deemed a monster. However, in both stories, neither Georgina nor Miss Tyler accomplished perfection or conformity, and were stuck with the consequences of their natural appearance. In Georgiana’s case, perfection killed her. “Thus ever does the gross fatality of earth exult in its invariable triumph over the immortal essence,” (Hawthorne 9). The power of nature continues to triumph over us. Powerless humans turn into monsters as they continue their fruitless efforts to erase the harmless beauty of imperfections.
Therefore, the ugliest part of these stories was neither the birthmark nor the face.
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. "The Birthmark." Selected Tales and Sketches (the Best Short Stories of Nathaniel Hawthorne). By Nathaniel Hawthorne. Stilwell: Digireads.com, 2007. N. pag. Print.
The Twilight Zone. "Episode 39: The Eye of the Beholder." Online video clip. Youtube. Youtube, 30 Apr 2003. Web. 30 Aug 2014.