To Participate or Not
To Participate, or Not Often in natural processes, the role of the scientist is debated. ... They feel the scientist should be an observer, but not a participant, and that nature should be observed, but not tampered with. ... Because his motives were not good, the results were bad. ... In this story, Aylmer has a very beautiful wife, Georgiana, but he does not appreciate her beauty, because she had a small red birthmark on her face. ... Aylmer was not content with nature, so he tried to change it. Again, Hawthorne is trying to convey to us that the scientist should observe and appreciate nature but not change nature or participate in experiments. ... Here we see transcendence, we see the viewer observing and appreciating nature but not trying to change it. Another poem by Dickinson also suggests that we should observe nature, but we should not disturb it. ... Several of Nature’s People I know, and they know me- I feel for them a transport Of cordiality- (Dickinson 459-460) This quote is not speaking of the snake, but other animals in nature. ... Hawthorne shows that had the scientists not intervened on nature neither would have happened. ... Here she shows us that by just observing the bird, nature is not changed. ... Hawthorne urges us not to try to change nature, whereas Dickinson urges us not to disrupt nature.