Compare And Contrast The Birth Mark And The Minister's Black Veil

Love remains a frequent topic in literature because of the countless opportunities to explore emotions and to delve into the human psyche to ponder what truly causes someone to love another person. Furthermore, love is multifaceted, and Hawthorne focuses on a different aspect of love within a relationship in each of his two stories. Although “The Birth-Mark” and “The Minister’s Black Veil” both contain elements of Puritan society, delineate the relationship between a man and his partner, and consider how far love can drive a person, each story examines a different kind of love that a man and a woman have for each other. Georgiana unconditionally loves Aylmer in the same way that Mr. Hooper unconditionally loves Elizabeth, but both of their respective partners, Aylmer and Elizabeth, conditionally love them and fixate upon a single, minute detail, the birthmark and the veil, which they perceive …show more content…
Hooper remove their blemish. While Georgiana unconditionally loves Aylmer and willingly risks her life in an attempt to satisfy him, Elizabeth conditionally loves Mr. Hooper, and will only stay with him if he agrees to remove his veil. Georgiana knows not how to remove her birthmark, but she wholeheartedly places her trust in her lover and undergoes experiments to try and fix herself, telling her husband, ““let the attempt be made at whatever risk. Danger is nothing to me” (421). This bold statement proves her dedication to her husband and showcases the unbreakable love she has for Aylmer. She displays an inspiring sense of altruism and places the needs of the relationship over her own personal desire, to keep the birthmark. While most would agree that Georgiana went too far in her quest to please