Capturing interest through fiction: Hawthorne and Irving

    Nathaniel Hawthorne and Washington Irving undoubtedly capture the reader’s attention through their work. Yes, there were a few parts that seemed to linger here and there. However, after pushing past the complicated, old-fashioned phrasing of a few sentences that slowed me down, I found myself once again engaged in their stories. The difference between the two would be that Hawthorne had a moral message tied into the story whereas Irving’s did not.
    Hawthorne’s, The Birthmark, stirred me the most. I was quite enraged with Aylmer’s character from beginning to end. His relentless pursuit for perfecting his beautiful wife was absolutely disgusting and pathetic. He could not see past the physical appearance of Georgiana and his scientific work in his lab was obsessive in the sincerest form.  He talks of nothing else with her: “Fear not, dearest!” exclaimed he, “Do not shrink from me! Believe me, Georgiana, I even rejoice in this single imperfection, since it will be such rapture to remove it.”
    “Oh, spare me!” sadly replied his wife-- “Pray do not look at it again. I never can forget that convulsive shudder.”
    Georgiana is clearly distressed over the birthmark she has had since birth and her husband's reaction toward it, yet Aylmer cannot look past it. He says she is noble to undergo his plans of removing it and praises her for it. Although I sympathize with Georgiana and like her character, I am disappointed that she is so blinded by his madness. She believes his love to be true in his own strange way. Georgiana even worships him for his intelligence. She says of his work:“It has made me worship you more than ever,” said she.
    “Ah! Wait for this one success,” rejoined he, “Then worship me if you will. I shall deem myself hardly unworthy of it. But, come! I have sought you for the luxury of your voice. Sing to me, dearest!”
    Again, we see Aylmer’s selfishness. Not only does he not try to stop her from worshiping him, but he also demands her to perform for him to help him relax from his efforts of removing her one physical flaw. What a jerk! In The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, the main character, Ichabod Crane, is similar to Aylmer in that he is not the typical romantic hero portrayed in other stories. He is a poor school master who falls for Katrina for her beauty, and even more for her money. “Ichabod Crane had a soft and foolish heart toward the sex; and it is not to be wondered at, that so tempting a morsel son found favour in his eyes, more especially after he had visited her in her paternal mansion.” He was most interested in her father’s riches. These two are real winners…not.
    Overall, I believe Hawthorne was trying to tell his readers through this story that all of humanity is imperfect and that the only way to be rid of our flaws is through death as we become detached from our bodies and one with our soul. He shows that Georgiana is rid of her birthmark as she is dying and Aylmer sees her beauty as it fades away.Washington Irving’s story was entertaining and had romance and suspense intertwined in the spooky tale. However, I did not take away a moral message when I finished reading it.