Creation Is Perfect In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Birthmark

“We never noticed the beauty of nature because we were too busy trying to recreate it” (Unknown). Nature is apart from physical science and philosophy, in that it is beyond measurability; it is beyond man. No man can or should dwell beyond mortality. The evolution of man and its creation is perfect in its own nature and in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Birthmark”, we see Aylmer a philosophical scientist, attempting to step beyond man into waters no mortal should tread, causing the death of his wife, Georgiana. Aylmer’s arrogant white male nature, in his demands, over-determination and over-protective behavior leads him to play God with an uncanny devotion to science. Aylmer’s male arrogance drives his demand for perfection, specifically in his wife’s appearance. His arrogance leads him to play God in a contradicting statement concerning the

An old proverb reads, “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder”, as is perfection. In nature we see that nothing and no one is perfect, like Georgiana’s birthmark and that in trying to attain such a goal will cause the loss of something greater, like Georgiana’s life. Aylmer’s assistant, Aminadab, criticizes him for seeing Georgiana’s birthmark as an imperfection, which he felt was unique and unnecessary for it to be removed, but because Aminadab is only an assistant, and different from skin color to intellect, being that he is not a man of science, he is less than Aylmer. Mother Nature, like spiritual affinity, is a form of energy. Energy cannot be created nor destroyed but only changes from one form to another. Anything of Mother Nature’s origin is not perfect and cannot be perfected once manifested however, with her angelic beauty; he must pursue her perfection to match his cocksure, viewing himself as a God with science under his