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Love In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Birthmark

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Where there are clashing loves, time proves again and again that whichever love is stronger blossoms and its unfortunate counterpart dissipates into the wind. Making room for a second love can be difficult, especially if the second love dares to threaten the prior. This very phenomenon strikes the scientist Aylmer in the short story “The Birthmark” by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Aylmer’s burning passion has been the art of scientific studies. Aylmer shows no intentions of changing his scientific way of thinking for anyone, not even his newly beloved wife Georgiana. In this time period, it is extremely common for a women to have to compete with a man’s love for science. Unfortunately for Georgiana, it is evident that Aylmer’s primary cares are himself …show more content…

Aylmer displays his contempt toward Georgiana’s birthmark when he talks in his sleep. Subsequently, the very next morning Georgiana tells Aylmer, “Life is not worth living while this hateful mark makes me the object of your horror… remove this little mark for the sake of your peace and my own.” Seeing the level of Georgiana’s distress, Aylmer could easily drop the topic by telling her the birthmark is in fact a charm, but he does not. Instead, Aylmer proceeds by taking Georgiana to his laboratory to be experimented on. After Georgiana drinks many of Aylmer’s home made chemicals , Aylmer walks into the room and tells Georgiana, “I have already given you chemicals powerful enough to change your entire physical system. Only one thing remains to be tried and if that fails, we are ruined!”. In this moment it is transparent that Aylmer has no regard for Georgiana’s wellbeing and risks her life for the sake of removing the birthmark. It is also clear that at this point Aylmer puts the entire weight of their marriage on the final mixture working and if it does not work, they are “ruined”. Aylmer’s passion for science proves to be much greater than his so called love for Georgiana, foreshadowing her inevitable

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Debating on whether science is more important in society than naturality. Aylmer is a stereotypical version of what a scientist is. Believing that science is more valuable to than nature. Although, Aylmer has the ability to make aromas and lovely sights. Aylmer doesn’t have the ability to control Georgina’s spirit or prolong her life.

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Some think of science as advantageous, while others believe it can be immoral. Acts of science can lead to manipulation of the natural world and cause those performing the experiments to “play God.” Nathaniel Hawthorne 's short stories “Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment,” “Rappaccini’s Daughter,” and “The Birthmark” each incorporate characters that attempt to alter a natural aspect of life and in turn are met with failure. It is through his short stories that Nathaniel Hawthorne reveals opinion of science: Men should not engage in scientific studies that require them to act as God.

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In the stories “The Birthmark” and “Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment” by Nathaniel Hawthorne, both explore the wonders of science. “The Birthmark” and “Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment” explore science in similar ways, like the future. But there are some differences, like who’s future. In “Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment”, Dr. Heidegger uses science to create and “magic water” to let people go back to when they were young, this let people change their future for the better.

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Intro: Nathaniel Hawthorne’s fictional short story “The Birthmark” and The Twilight Zone’s darkly romantic episode “Eye of the Beholder” both use gothic elements and delve into the realm of science to explore concepts of beauty and perfection. Through their contrasting characterizations of the scientist and employments of irony and allusions, each work comes to its own conclusions about how to define and treat beauty. Body #1: The Birthmark From the very first paragraph, Hawthorne’s story revolves around Aylmer, a scientist who supposedly gives up his career to marry the beautiful woman of his dreams, Georgiana.

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That the relationship between Aylmer and Georgiana is being torn by his scientific mind and urge to experiment. Aylmer being very analytical and even studying the human frame beforehand almost feels like an excuse to combine his two loves. Aylmer saying, “Doubt not my power. I have already given this matter the deepest thought.” This shows that he has been ready to use science he was just waiting on Georgiana to give the approval.

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Georgiana, in “ The Birthmark” is nearly perfect but has one defect, the birthmark on her cheek. This birthmark drives Aylmer crazy and he wants to remove it from her cheek, so he makes a potion. If Aylmer succeeds, he would create something almost inhuman; a perfect human. He wants

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Later on Aylmer would come to understand how connected the birthmark was to Georgiana, just as Aminadab had understood earlier. Selfish and blinded by his obsession he continues the course of removing the birthmark costing Georgiana her

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It describes him as “Proficient in every branch of natural philosophy”, (Hawthorne, 365) to the extent that he even discovered an elixir that he could determine if a man would drop dead instantly or linger out years after only of a breath of this substance. We see a great irony in how intelligent Aylmer is, and yet how many scientific mistakes he makes. When he uses the elixir of life upon the flower, it grows beautifully but also self-combusts. He then tells Georgiana he will need to use a much stronger substance on her, in order to fix her birthmark. The flower very obviously foreshadows Georgiana’s death, and the result proves that Aylmer’s science can produce extremely unpredictable results.

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He does not stop to think about how his remarks will make Georgiana begin to feel. (Reading Literature The Birthmark p.448 p.p. 5) After that Georgiana tries her best to cover the blemish up so her husband will not have to look at it. Alymer believes he can make her perfect with the help of science.

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The point of the story can conclude that people are born the way they are and changing themselves could change everything else as well. However, the psychological findings in this story conclude that one person, Aylmer, has affected two different people’s perceptions about themselves and about others. Georgiana had decided to remove her mark. The birth mark was a part of her and once that was taken away her personality and life were taken away with

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This overriding confidence makes him blind to his past failures and logical sense. Georgiana pointes out the faults Aylmer’s past experiments by saying, “His brightest diamonds were the merest pebbles, and felt to be so by himself, in comparison with the inestimable gems which lay hidden beyond his reach.” (Hawthorne, 217). This shows that Aylmer always reached for the unreliable and impossible overcomes when experimenting. This raises concern when Aylmer focuses on using his own wife as an experiment rather than the love of his life.

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In his decision to leave behind his studies to pursue Georgiana, it is argued that he does this to find a new subject for experimentation (Eckstein). It is shown that after Georgiana had fallen asleep in preparation for the birthmark’s removal, Aylmer impulsively kisses the birthmark for what seems to be a sign of him accepting it, unfortunately, it is too late. His late acceptance of the birthmark shows that his

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Georgiana “could not but observe that his most splendid successes were almost invariably failures, if compared with the ideal which he aimed” (222). Even Aylmer’s most successful experiments were considered failures because of his desire for perfection. Aylmer is so consumed by perfection, he does not see the accomplishments he has made. Aylmer posses a potion that he deems “the Elixir of Immortality” (221) which he describes as being able to remove freckles but is not strong enough to remove the mark from Georgiana. Aylmer remarks “this is merely superficial.

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Aylmer explains to Georgiana that she “…came so nearly perfect from the hand of nature, that the slightest possible defect … shocks [him]” (220). Aylmer perceives that the world is full of imperfections in nature; including the birthmark on Georgiana’s face. Later on, in the story Aylmer is bothered by the imperfections of his experiments that he presents to Georgiana as well; showing us his desire of perfection. At the same time, however, Georgiana believes that you have to be physically beautiful to be loved. She tells Aylmer, to “either remove [the] dreadful hand, or take [her] wretched life” (223).

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Equally Aylmer and Dr. Rappiccini, both characters in Hawthorne’s works causes destruction of human life with selfish aims to perfect the woman of their choice. In the case of Aylmer’s love interest in science, just as with the case of Beatrice’s father, blinds him to the true beauty and humanity of the woman before him. Aylmer views Georgiana’s birthmark as a symbol of imperfection and tries to remove it. At the end of the story, Georgiana say, "My poor Aylmer," she repeated, with a more than human tenderness, "you have aimed loftily; you have done nobly. Do not repent that with so high and pure a feeling, you have rejected the best the earth could offer.

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