Summary Of The Hawthorne's Birthmark

The birthmark, which past lovers saw to be beautifully laid by a fairy on her cheek, actually became disgusting to her husband by the time he took her to be his wife (Hawthorne 305). “While the story does support the development of a unity of sorts, the birthmark usurps Georgiana’s position as the object of Aylmer’s attention” (Howard 133). Aylmer’s desire to see his wife to perfection and rid her of the repulsive hand, twists his mind into viewing her as a science experiment that needs to be performed, rather than his beloved wife (Hawthorne 316). The inability of him to see his wife’s birthmark as lovely, tips him toward discontentment, “leading to unity between Aylmer and the birthmark, which eventually becomes “central to his existence” …show more content…
He has already imagined Georgiana without the birthmark, and is infatuated with what she could be, without the hand upon her cheek. At this moment he makes her perfection his new laboratory fad. “Seeing her otherwise so perfect, he found this one defect grow more and more intolerable with every moment of their united lives (Hawthorne 305). The birthmark becomes an idol to Aylmer resulting in him overlooking Georgiana and her inner beauty completely. He becomes infatuated one with her tiny hand, rather than becoming one with the total body of his wife. “Aylmer's stare becomes an important aspect of the social, scientific, and sexual power he has over her” (Shakinovsky 269). If he saw Georgiana as his wife rather than as his personal science experiment, he would not thrive from power, but would …show more content…
Aylmer “persuaded a beautiful woman to become his wife” (Hawthorne 304). Had he loved her and treated her with an unconditional love, Georgiana would have not needed to be persuaded to marry him. Instead, he saw her as an opportunity to be his next experiment, which could only come to fruition if he married her. He ran with it. “In the second sentence of the story, we are told that Aylmer "persuaded a beautiful woman to become his wife" The use of the indefinite article emphasizes her beauty as the crucial element in his choice. (Shakinovsky 269). Alymer saw her beauty, her outward appearance, and her birthmark, which became the selling factors that led him to get down on one knee. It would not be a surprise if Aylmer recognized that she would be an excellent experiment from afar before he even bothered to ask her name. Like a mad scientist obsessing over his lab rat, Aylmer cannot move past the hand on her face and studies Georgiana’s defect until he discovers the way to cure her (Hawthorne 305). “Aylmer’s personality resists this: his lifelong search, Hawthorne suggests, has been for ultimate control over nature” (Rosenberg 145). Everyday he spends with Georgiana should be spent falling more in love with her heart, which would lead to falling in