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Perfection In The Birthmark

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Most people might assume that all of humanity strive to be genuinely good. Well known authors in history have thought this way and have even thought that humanity ripened to perfection. Although this might seem like an uplifting truth about humanity, the reality is that man has a choice to be rather comfortable in sin or to attempt to stray from sin. Nathaniel Hawthorne represent this sin through a symbolic birthmark in his short story “The Birthmark”. This birthmark is laid across an almost perfect woman’s face named Georgina (295). Knowing that the women is so close to perfection, it allows the reader to depict the idea that the women is one step closer to perfection, but is she really? Hawthorne illustrates that perfection is unattainable through three characters: Aylmer, Aminadab, and Georgina. In “The Birthmark”, Aylmer represents the mental attributes of mankind. Although he is a man of great thought, he is also a man with thoughts that can suffocate his well being. The thought of his wife’s birthmark suffocated his brain for “Aylmer’s sombre imagination was not long in rendering the birthmark a frightful object ” (297). His obsession with his wife’s birthmark elevated when he was struck with a nightmare that involved removing the stain (297). Aylmer asked permission from his wife to …show more content…

As mentioned before, Georgina was murdered as soon as the birthmark vanished. The birthmark vanishing as soon as she dies resembles that it is impossible to obtain perfection. Georgina allowed her fleshly emotions draw her closer to perfection just for the sake of her husband’s approval. Independently, Georgina accepted her flaw, but with the influence of her husband she then took the side of those who wanted perfection. Hawthorne uses Georgina as the middle ground between those who want to obtain perfection and those who accept the

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