For Wednesday, read “The Vine Leaf” by María Cristina Mena. Read it alongside the classic American Gothic short story, Nathaniel Hawthorn’s “The Birth-mark.” Write about it in the comments section below (before 11:59 on Tuesday). Try and respond to each other.
Consider the following: What connections can you draw between the two stories? What is the mood of Mena’s work? Do you think Mena had read Hawthorne’s story? How do the two speak to each other? What Gothic elements do you see in Mena’s story?
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Also, make sure you have a copy of Calligraphy of the Witch by Alicia Gaspar de Alba. The LMU bookstore is getting their shipment of the books in on Monday (they’re open, even though it’s a holiday). For Friday, January 24, read to the end of Book 1 of Calligraphy and through to the end of the book by Monday, January 27. Be sure you have a copy, digital or paper, to bring to class.
(Image credit: Genders Online Journal)
When initially reading Maria Cristina Mena’s “The Vine Leaf”, I was struck by the atmosphere of perpetual mystery. That cryptic energy seemed to propel me from the beginning though the end. When we first are introduced to the character of the Señorita, she has veiled her face from view from the Doctor. This veil creates a closed-off feeling in their interaction. The obstruction of her face also portrays her as ominous and mysterious as to what her true intentions are. To me, the Señorita evoked a sense of the classic femme fatale. The nebulous reasoning for the removal of her vine-leaf blemish creates elements of intrigue and curiosity. Other Gothic elements are the circumstances surrounding the death of the painter Andrade and the overall inexplicable events throughout the story.
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Birth Mark” had many similar elements to Mena’s short story. I think Mena did read Hawthorne’s story and used it as inspiration to create another interpretation within her own culture. Both carried a theme of gender representation in connection with superficiality. The two women went to great lengths to remove something on their bodies that seemed to control them. A small birthmark seemed to define these women’s lives and the removal of them would, in a sense, set them free. The two men in each story, Dr. Malsufrido and Aylmer, both represent men of science altering the aspects of the natural. In both cases, the way both authors wrote it, there was a keen sense of dread in the act of removing both birth marks from the female characters. On a macro level, the world of science was toying with the natural order of life. When reading both stories, I was struck with this notion of trepidation and suspense in the cryptic actions of the characters.
In “The Vine Leaf”, Mena’s character Dr. Malsufrido asks his patients to talk about their troubles as part of the treatment. He goes on to tell a story about his first patient Señora, who asked the doctor to rid of her blemish on her back. Later on, the reader finds out that this woman had a reason to cover up her blemish- she was covering up a deed she did not wish people to know. Like the story previously mentioned, “The Birthmark” by Hawthorne also contains a man of science who is asked by his wife to get rid of a birthmark. The main difference between the stories is that this doctor and his wife dislike the mark with a passion and wish to remove it immediately, whereas Dr. Malsufrido in “The Vine Leaf” believes Señora’s mark is a gift from the gods and is hesitant to remove it. Mena’s story builds momentum and the mood at the end is one of marvel. Mena had most likely read Hawthorne’s story and decided to add more of a mysterious beauty to it.
“The Vine Life,” by Maria Cristina Mena was a very intriguing piece to read. The piece follows the story of a doctor who is treating a patient, and commences his story of his first patient treated as a form of treatment for his patients. As I was reading it, I felt the mood of it begin light hearted and straightforward, but as I continued to read, the mood began to shift in to a darker, more mysterious feel. I also thought that it Mena added a sense of irony in that the one object that could identify the murderer of a crime was given much praise and called beautiful by the doctor. This piece has gothic elements such as the use of romance with murder because it speaks to two contrasting themes: romance, which usually connects to life and living, and then death.
Hawthorne’s “Birth Mark” follows a similar plot in that it is about a romance that is troubled by a birth mark- a sort of, imperfection. In “The Vine Leaf,” the birth mark symbolized beauty, but also was a linkage to a crime, and in “Birth Mark,” the birth mark symbolized imperfection. In this sense, the two pieces speak to each other by dealing with the same sort of symbolism of the imperfections of human beings, at least, that is what I connected it to. They also connect in that they both possess a death, romance, science, and birth marks.
I do think that it is highly probable that Mena read Hawthorne’s story because not only does it share similar features and symbols, but I am sure that Mena was an avid reader of many great works, so she must have come across Hawthorne’s work at some point, especially because of the fact that they would both be classified as gothic literature.
The most obvious connection I found in both stories was the presence of a birthmark. However, in Mena’s work, the main character wanted the birthmark removed because of the dark secret it could unveil. But in Hawthorne’s work, it was removed because it was seen as a cruel joke of Nature that prevented perfection. I do believe that Mena previously read Hawthorne’s story, simply due to the same theme of a birthmark. Nonetheless, I also believe Mena previously read Hawthorne’s work due to the similar themes of romance, beauty, and death, which are not commonly found together except in gothic literature. In “The Vine Leaf”, the doctor fell so deeply in love with a woman’s mark which was evidence of a murder she had committed. But in “The Birthmark”, Gorgiana’s husband fell deeply in love with his wife’s beauty and was determined to remove the slightest imperfection, which ultimately led to her demise.
Both “The Vine Leaf” and “The Birthmark” strike me as a comment on the male gaze. In “The Birthmark”, Georgianna internalizes her husband’s displeasure about the birthmark, to the point where she is convinced to rid herself of it, even if doing so poses a danger to herself. I also think the story is a comment on science and people’s fear of it during this time period. Aylmer uses science to “fix” a small flaw and interferes with nature to do it. Georgianna is also very passive in “The Birthmark, whereas in “The Vine Leaf”, the Senora appears to me more of a femme fatale type and the vine leaf is something that she wants removed. It wasn’t clear to me if she had it removed after she committed murder (to hide her crime) or not. I have no doubt that Mena read Hawthorne’s story, but made her Senora possess more agency than Georgianna. Both stories feature women as abject bodies and especially marked bodies.
The gothic elements in Mena’s story are murder, obscurity and mystery (The Senora hides behind a veil and refuses to show her face) and superstition
Mena’s story is very mysterious and captivating. These elements drew me in and made me want to read more. I think that Mena definitely read Hawthorne’s story since there are some striking similarities. Both stories discuss blemishes on a woman but take a very different standpoint. In “The Vine leaf” the birth mark is a threat to the woman and can serve to imprison her. In “The Birth-mark” it is seen as a mark of beauty. This idea is destroyed, however, after the husband expresses his disgust with the mark. In Mena’s story the woman is able to take agency over her own body and decidedly remove the mark, while in Hawthorne’s story the woman is forced into believing that her mark should be removed by her husband.
“The Vine-Leaf” by Maria Cristina Mena clearly entails mysterious elements that provoke deep thought and curiosity. Dr. Malsufrido was an interesting character in of himself, where he walks the fine line between science and religion, given his medical background and priest-like appearance. Dr. Malsufrido’s first patient was seemingly veiled in mystery in which her face was never revealed to the doctor. The doctor says that he has feelings for his first patient but cannot act on his desire on account of his priesthood, ““I would have added that I had fallen in love with her, but I feared to appear ridiculous, having seen no more than her back.”
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Birth-Mark” has numerous similarities to that of Mena’s story. One glaring example is that both stories contain a woman wanting to remove a birthmark surgically by a doctor. The two stories portray the general feeling of science changing nature or that which is god given. Furthermore, gothic elements such as suspense and mystery appear in various times throughout both stories. Hawthorne positively influenced Mena’s work through gothic elements, character and story development. Hence, I do believe Mena read or had knowledge of the works of Hawthorne because the similarities are too apparent.
After reading “The Vine Leaf” by Maria Cristina Mena and “The Birthmark” by Nathaniel Hawthorne, I was left with so many questions. The similarity between the stories is a marking on beautiful women that describes their entire life. In “The Vine Leaf” the woman’s face is not revealed until the end but even when she is described by the doctor as a women who is covering her face with a veil, one can only wonder why? The mystery of her face left me to imagine a beautiful woman who was ashamed of a birthmark that she felt made her ugly. In “The Birthmark” Georgiana knows she is beautiful with her birthmark but because her husband is so obsessed with removing the birthmark, she starts to question her beauty. Both stories are mysterious and have a man obsessed with his job, a scientist and a doctor, one can almost say they are “mad” about their jobs. Mena’s tone in the story is mysterious and involves a murder by a beautiful woman (one gothic element), something out of the norm. I feel as if Mena did read Hawthorne’s work but she wanted to put her own twist to the story: she wanted to send a message that a woman has power over herself and that only a woman can define her beauty. After all, in Mena’s story the woman removes her birthmark on her own terms as opposed to Georgiana who is influenced by the love that she has for her husband.
Maria Cristina Mena creates a distinctive tone through “The Vine-Leaf” which keeps the reader invested while simultaneously increasing a sense of danger and dread, as the surprising secrets are unraveled. Before the central narrative begins, Mena offers an entertaining introduction for her principal narrator, the caring Dr. Malsufrido. His description accentuates the comical and witty atmosphere of the story, an element that is progressively decreased but always present. Mena remarks that the gravitas of this man was so great that “none of his patients [had] ever had the bad manners to die in his presence”. Such humorous lines, combined with the doctor’s physical appearance and his hilarious name, add a light and amusing fluidity to the story, which later becomes more apparent in contrast, as the tale turns darker and we are introduced to its cryptic female character. The interjections of the perceptive patient, to whom this is being told, are the only break from the highly descriptive, more serious character of the ‘second’ portion of this story. These exclamations of surprise also serve to build a sense of momentum as the audience learns about the criminal incident concerning the painting, and the truth about the mysterious veiled woman.
There are several similarities between the stories, which cause me to believe that Mena was either familiar with Hawthorne’s “The Birthmark”. Both male protagonists are men of science who have a romantic interest for the strikingly beautiful women who bare a crimson mark. The small stain in the ivory skin of these women is described in fantastical or even divine terms. In Hawthorne, Georgiana’s admirers saw this small shape as the remnants of a fairy’s touch. For Dr. Malsufrido, the hidden vine-leaf is a “blessed stigma”, a celestial mark amid a wholesome white territory. Mena combines this religious reference with even stronger pagan allusions when the narrator comments that Bacchus himself painted the leaf— the Roman god of wine, theatre and an inspiration for female liberation. The followers of Bacchus, or Dionysus, were in great part females, who participated in the Dionysus Mysteries, a series of rites to worship the god, which encouraged drinking, physical pleasures and the stripping of social inhibitions. This seemingly small detail shows what essentially separates the two stories: the agency of the women concerning their birthmarks.
In Mena’s story, the woman decides to remove this erotic mark to conceal her identity and continue with her life as a pious, wealthy woman. Although this could be perceived as decision to suppress her beauty and sexuality, which were so gloriously celebrated in the painting, the Marqueza still makes a choice—she is not pressure to change her appearance. Moreover, if she removed the mark to avoid being involved in the murder of the artist, the Marqueza becomes an even more active and complex character than Georgina could ever be. This clever woman possesses the respectability of a devout Christian wife, the cunning mind of a criminal and the liberal spirit of the woman in the painting.
The power to decide over their own body ultimately determines the faith of these women. The Marqueza is able to continue living on her own terms. She is confident enough to calmly face the man who knew her secret without ever fearing him. She even makes a clever, final remark to him, “Can you blame me for not loving this questionable lady of the vine-leaf, of whom my husband is such a gallant accomplice?”. The tragic ending of “The Birthmark” shows the need for women to have sovereignty over their lives. Aylmer only wanted to erase this mark because it disrupted the ideal he had of his wife. He placed so much importance on her almost perfect physiognomy that he failed to see that the crimson mark was an essential part of her character. The mark almost seemed alive, morphing to reflect her emotions: “now vaguely portrayed, now lost, now stealing forth again …”. This lovely feature, which most would have either admired or dismissed, became a source of conflict for the marriage. Hawthorne creates a subtle villain in the husband, who capriciously wants to extirpate this mark to which he assigns exaggerated meaning. Her husband’s inability to see beyond the physical and her own passive nature are what finally destroy Georgina. As her distinctive mark fades away, Georgina is stripped from her uniqueness and ultimately her life.
The similarities between Mena’s “The Vine Leaf” and Hawthorne’s “Birthmark”, not only in the interweaving of religion and science, but as well as aspects of the narrative such as a birthmark and the presence of a predominant female character lead me to believe that Mena had some familiarity with Hawthorne’s short story. While reading Hawthorne’s piece I could not help but be reminded of Shelley’s “Frankenstein” and its gothic undertones as he describes Aylmer feverishly working in his laboratory alongside his “earthly” assistant. “The Birthmark” explored the darker implications of scientific progress and even addressed the “fatal flaw of humanity.” Both authors seem to play with the relationship of religion and science,elevating the significance of the birthmark in each work almost to the level of divine. These two men of science, however, differ in how they choose to approach the blemish, Aylmer resisting the mark, viewing it as an imperfection that must be eradicated, while for Dr. Malsufrido, the vine leaf acts as an object of intrigue and even erotic attraction. Mena’s work takes on a much more somber tone as there appears to be a perpetual futility in Aylmer’s struggle between his desire to love is wife for who she is and his scientific ambitions, ultimately leading to tragedy.
The stories we read for today had many similarities. Firstly, both “The Vine Leaf” (TVL) and “The Birth-Mark” (TBM) revolve around a man that is seduced through his muse — we see this in TVL through the doctor’s fascination with his first patient, as well as the scientist’s unparalleled intrigue to create the perfect beauty within TBM. Both men share an obsession with the women in their lives. Further, both writers focus their pieces around the theme of man’s ambition. Both characters show ambitious qualities — both rising to the top of their fields, yet both men also share a commonality in that they pursue what they cannot have — the doctor cannot break his spiritual-commitment, while the scientist dares to reconfigure his wife’s composition which ultimately fails. Moreover, both stories also share gothic elements: TVL shows us a mysterious female character whose beauty mesmerizes men, while within TBM we see the husband’s eerie laboratory and disdain of his wife’s imperfection. Both stories play on the psychology of the men — as a reader, we are inside the mind of the male characters, and witness firsthand the thoughts, feelings, and connections they share to the women.
Mena’s TVL relates closely to gothic literature in the sense of the mysterious murder that occurred, as well as the absent female character, who has a profound affect upon the men she encounters almost in a supernatural way. Further, the doctor’s superstitions and ability to cure his patients are in accordance with traditional ‘supernatural’ gothic literature. It is hard to say whether one can draw evidence as to whether or not Mena may have read Hawthorne’s work, but one characteristic that stands out that may suggest she has is Mena’s ability to portray man’s thoughts and emotions, just as Hawthorne does within TBM.
It is the focus upon the man’s mental-state and psycho-analysis, as well as man’s pursuance for the unattainable, that both writers share the greatest consistency with one another. Hawthorne’s character has an increasingly strange and obsessively hateful connection to his wife’s imperfection that increased as the plot progressed, while Mena’s character could not escape the mystifying beauty and obscurity of his first patient.
I enjoyed the point you raised about man’s flaw in humanity. It seems that both stories, as you pointed out, reveal how man’s ambition can ultimately be detrimental, such as with Alymer’s obsession with altering his wife to fulfill his idealized women. Further, I thought it was strikingly interesting how Alymer’s condition progressed as the plot went on — he becomes more and more fascinated, disgusted, and passionate about his wife’s blemish, and his work ethic increases tenfold. It is the obsession with perfection and the obsession of power that ultimately kills his wife.
I also unique contrast between the women of both stories: yes they both have marks on their bodies, but what struck me was the difference in portrayal they were given by their writers. Mena portrays her female character as mysterious, incredibly beautiful, clever, and even deceptive, as well asunforgettable; while Hawthrone reveals his female character of lesser strength and obscruity — Hawthorne’s depiction is much more dependent upon man and man’s aspirations and desires.
I found there to be some very concrete similarities between the two stories. They both include the idea that a natural “mark” on the face is something to be ashamed of. I found it interesting that both stories used this example upon women who bore these marks. This is probably because women have always been object of beauty, and being the object of beauty can sometimes be too much of an ideal to live up to. I definitely think Mena had read Hawthorne’s “The Birthmark,” and used the story to inspire her own. I also think it is interesting that they both differ with the characters in both stories and how they react to the marks on the women’s faces. In “The Birthmark,” it is the husband who wishes to remove the mark on his wife’s face–it is he who finds it so difficult to look at. On the other hand, in “The Vine-Leaf,” it is the woman with the marking on her face who wishes to have it removed off herself. I think that this contrast provides a similar theme to the one in “The Birthmark,” but it holds a lighter tone at the end because it encapsulates the idea that beauty is imperfection. I think both stories have gothic elements within them. One being the psychological turmoil that both stories have, which is the obsession that is held towards the birthmarks and the utter desire to have them removed. I think Hawthorne’s story had a much more creepy tone to it because I could sense that it would end with the wife dying in order to be perfect.
In both Maria Cristina Mena’s “The Vine-Leaf,” and in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Birth-mark,” a woman’s mark on her body is at the center of the story. In Mena’s short story, the mark is both alluring and incriminating. In Hawthorne’s “The Birth-mark,” she is seen as perfect with the exception of the red, hand-shaped mark on her face. Georgiana is secure with her mark until she learns of her husband’s disgust. Her mark removal leads to her destruction, while in “The Vine-Leaf,” she is liberated. Both stories contain dark, mysterious Gothic elements. I think that Mena had read Hawthorne’s “The Birth-mark” prior to her story; they share similar elements.
In the two stories the marks were a source of issue for the persons bearing them. The sense of urgency in removing the marks was also apparent in both stories. Mena’s work had a greater sense of mystery than the Hawthorne piece. The woman bearing the vine wanted it removed to cover up a foul act of murder not for issues of vanity like the woman in Hawthorne’s story. The fact that the woman dies at the end of Hawthorne’s story shows the gothic element of presenting a message of caution. The obsession with achieving perfection caused Georgiana’s death, which is a warning to all that strive for this end. I think that Mena’s story was influenced by Hawthorne. In both stories the holder of the mark is female. Unlike in Hawthorne’s story where this female is a victim, Mena turns her into a villain. The elements of murder and mystery in Mena’s story give it a gothic feel. The doctor’s lust after the woman with the vine leaf feeds into the gothic idea of wanting the forbidden. Overall both stories were good, although I would have to say that I preferred Mena’s over Hawthorne’s.
What I found most interesting as a connection between “The Vine-Leaf” by Marisa Cristina Mena and “The Birthmark” by Nathaniel Hawthorne is the obsession that two men of science take towards the respective birthmarks. Each man believes in the art and power of science in order to solve anything. Nevertheless, like Eve to the snake, they are drawn to these crimson marks that taint porcelain skin. They become obsessed. With the surgeon of the former story it is the mystery that calls to him; this association that he has made between the mark and his patient’s face. It almost suggests that if he finds the owner of the mark, her identity will be revealed from the veil.
With the husband fromw Hawthorne’s story a similar effect is taking place however, it siggests a notion of obsession. Regardless of bound to the realm of logic that one may be, curiosity and the unique can bring one to be fascinated by the things that we do not recognize. Nevertheless, it is not always a fascintating discovery but rather an obsession to wanting to correct what is unnatural.
In both stories “The Vine-Leaf” and “The Birth-Mark” the female characters imperfections play a vital role to their existence. In “the Birth-Mark” Georgiana’s crimson birthmark is essential to her survival as we witness in the closing paragraphs of the story with its removal that ultimately leads to her demise. In this story the imperfection plays a more supernatural part, opposed to in “the Vine-Leaf” where the Marquesa must have the identifying imperfection removed in order to eliminate all evidence of the murder that seems to have been committed by her. Where Georgiana needs her birthmark for survival, the Marquesa imperfection must be removed in order for her to be free.
Both of these works center around an obsession of a man on a woman; in Hawthorne, a scientist with a negative concern with the beauty of his wife, in Mena, a doctor’s infatuation with his first patient.
While both shot stories share the removal of a birthmark that was once thought to be beautiful and is later considered a burden, the relationship to said birthmarks differ entirely. Hawthorne’s doctor is disgusted with the single blemish on his otherwise perfect wife, Georgiana. Though she once found it attractive, the scorn of her husband convinced her otherwise, and she decides to remove the blemish to regain his affection. On the other hand, beauty does not appear to matter much to Mena’s Marquessa, for she decides to have her birthmark removed for practical reasons, namely, getting away with murder. Because of this, Mena’s story carries stronger feminist tones; however, these sentiments are somewhat overshadowed by the commodification of women typical of the time period the story was set in (i.e.: the Marquessa’s husbands obsession with the portrait).
Mena’s story maintains a mysterious and eerie tone typical of gothic literature through the mysterious nature of the Marquessa and the hidden reason of why she wants her birthmark removed. Other gothic tropes featured in Mena’s story are murder, obsession, unrequited love, science, and the “unspoken” (in this case, the secretive nature of the surgeries).
It appears that Mena had read Hawthorne’s story at the time of writing “The Vine Leaf”, though her incarnation of it empowers the female character and submits the males to her whim (even if they do not know it).
The birthmark serves as a predominant symbol in both “The Birthmark,” by Nathaniel Hawthorne and the “Vine Leaf,” by Maria Cristina Mena. Although both stories focus on a birthmark, they differ in the aspect that both birthmarks are viewed and valued differently.
Maria Cristina Mena commences her writing as she introduces the main character, the doctor. Dr. Malsufrido, who stands as the narrator explains how he in a sense is infatuated with one of his first patients named Senora. Senora carried a birthmark in which she wanted removed. In my opinion, she feared of getting caught for a crime she had committed and wanted to lose all evidence. In this story, the narrator depicts the birthmark as a beautiful symbol. In addition, the theme of beauty and infatuations is overpowered at the end as Mena projects the gothic theme of death.
On the country, the birthmark placed on Georgiana in “The Birthmark,” is depicted and view as something that is unattractive. In this reading, Georgiana wants to get her birthmark removed because she feels uncomfortable as her birthmark is displeasure by her husband.
Both reading are in communal as they share the birthmark as their focal point. Most importantly, they also share a theme of beauty, romance, and predominately the theme superficiality. Although both readings value the birthmarks differently, they are relatively synonymous by themes, and therefore I feel that perhaps Hawthorne’s writing influenced Mena.