How Does Nathaniel Hawthorne Use Allusions In The Birthmark

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Birthmark” is a short story illustrating the struggle of a man who is obsessed with his wife’s one imperfection. The protagonist has dedicated his life to science, but his passion becomes his fault when it leads to his wife’s death. Hawthorne uses allusions, symbolism, and his characters to send the message that being imperfect is part of being a human being and that one cannot “play God.” The message permeates this nineteenth century short story allowing it to continue to be relatable today. In today’s society the main character, Aylmer, would be the jerk husband who insists his wife get plastic surgery. His wife Georgiana is beautiful with a red birthmark on her cheek. As a scientist Aylmer is convinced that

She is beautiful even if others see her birthmark as a flaw. The men, excluding her husband, saw her as the most gorgeous girl they have ever seen, never viewing the birthmark as a flaw. The other women were jealous of her and the attention she got from other men so they deemed her birthmark as an imperfection calling it “the bloody hand.” Before Aylmer mentioned the story of Pygmalion he condemned the women that spoke of Georgiana in this way and he said “But it would be as reasonable to say that one of those small blue stains which sometimes occur in the purest statuary marble would convert the Eve of Powers to a monster” (Hawthorne 1321). He is implying that God created Georgiana with the image of Eve and because she was tainted by sin, Georgiana had to be created with this birthmark. Each reference, the bible and the story of Pygmalion, both connect back to Aylmer striving to be God-like. Hawthorne alludes to several different meanings behind the birthmark, one of them being that it was created by God and could be representative of his touch. The birthmark is shaped like a hand, which could indicate that her creator touched her personally while creating her beauty. This is one of the reasons the birthmark taunts Aylmer. Hawthorne then adds to the birthmarks symbolism by claiming it looks like a “human

“The crimson hand expressed the ineludible gripe in which mortality clutches the highest and purest of earthly mould, degrading them into kindred with the lowest, and even with the very brutes, like whom their visible frames return to dust” (Hawthorne 1322). The birthmark represents Georgiana’s mortality and humanity. Morality links to imperfection because that’s what being human means. Aylmer wants to make Georgiana perfect, which is impossible, but that is his goal. To make someone perfect or immortal would give Aylmer the control that he so badly yearns