标题: Irony in Hawthorne’s Two Short Stories [打印本页] 作者: 紫靖 时间: 2006-12-27 21:08 标题: Irony in Hawthorne’s Two Short Stories
As we know, irony is the most classic characteristic in Nathaniel Hawthorne's short stories. Irony means "the expression of one's meaning by saying the direct opposite of one's thoughts in order to be emphatic, amusing, and sarcastic. Hawthorne’s "Birthmark" is rich of ironies to explore people's innermost "evil”. His purpose is to criticize that when modern people mater techniques, their desire expand day by day. In Hawthorne's heart, only the true, the good and the beautiful are valuable while others which got by play tricks are trying to be clever only to end up with a blunder. The other short story "The Ambitious Guest" is another in which is rich of ironies. A lone house stands in a gorge. There comes an ambitious guest who is young and hates mediocre life. He encourages the family to pursue "noble cause". But as soon as they were out to draw water, the mountains collapsing. All of them died. The story tells that man should be happy to lead a simple and virtuous life, not desire inordinate ambitions.
In “The Birthmark”, there are four ironies. Hawthorne uses the conflict between “imperfect” and “perfect”, “science” and “nature” to show the ironies. Hawthorne’s point that evil is man’s birthmark, something he is born with .First, Aylmer wants to change nature by science, as a result he himself killed his wife by his own. He is “an eminent proficient in every branch of natural philosophy,” but he cannot remove the birthmark by let his wife alive. Even the birthmark was removed his wife died. Second, he thinks he can remove the birthmark successful and his wife will be more beautiful. It is very interesting that the birthmark was removed but his wife died. However beautiful his wife is, she died. He loses her forever. The truth is nature should never be changed. Third, all Aylmer’s aspirations are spiritual. He wants to transcend the natural, the physical. He wants to be creator. He thinks he is all-powerful. But at the end, he killed his wife who he thinks he loves. The truth is he can never change nature. The last one, Aylmer thinks he loves his wife. That is the most ironic one. If he really loves his wife, he would never mind the birthmark. But the birthmark confused him, tortured him, and to makes him crazy. After the last treatment, even when his wife was dying, he never wakens up. He never loves his wife but loves his wife’s beauty. At last, he got the punishment, which is to lose his “perfect wife”.
Hawthorne shows his ironies by analysis and describes character’s psychology in his short story ---“The Ambitious Guest”. There are also three ironies. The first one, the ambitious guest were killed by the slide and no body know who he is. Hawthorne writes, “He could have borne to live an undistinguished life, but not to be forgotten in the grave. Yearning desire had been transformed to hope; and hope, long cherished, had become like certainty, that, obscurely as he journeyed now, a glory was to beam on all his pathway- though not, perhaps, while he was treading it. But when posterity should gaze back into the gloom of what was now the present, they would trace the brightness of his footsteps, brightening as meaner glories faded, and confess that a gifted one had passed from his cradle to his tomb with none to recognize him.” The guest has a high and abstracted ambition. He wants to be famous, and everyone knows him. And after he died, people trace his footsteps. But he was killed by the slide and his body was never found. And the tocks were his grave. No one knows his name, his history, his life, and his plans. The second one, the old woman wants to be neat after she died, she said “I want one of you, my children- when your mother is dressed and in the coffin--I want one of you to hold a looking-glass over my face. Who knows but I may take a glimpse at myself, and see whether alls right?” but she also be drowned by the slide. The things she prepared foe her death had no use. The third one, the common family was famous and become legendary figure while the ambitious guest been unknown. The family had no other ideas about tier life and they felt satisfied. But the death made them famous. The guest was ambitious, and wants to be known by the whole world. But the death made him unknown. He is the most ambitious one as well as the most pity one.
Through the two short stories Hawthorne shows his talent at use irony. And he told us that nature can be never changed and physical love is not going long time. People should never plan so many about life. No one knows what will happen even death with you all the time. Human are sinful at the very beginning when they were born. According to Hawthorne, “There is evil in every human heart, which may remain latent, perhaps, through the whole life; but circumstances may rouse it to activity.”
