Nicole Freemyer
9/18/13
EN 101-16
The Many Forms of Beauty
In
the literary works of William Wordsworth, Nathaniel Hawthorne and Charlotte
Perkins Gilman, the narrators and characters uniquely observe beauty or the
lack of beauty in the world surrounding them. Wordsworth’s poem praises the
elegance of a field of daffodils while Hawthorne and Gilman’s short stories
focus on their wives’ imperfections of a birthmark and mental disorder. The narrators and characters of these
three works each demonstrate their differing perceptions of true beauty.
In
Wordsworth’s poem “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud,” the speaker finds beauty in
the simplicity of nature. He first
describes a scene in which he observes a group of daffodils near a lake that
are “fluttering and dancing in the breeze” (6). The speaker says that the daffodils are so beautiful they
even “out-did the sparkling waves in glee” (14). While observing the scene, the speaker is captivated by the
daffodils but does not yet realize nature’s true gift. It is not until later when the speaker
is alone on his couch thinking about the flowers and says, “and then my heart
with pleasure fills, and dances with the daffodils” (23-24). This shows that the beauty of the
natural scene left such a lasting impression on his memory that, whenever he
thinks back to it, his heart fills with pleasure and bliss.
In
Hawthorne’s short story “The Birthmark,” Aylmer perceives beauty as something
merely physical and views his wife Georgiana as less beautiful because of a birthmark
on her cheek. He claims that the
birthmark is “the visible mark of earthly imperfection” and wants to remove it
from her face in an attempt to make her perfect (467). Aylmer obsesses over the birthmark
because he thinks it is taking away from her “nearly perfect” face. He only concentrates on her physical
appearance and never appreciates the beauty of her patient and loving
personality. Aylmer let “this one
defect grow more and more intolerable,” until he decided to feed her a potion
in an attempt to remove the mark.
Because he could not see beauty past Georgiana’s birthmark, Aylmer ended
up killing the one person that loved him the most.
The
husband in Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” sees his wife’s beauty in more of a
psychological sense. John is
unable to recognize the beauty of his wife’s imaginative mind because she is
suffering from “temporary nervous depression” and views this as an imperfection
that must be treated. It seems as
if John is almost embarrassed of his wife’s depression because he “assures
relatives and friends that there is nothing the matter” with her (388). John also tries to stop her creativity
by keeping her from writing and drawing and only allowing her to eat and
sleep. John is unable to look
beyond his wife’s psychological condition and praise the beautifully expressive
mind she has been gifted with.
Two
years ago during my time as a teacher’s assistant, I found beauty in an
unexpected place. It was not found
in nature or in my significant other as these works have described, but rather
in a group of brilliant second grade children. Growing up an only child I never had much experience with
children. But after spending time
with this class, I recognized such beauty in their young and curious minds. I
was shocked by the complex questions they asked their teacher, their witty
senses of humor, and creativity. After
this experience I have a much greater appreciation for the potential and beauty
of the young mind and how impressionable it really is.
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