In both of his two short stories"The Birthmark"and"Rappaccini's Daughter", Hawthorne depicts the destruction of young women caused by male anxiety over their beauty and sexuality, which poses a threat to their self-control and absolute authority. The anxiety is essentially rooted in the gender view of Hawthorne's time when women are stereotyped either angle or whole according to male projection. As the source of uncontrollable passion feared by male, sexuality of female is often demonized, suppressed and eradicated.
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