Birthmark and Rose for Emily

Birthmark and Rose for Emily

BIRTHMARK- ROSE for EMILY

Georgiana and Alymer in Nathaniel Hawthorne's story 'The Birthmark' and Emily in William Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily" have few, if any, similarities. Faulkner's story does not have any important characters other than the protagonist Emily. Hawthorne's story however has two instead of one main character with Alymer dominating Georgiana throughout. Georgina only enjoys symbolic presence in the story since she is the object of Alymer's obsession. Alymer however plays a dominant role.

The Birth-mark" is essentially a love story with a strong feminist streak. The only similarity that we can find in these two works comes from this feminist theme. On the surface Birthmark talks about obsession of a man with everything the world can offer. This is an interesting concept since the obsession is directly connected with chauvinistic desire to control a woman. In the rose for Emily, the same feminist theme occurs in the form of Emily's father's desire to create a lady out of his daughter. Hawthorne and Faulkner's women are however different. While Georgiana is an angelic character that wants to please her husband, Emily is not exactly the same kind of woman. Even though she is a thorough lady initially, she still has the courage to do something unladylike when circumstances demand. There is a thin line of difference but this difference is important, even if subtle. This is because Georgiana's desire to change her looks for her husband's sake leads to her death while Homer's betrayal of Emily results in his murder and not Emily's death. "When Emily buys the poison, it never occurs to anyone that she intends to use it on Homer, so strong is the presumption that ladies when jilted commit suicide, not murder." (Fetterley: 1978: 41)

The imperfection found on the face of Georgiana is symbolic of any perceived defect that a man might find with her woman. The underlying importance of this mark resides in the husband's obsession with that defect and he is so consumed by it that he is focusing on nothing else. The husband associates the defect with not only physical imperfection but also with "his wife's liability to sin, sorrow, decay and death" (39). The mark then becomes to Alymer "the spectral Hand that wrote mortality, where he would fain have worshipped" (39). Aylmer's personality is not happy with this minor, he aims for "ultimate control over nature" and this control translates into controlling his wife. (36).

Alymer is not only obsessed with the imperfection of his wife, he is actually obsessed with imperfection of any kind. But the feminist theme emerges when he actually tries to make his wife a victim of his own selfish desire. Alymer is otherwise a man of great intellect who is introduced to us as "an eminent proficient in every branch of natural philosophy." (36). The worker in his lab Aminadab on the other hand is shown as one "issued from an inner apartment, a man of low stature" (43). Alymer never pays much respect to Aminadab simply because he considers him a worthless piece of creation. He would call the "under-worker" (43) "thou human machine...thou man of clay!" (51), and "Ah, clod! Ah, earthly mass!" (55). Alymer considers himself a man who creates "Airy figures, absolutely bodiless ideas, and forms of unsubstantial beauty..." (44).

Alymer however cannot possibly change the rest of the imperfect world so he tries to improve upon the beauty of one person he can control i.e. his wife Georgiana. The result is a disaster. The potion he prepares to remove the birthmark from the face of his beautiful life cuts off the blood vessel the supplies life to Georgiana and she dies on the spot. It can be read as a social commentary on women and their unreasonable tendency to oblige and comply. Georgiana is beautiful and doesn't even think about the birthmark until her husband points to it and then goes into a deep state of misery because of that. In order to relief her husband of the misery, she agrees to drink the potion which leads to her death.

Emily on the other hand is not so obliging. Though she has suffered enough at the hands of her father who wanted to keep all men away from her so she could be a real lady, but Emily doesn't let her life end like Georgiana. She doesn't meet her death because of a man but instead takes his life and then meets her own death in due course of time. Emily was a victim of a stern father while Georgiana was a victim of a perfectionist. In both cases, these women suffer but while Emily takes revenge, Georgiana dies a silent death. Emily's victimization began at the hands of her father. She was a young woman, she wanted to be like other girls or so it appeared. Hoffman (1951) notes, "In the picture of Emily and her father together, framed by the door, she frail and apparently hungering to participate in the life of her time... Even after her father's death, Emily is not monstrous, but rather looked like a girl "with a vague resemblance to those angels in colored church windows -- sort of tragic and serene." (p. 261-262)

Thus Emily could have been saved had Homer been a kind person. In much the same way, Georgiana wouldn't have met an untimely death had Alymer been different. Thus we notice that similarities exist in the way these women were treated. Both suffer not because of their own flaws or failures but because of the men in their lives. It is however heartening to see that Emily was not completely a victim. She was courageous enough to exact revenge and while it may be considered psychotic behavior, it only shows that sometimes enough is really enough.