In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story The Birthmark, Aylmer, a young male scientist was married to a beautiful woman, named Georgiana. Georgiana was lusted after by many due to her elegance and poise, but she still possessed a singular flaw. Embedded on her face, in the center of her left cheek, was a small birthmark, shaped like a hand. As the story progressed, this one fault began to irritate the couple beyond words, especially Aylmer who simply could not let go of Georgiana’s defect. This quest for perfection, shared by all humans, is evident through the actions and thoughts of Aylmer. In The Birthmark, the imperfection bestowed upon mankind is portrayed as the natural sin that all men are born with, and the fatal flaw that whisks away the
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In Aylmer’s mind, the birthmark was “the symbol of his wife’s liability to sin, sorrow, decay, and death” (Hawthorne, 2), as being a sinful person will fundamentally lead to death. As seen in certain points throughout the story, especially in Aylmer’s dream, where he made an effort to remove the mark from Georgiana’s face through surgery, but ended up killing her instead, it is clear that because all humans are eternally marked with sin, they are all essentially mortal. This idea was also illustrated in Georgiana’s request to Aylmer, “Either remove this dreadful hand, or take my wretched life!” (Hawthorne, 3), because this makes it evident to readers that eventually, Georgiana’s flaw and sin will bring death to her. Likewise, because all humans are flawed, no one can truly escape death. However, there is an interesting paradox in which nothing perfect can live, but nothing flawed can live forever, as seen in the death of Georgiana after the mark was almost fully removed from her face. In other words, imperfections define humans, as they must be flawed to live, but also to die. In The Birthmark by Nathaniel Hawthorne, there is a common theme of human obsession with perfection, as seen in the main character, Aylmer, who became completely absorbed in finding a way to remove the one blemish of his nearly perfect wife, Georgiana. In this short story, imperfection is presented as the epitome of sin, which ultimately leads to
In Aylmer’s mind, the birthmark was “the symbol of his wife’s liability to sin, sorrow, decay, and death” (Hawthorne, 2), as being a sinful person will fundamentally lead to death. As seen in certain points throughout the story, especially in Aylmer’s dream, where he made an effort to remove the mark from Georgiana’s face through surgery, but ended up killing her instead, it is clear that because all humans are eternally marked with sin, they are all essentially mortal. This idea was also illustrated in Georgiana’s request to Aylmer, “Either remove this dreadful hand, or take my wretched life!” (Hawthorne, 3), because this makes it evident to readers that eventually, Georgiana’s flaw and sin will bring death to her. Likewise, because all humans are flawed, no one can truly escape death. However, there is an interesting paradox in which nothing perfect can live, but nothing flawed can live forever, as seen in the death of Georgiana after the mark was almost fully removed from her face. In other words, imperfections define humans, as they must be flawed to live, but also to die. In The Birthmark by Nathaniel Hawthorne, there is a common theme of human obsession with perfection, as seen in the main character, Aylmer, who became completely absorbed in finding a way to remove the one blemish of his nearly perfect wife, Georgiana. In this short story, imperfection is presented as the epitome of sin, which ultimately leads to