Nobody is perfect and no one ever will be. This theme shows up often in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story, The Birthmark. In this story, a scientist named Aylmer becomes obsessed with removing a hand-shaped birthmark from his wife’s, Georgiana, visage. After a series of tests, he is successful, but Georgiana becomes perfect and can no longer stay in the mortal world, so she dies. The Birthmark demonstrates how foolish it is to strive for perfection and this is revealed throughout the story using narration.
When reading the “The Birthmark”, a myriad of tragic flaws can be found in both Aylmer and Georgiana. In the article “Tragedy”, Leonard W. Conversi and Richard C. Sewall from Britannica write, “‘Why must humans suffer… Are its causes internal, and does one bring suffering upon oneself through arrogance, infatuation,
When Aylmer and Georgiana got married, Georgiana was taken from her mothers home, making her complete dependent on Aylmer and his opinions. In addition to this, Aylmer’s belief hat he is better than God, and has the ability to remove Georgiana’s birthmark, creates inequality in their relationship. Finally, due to Georgiana’s obsession with what Aylmer thinks of her, paired with Aylmer's rude looks and comments, leads her to do something
Georgiana took note of Aylmer’s displeasure of the birthmark from the dream and through his stealthy stare, causing Georgina displeasure (Nathaniel Hawthorne 114). Aylmer’s further loathing of the birthmark, causes Georgiana to give up for the sake of his happiness. She tells, Aylmer after bringing up the conversation of the birthmark, “Either remove this dreadful hand, or take my wretched life!” (Nathaniel Hawthorne 114). Aylmer could have avoided tragedy, however he failed to listen to his assistant Aminadab, who stated he would “never part with that birthmark” (Nathaniel Hawthorne 114).
Francisco Villegas Dr. Richard Coronado English 2326 September 29, 2014 Perfection Is Not A Goal Worth Pursuing In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story, “The Birth-Mark,” Aylmer apparently after getting married with Georgiana noticed the birthmark Georgiana had in her left cheek. Aylmer is very troubled how the birthmark resembles in Georgiana’s face. He proclaimed that it is a natural flaw that has affected her vivid human perfection. Since Aylmer is a scientist he propose to Georgiana to get rid of her birthmark once and for all. At first she angrily questions Aylmer’s proposition, but her love for him changes her thoughts and she accepts to permanently get rid of the birthmark.
“Good fiction creates empathy. A novel takes you somewhere and asks you to look through the eyes of another person, to live another life”. (Barbara Kingsolver) Fiction is an imaginary thing or event, postulated for the purposes of argument or explanation as defined by Dictionary.com. There are many literary devices that writers incorporate into their works. The main reason literary devices are used is to connect with the reader.
He provides the story with a character that identifies contrast between the others. He is Aylmer's assistant although we tend to get the impression that he may actually be smarter than Aylmer in a way. As he realizes that Aylmer has killed Georgiana, he begins to laugh. He believes that Aylmer has simply got what was coming to him. He warned him that she already is perfect and says, “If she were my wife, I'd never part with that birthmark”(208).
PERFECTION! In “The Birthmark” the theme is it’s foolish to strive for perfection. In “The Birthmark” Aylmer is disgusted by this mark on his wife’s cheek, and because she’s almost perfect to him, he wants to remove the mark. In the story Aylmer says “No, dearest Georgiana, you came so nearly perfect from the hand of nature…” and “...as being the visible mark of imperfection.”
When Aylmer demanded assistance from his servant, Aminadab, with Georgiana who was in a “lifeless form,” he muttered to himself: “If she were my wife, I’d never part with the birthmark” (Hawthorne 343). The ironic aspect of this part of the story is the servant, the scientist's personal laboratory rat, knew that the removal of such a tiny “defect” would end in a great loss. The “man of science,” the “philosopher,” the faith in man’s “ultimate control over nature,” all meant nothing. He could not see past his wife’s imperfection and look at what was truly important, her inner beauty. Destruction of beauty in this story, “The Birthmark,” is developed through the use of symbolism, conflict, and irony.
Aylmer states, “Georgiana, has it never occurred to you that the mark upon your cheek might be removed?” Aylmer sees the birthmark as a symbol of his wife’s imperfection; this section in the story is ironic because this should be the peak of their romance and instead Alymer is continuously ridiculing Georgiana. One of the overarching themes of Hawthorne’s writing conveys to the reader the lesson that nothing or no one is perfect. Aylmer states that the imperfection “...Is a liability to sin, sorrow, decay, and death...” With his fascination for flawlessness, Aylmer fails to see his wife’s absolute beauty and her humanity.
The Birth-Mark by Nathaniel Hawthorne has many feminist allegorical clues in it making it a subconscious short story about the unequal treatment of women in society. Hawthorne also seems to cover those said allegories by showcasing a lot of overt religious wording to draw in his audience of puritan readers at that time. A short summary written about the story in 1843 might say that it is about a man of science wanting to play God by tampering with his wife Georgiana’s naturally achieved birthmark. In comparison, a summary written today may focus on the main character Aylmer obsessing over making his wife perfect while also unknowingly destroying her. Looking into the author’s historical puritan background with regards to what happened to women
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
Aylmer is consumed with a pursuit of perfection in his scientific studies and also in nature. The leads to Aylmer being appalled at the blemish on his wife Georgiana’s cheek. He tells Georgiana “you came so nearly perfect from the hand of Nature, that this slightest possible defect..shocks me, as being the visible mark of earthly imperfection” (216). This is the catalyst for Aylmer's seeking for perfection in his wife who is a natural being. Aylmer recognizes that there is a “fatal flaw of humanity, which Nature...stamps ineffaceable on all her productions” (216).
Georgiana shows these factors in the short story “The Birthmark”. By devoting her time to her husband and by having tolerance and she succeeds as a woman because she had some education. Most importantly she respected her husband as all the other woman did. Georgiana went through much physical and mental pain when Aylmer insulted her birthmark. She satisfied Aylmer by letting him experiment with her, even when she knew that he was not a successful scientist.
The phrase “No, dearest Georgiana, you came so nearly perfect from the hand of Nature, that this slightest possible defect, which we hesitate whether to term a defect or a beauty, shocks me, as being the visible mark of earthly imperfection”(212) was used to illustrate a point of Aylmer's obsession with the mark and how he is not satisfied with his wife's current aesthetics. Aylmer loves Georgiana
