Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Birth-Mark

Nathaniel Hawthorne uses his theme of man versus nature in his short story “The Birth-Mark” to show how in the end nature will always win. The short story consist of successful scientific experiments, but nature proves to be more powerful that any manmade creation. In the end the attempt to control nature with science ends only with death as well as the downfall to man. Aylmer held the job as an alchemist who strives for perfection in his wife. Aylmer represents man in the short story because of his ambition to go beyond his experiments to effect the transformations by human will (Rosenberg 146). Even though Aylmer’s love for his wife appeared to be strong, Nathaniel Hawthorne states that he possessed a degree of ultimate control (418). Despite of all of Aylmer’s imperfections he still cannot help but try to perfect his wife which proves his mortality. Georgiana wants nothing more than to make …show more content…
Aminadab can also be known as “the grunt or growl of a brute” who worked in the laboratory that can be located in Aylmer’s basement, the location also holds the furnace which explains why Aminadab always cantina the sootiness (Rosenburg 147). Aminadab sees Georgiana’s beauty but does not tell Aylmer of what will happen if he removes the birth-mark, instead at the end of the story he gives out a chuckle towards Aylmer for his plunder (Walsh 259).
In the ultimate battle between man versus nature, nature will always come out on top. The desire for perfection not only kills Aylmer’s beloved Georgiana, but the desire also creates a fixation that prevents him from seeing the beauty in his wife. Aylmer’s obsession with the pigmy sized, hand shaped birth-mark on Georgiana’s face will result in the down fall of man, a victory for nature, in addition to a good laugh for the