The subject of Nathaniel Hawthorne's short story "The Birthmark," is a large blemish on the face of a woman named Georgiana. '"In the center of Georgiana's cheek there was a singular mark. Its shape bore not a little similarity to the human hand, though of the smallest pygmy size. Georgiana's lovers were wont to say that some fairy at her birth had laid her tiny hand upon the infant's cheek to give her such sway over all hearts" (Hawthorne 170). Nevertheless, Aylmer understands or sees the birthmark very differently from other men, "selecting it as the symbol of his wife's liability to sin, sorrow, decay, and death" (170). This divergence confuses the reader and causes him or her to examine the true meaning of the birthmark. As a reader analyzes Aylmer's struggle to give a definition to the birthmark, his quest to rid Georgiana of her birthmark takes on new meaning.
Aylmer's quest to create perfect aesthetic beauty in his wife's appearance is very meaningful. Many would say that Aylmer's' confusion causes a sense of loss. His search for wholeness and perfection is ultimately unattainable. In fact, by reading "The Birthmark" one can see that Aylmer's confusion over the signifier of the birthmark and his unquenchable desire for unity, both of the signifier and the separateness of his loves, make him to try to create perfect beauty in his wife as a route to regain his lost unity.
Georgiana's birthmark represents a signifier in Aylmer's search for unity. Aylmer sees the birthmark as "the symbol of his wife's liability to sin, sorrow, decay, and death"; nonetheless, some of Georgiana's former "lovers were wont to say (the birthmark gave) her such sway over all hearts," thus seeing the birthmark in a positive light (Hawthorne 170). Aylmer's apprentice, Aminadab, even tells him, "If she were my wife, I'd never part with that birthmark" (175).
