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Foreshadowing
Genre
Explanation and Analysis—Dark Romanticism:
"The Birthmark" is a classic example of Dark Romanticism, a literary subgenre of Romanticism. The Romantic movement took place during the late 18th century and was defined by an interest in emotion, nature, individuality, and imagination. Indeed, Romantic literature tended to sentimentalize nature and to focus on humanity's potential to harmonize with the natural world.
By contrast, Dark Romanticism emphasized human fallibility, destruction, and evil. It challenged the idealism of the Romantic movement and expressed that humanity is inherently imperfect; works in this genre often feature characters who attempt to control rather than celebrate Nature. These themes fit the narrative about Aylmer, who becomes obsessed with his wife's sole natural imperfection. Aylmer ultimately destroys the object of his love in seeking to eliminate a natural mark and create unnaturally perfect beauty in its place—a clear example of human wickedness and the potential to destroy nature in the attempt to control it.
The short story form heightens the tale's impact. By compressing a dramatic tale of obsession into about ten thousand words, Hawthorne presents a compact, efficient, and memorable snapshot of his characters' conflict. The story's brevity also links it to the tradition of parables (simple stories used to teach lessons about morality).
Related Themes:
