The Birth-Mark” by Nathaniel Hawthorne Overview

I have to say before I dive into which element I am going to write about in to regards to this story is that I really enjoyed reading this short story, I found it very interesting, and would recommend everyone to read it, if they have a chance, it was a very meaningful story.

The rising element from the Fretag’s Pyramid I believe is a huge factor in any writing because it sets up the format of the story, introducing the characters, describing the who what why, and where. As the pyramid in our lesson states it is “the meat” of the story because without the rising element we would not get the building up nor would the author be able to draw in the readers attention.

The element I am going to talk about comes from the Fretag’s Pyramid; I decided that I would be focusing this forum on the Rising Action element part of the “The Birth-Mark” The rising action is a huge part of this short story because it builds why the story is being written, the characters and their roles as well as their relationship with one another.  The author begins with a description of the husband and is role of what he does, where he met his wife, and than started going into how him and his wife met and how deep the love was between the characters in this story.  The characters in this story were Aylmer and Georgiana. Then it gets to what the pyramid refers as the “meat” of the story. Georgiana had a birth mark on her face in which grew with age in this story that is what it was mostly revolving around so I feel that this segment of the short story would show a bit of why it fits in with the rising action. The beginning of the story states, “ Ah, upon another face perhaps it might,” replied her husband; “but never on yours. No dearest Georgiana, you came so nearly perfect from he hand of Nature that this slightest possible defect, which we hesitate whether to term a defect or a beauty, shocks, me, as being the visible mark of the earthly imperfections…”(Hawthorne).

Hawthorne, Nathaniel “The Birth-Mark.” 1843. http:// Gutenberg.org