Another character experiences the complete loss of her worth as an individual as a result of another character's egotistical desires. In Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Birthmark", a scientist named Aylmer has a self-absorbed desire to prove he possesses godlike abilities. He attacks his wife's self-esteem to break her spirit, and make her complicit in his mad scheme to remove her birthmark. At first, Georgiana is simply confused, when her husband implies that her birthmark detracts from her beauty. While she expresses dismay; she initially possesses a sense of her own worth. She views Alymer's distaste as his problem: She questions the sincerity of his love for her she immediately asks him why he has married her if he finds her appearance so displeasing.
