The Consequences Of Rebelling Against Society In The Birthmark, The Most Dangerous Game And The Minister’s Black Veil
Many individuals may assume people who rebel against the society may result in a horrible outcome. Such as when America rebelled against Britain, because they were able to stand up for what they believed in and rebelled against the society, this created the United States and how it is today. In In the novel “The Birthmark” by Nathaniel Hawthorne, it tells a tale about a husband trying to get rid of the birthmark on his wife, so that she would finally be perfect. In the short story “The Most Dangerous Game” by Richard Connell, tells a tale of General Zaroff who gets bored of hunting animals and decides to hunt animals for pleasure. Because of this he makes a game out of it, and is defeated by Rainsford. Alas, in the novel “The Minister’s Black Veil”, tells a tale of Mr. Hooper who wears a black veil, the people are afraid of him, and Elizabeth even leaves him because of the veil. When he dies, the people were so afraid of him, that they buried him with the veil on him. Aylmer, General Zaroff, and Mr. Hooper all had consequences of rebelling against the society, Aylmer, because he wanted to get rid of the birthmark on his wife, ended up killing her, General Zaroff killed humans for pleasure and created a game out of it, but was killed in his own game, and Mr. Hooper who would not take down his black veil because of a sin he did, resulted in his death, in which everyone was afraid of him. Aylmer, General Zaroff, and Mr. Hooper all show ways of consequences of rebelling against the society.
Also, in the short story “The Birthmark” by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Aylmer tries to get rid of the birthmark on his wife. He comes up with a solution and as the birthmark on Georgiana disappears she exclaims,”’My poor Aylmer!’ murmured she. ‘Poor? Nay, richest, happiest, most favored!’ exclaimed he. ‘My peerless bride, it is successful! You are perfect!’” (Hawthorne 19). Aylmer who was eager to get rid of the birthmark on his wife, tried many ways and finally succeeded in getting rid of the birthmark. He believes that now his wife is perfect, and will be happy, but he does not realize that Georgiana is slowly fading away. Because the birthmark on Georgiana was connected to her life, as soon as it disappeared, it also resulted in,“… that sole token of human imperfection—faded from her cheek, the parting breath of the now perfect woman passed into the atmosphere, and her soul, lingering a moment near her husband, took its heavenward flight” (Hawthorne 19). Because Georgiana respected her husband, she accepted the fact that her husband wanted to get rid of the birthmark. But because of Aylmer it resulted in the death of Georgiana, in which the hand-print birthmark on Georgiana was connected deep into her heart. Because of her trust and love on Aylmer, Georgiana was willing to sacrifice herself for the perfection that Aylmer always wanted and he, “need not thus have flung away the happiness which would have woven his mortal life of the selfsame texture with the celestial….he failed to look beyond the shadowy scope of time, and, living once for all in eternity, to find the perfect future in the present” (Hawthorne 19). Because Aylmer wanted his wife to be perfect, he did not think about the result and the consequences that would happen if he had failed to get rid of the birthmark. Though he succeeded it resulted in the death of his wife.
Furthermore in the narrative,“The Most Dangerous Game” by Richard Connell, General Zaroff gets bored of hunting animals and starts to hunt humans, which results in his death. General Zaroff gets bored of hunting and says that it has,”become too easy. I always got my quarry. Always. There is no greater bore than perfection’” (Connell 7). General Zaroff has hunted since he was young, and so he believes that now hunting animals is too easy for him, so he is getting bored of it. General Zaroff wants something more, something that could fulfil his pleasure, and not get bored of so he wondered,”`What are the attributes of an ideal quarry?’ And the answer was, of course, `It must have courage, cunning, and, above all, it must be able to reason’” (Connell 7). General Zaroff wanted something that he could hunt, but it had to have courage, courage, and the ability to reason. The only thing that could so this was a human, he wanted to hunt humans for his pleasure, so when Rainsford landed on the Shipwreck Island, General Zaroff had already planned to hunt him down, as part of his game. But then on the 3rd day, Rainsford was still alive so,”The general made one of his deepest bows. ‘I see,’ he said. ‘Splendid! One of us is to furnish a repast for the hounds. The other will sleep in this very excellent bed. On guard, Rainsford.’ . . . He had never slept in a better bed, Rainsford decided” (Connell 15). The general made the game because he believed that he was undefeatable, but he was then defeated by Rainsford which was very ironic. Having believed that he was invulnerable, he underestimated Rainsford. Because he underestimated Rainsford, General Zaroff died and was killed by a human, as a consequence for killing so many innocent people who got trapped on the island and was forced to be part of his game to fulfill his joy for hunting, not caring about the lives of those people that he had killed.
Moreover in the novel, “The Minister’s Black Veil ”, Mr. Hooper wears a black veil which impacts the way that the people viewed him, so they begin to feel afraid of him, trembling even at his death. Mr. Hooper wears the black veil on and receives suspicion from the other citizens, “‘Something must surely be amiss with Mr. Hooper’s intellects,’ … the physician of the village. ‘… The black veil, though it covers only our pastor’s face, throws its influence over his whole person, and makes him ghostlike from head to foot. Do you not feel it so?’” (Hawthorne 2). Because Mr. Hooper wears the black veil, many people start feeling frightened around him. Just because of the veil, it influenced how the people viewed Mr. Hooper and so they started to get further and further away from. So the people found Elizabeth so that she could try and influence Mr. Hooper to take the veil off,“‘Lift the veil but once, and look me in the face,’ said she. ‘Never! It cannot be!’ replied Mr. Hooper. ‘Then farewell!’ said Elizabeth” (Hawthorne 5). Mr. Hooper was not influenced by Elizabeth, and resisted to take the veil off. Because Mr. Hooper would not take the veil off, Elizabeth left him. At the arrival of his death, Mr. Hooper stated that everyone had on a black veil, so why had they ignored him and was afraid of him, just because he had one too, the citizens,“… shrank from one another, in mutual affright… Still veiled, they laid him in his coffin, and a veiled corpse they bore him to the grave…. but awful is still the thought that it mouldered beneath the Black Veil!” (Hawthorne 7). The citizens were so afraid of Mr. Hooper that when they buried him, with the black veil on. The black veil influenced the way the people thought of Mr. Hooper and they started to get afraid of him, because they thought that everything about him seemed dark and gloomy, which put a very sad feeling on the people. Though Mr. Hooper did not do anything and was kind to the people, the black veil led him to have a lonely and miserable life.
Nevertheless many may think that the citizens revolting against the society may always lead to a good ending, such as the people of France gaining their independence because of revolting to the king. But that is not always the case, such as in the narratives, “The Birthmark”, “The Most Dangerous Game”, and “The Minister’s Black Veil”. These 3 characters all had aftereffects of rioting against humanity. Aylmer in “The Birthmark” decided to get rid of the hand-shaped print on his wife, which ended in her death. General Zaroff in “The Most Dangerous Game” assassinated humans for enjoyment, he even made a game out of it believing he was undefeatable until he was defeated by Rainsford. Mr. Hooper in “The Minister’s Black Veil” created a harmful sin which made him wear a veil, because of this he cannot take the veil off, but this resulted in Elizabeth leaving him and the people being afraid of him. In short, rebelling against the society, or going against life, can end in dreadful consequences.
