Women In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Birthmark

In Nathaniel Hawthorne the Birthmark The main characters are Georgiana and Aylmer. This story depicts an ongoing cultural problem women face daily with regard to their image. Women are pushed by society to strive for perfection, which is seemingly unattainable as displayed in this story. In the beginning of the story Georgiana and Aylmer are arguing because he finds the birthmark on her cheek to be a "flaw", or "imperfection" that must be fixed. At first, Georgiana displays an attachment to her birthmark saying that a fairy left her a present to allow her to sway hearts, but because her husband side as a default she began to see it the same way. This not only shows how weak minded women were, but also shows men were able to manipulate their wives. As the story progresses he begins an experiment to remove the birthmark from her cheek. Aylmer's goal was to make his wife perfect instead of accepting her birthmark as a part of who she was.
Hawthorne is able to critique the …show more content…
She aspired to be a good wife, which means listening, obeying, and cleaning the house. Georgiana was soft-spoken, and often just wanted her husband to be happy, she truly loved him and notice that her defect made him unhappy. She said she felt as if she was the," object of your horror and disgust." As a black woman I am always told that white women are beautiful, pure, and loved and as a black woman I am just a black woman. So when Georgina decided she would allow her husband to remove her flaw I understand where she was coming from. I understand her want for approval, she wanted her husband to look at her and love her, and her completeness, and she allowed him to do that. Unfortunately, she died in the process, but as a black woman I am told that society is not satisfied with me but, I have to learn to take pride in who I am and what I do bring to the