Comparing Artist of the Beautiful, Rappaccinis Daughter,...

Comparing Perfection in Artist of the Beautiful, Rappaccinis Daughter, Birthmark and Prophetic Pictures In four of Hawthornes stories there is a struggle for power and control as a vehicle to obtain perfection or beauty. In The Artist of the Beautiful, Rappaccinis Daughter, The Birthmark and The Prophetic Pictures the characters are controlled by their desire for perfection in their creations, but they do not achieve their goals without sacrifice. In The Artist of the Beautiful Owen is spends years perfecting his creation. His quest for the Beautiful controls him. His sensitivity to delicate perfection affects him even physically as he is made ill by the large mechanical steam engine. Being once carried to see a†¦show more content†¦His desire for knowledge through scientific experimentation is the central purpose of his life. According to Baglioni he cares infinitely more for science than for mankind. By binding his daughter to the poisonous garden Rappaccini had used his power as a scientist to take away her freedom. Beatrice has no power, she is helpless. There was an awful doom...the effect of my fathers fatal love of science, which estranged me from all society of my kind. Unfortunately she is also the victim of Baglionis quest for power and revenge against her father. Baglionis power, convincing Giovanni that Beatrice could be saved, conquers even Rappaccinis control. In their obsessive pursuit of knowledge and power as a means of scientific control Rappaccini and Baglioni sacrifice Beatrice (and even Giovanni). They all overstep their boundaries by using her and only when she kills herself does Beatrice reclaim the power over her own life. In the pursuit of knowledge and power great sacrifices are made. But unlike The Artist of the Beautiful the person who makes the sacrifice (Beatrice) has no choice. She is punished and the men who would use her as a means of control in life are not. We again see the quest for perfection on the part of a scientifically minded person in The Birthmark. Alymers obsessive thoughts and determination to free his wife and himself from the birthmark prove to be