Impermanent Treatment of Imperfection

Matt McIntyre

Intro to Literature

9/18/13

                                                 Impermanent Treatment of Imperfection

            In the short stories by Hawthorne and Perkins Gilman, as well as the poem by Wordsworth, there is a consistent sign of constant flaws.  Also, in the performance of the Illiad there was a theme of imperfection of humans and nature’s creation. In “the Birthmark”, the speaker makes it clear that he notices his wife’s mark of imperfection that shocks him. In “The Yellow Wallpaper”, it is a more subliminal sign of flaws represented by the domestic mistreatment and in “I Wandered Lonely as a Child”, the speaker talks about the Daffodil and how we are so imperfect compared to nature’s creations. From the presentation of the Illiad, there was a clear sense of the timely death to each flawed character, which just hinted at the theme of this reflection. Whether subliminal or literal, human imperfection is eminent and clear in these works.

            In “the Birthmark”, the theme is much more obvious than in the other writings. Aylmer is the main character and his wife is Georgiana.  As proof of the imperfection and one’s constant thought of it, Aylmer asks his wife if she ever thought about removing her mark and he claims it is “shocking.” His wife is appalled and extremely upset by the mention of her flaw and his constant thought of it because once he mentions the mark, she knows he will always look at it with distain. To Aylmer, the mark symbolizes evil and sin. This is the obvious imperfection that Hawthorne showed.

            Next, in “the Yellow Wallpaper”, a literal sign of imperfection is the speaker’s illness (dealing with nervous depression), which is a personality flaw. Although, behind the scenes, the wife’s husband, John (who happens to be a doctor), is a reminder of her personal blemish because he demeans her and her “illness.” The narrator constantly tries to relieve her mind by describing things but her husband’s belittling words are an inescapable prompt of her faults. Although, much more subliminal, this shows the theme of imperfection though it is eternal inside of external.

            In “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud”, the idea of my theme is harder to grasp because the way the poem is written depicts happiness. If you read more into it, the speaker tells about how glorious and lively nature is, especially the dancing Daffodil. Everything is so vibrant and passionate, unlike human life. It is all unlike our kind, so different and so imperfection. We are not like nature with unconditional beauty, but humans with many errors.

            Finally, in Odds Bodkin’s presentation, he depicted the Illiad through song, story and sounds. In the story, there is an ongoing war. It is the Trojan War, to be exact. The Achaeans show several specific types of human flaws. In the story they show unjust glory (of war, that is), greed (taking women as prizes), stupidity (stealing the woman from an associate of a god), and pride (wrongful pride of taking the battle beyond man on man). Also, the undoubted fact that all the Achaeans will die shows our immortality, a flaw in Greco-Roman times. These are the wave of examples of imperfection.

            Imperfection is a human trait. It is inevitable and everyone must deal with it.