"The Birthmark" is a love story, concerned with the relation between men and women. Aylmer, the husband character, reveals a deep suspicion of mind and body theories current for the time. Aylmer the story's problematic "hero" is a scientist, artist, and a newlywed. Aylmer, an aesthetic scientist, directs his attention to processes and compounds that does not relate to an immediate spiritual end. Georgiana is able to inspire Aylmer to acquire the knowledge that he needs the embodiment of his vision. Soon after marriage, Aylmer confesses Georgiana's birthmark is either a charm or defect. Not only is Aylmer's obsession self-centered, it is also self-generating. Usually Georgiana's birthmark is only slightly redder than her own rosy complexion, but upon being startled, she pales and the tiny mark is highlighted against her whitened cheek.
Once Aylmer decides that the mark is a defect, Georgiana agrees the mark should be removed to "simply secure her sanity and Aylmer's peace" (452). In fact, Aylmer renders the birthmark as "a symbol of his wife's liability to sin, sorrow, decay, and death" (453). Georgiana not only believes her husband is correct in everything, she wants to aspire to become even one of his failures.
"The Birthmark" proposes that human nature is compound, a sacred mystery. The only way to effect a celebration of the body is not through distillation, but through unification, sympathy, and love. Hawthorne suggests in the story that human nature is its own proof of divinity and human love is its highest expression.
Georgiana's birthmark was a part of her and she was accustomed to seeing it upon her cheek. ... For Aylmer, the birthmark was a flaw that grew more egregious with every passing day. ... Aylmer wanted to remove the birthmark; Georgiana would not refute him. The birthmark made Georgiana an abomination to her husband. ... Georgiana could not change her husband's attitude toward the birthmark. ...
All he sees is a birthmark "an unbearable flaw in his wife. ... Even she did not mind the presence of the birthmark; she had grown accustomed to it. ... But, Aylmer did not see the birthmark as being such. ... The birthmark faded away as did his wife, breath by breath. ... He could not live, even with just a small birthmark. ...
The birthmark continued to taunt his ideal love for women. ... His dominance over her, like the dominant role of husbands of the era, quickly causes her own opinion of the birthmark to change. ... No human is perfect, just as Georgiana's birthmark can not be removed without her tragic death immediately following. ... He could not realize that his obsession of hating the birthmark would lead to his meddling in the works of creation. ... As the birthmark, the symbol of mortality, fades, life is annihilated. ...
In "The Birthmark", Hawthorne described a young scientist who killed his own wife by pursuing a "perfect future" (1) while trying to remove a birthmark on his wife's face. ... The Birthmark on Georgiana face was not seen as ugly but merely as an imperfection to her overall beauty. ... Some believed that Georgiana's birthmark was actually the source of her life. ... In "The Birthmark", Hawthorne describes how "science affects priorities"(4) in life. ... In "The Birthmark" Alymer was a devoted scientist. ...
Individualism In the story "The Birthmark" by Nathaniel Hawthorne there is an underlying theme of individualism. ... The theme of individualism as is portrayed in "The Birthmark" is much different than today's. ... Because Aylmer's public life is to be seen by all, he is ashamed of the birthmark on his wife's face. By wanting to remove Georgina's birthmark he was attempting to redeem him self at any cost. ... In "The Birthmark" Aylmer and Georgiana pay the ultimate price, he by the loss of Georgiana and she with her life. ...
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. ... 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 watches her until he notices that the b...
In The Birthmark, Georgiana and Aylmer stay together till the end. ... She is the only person in her town with a birthmark on her face. The birthmark itself is also unique for its shape of a hand. ... Georgiana wants to get rid of her unique birthmark. ... Hooper, because Georgiana just believes what Aylmer tells her about her birthmark. ...
Georgiana has a birthmark on left cheek in the shape of a hand. ... In this way, the birthmark seems to only enhance Georgiana's beauty instead of mar it. ... The birthmark, although not a problem before, begins to grow into a mockery in Aylmer's eyes. ... Aylmer spends many hours upon the task of ridding Georgiana of the birthmark. ... She falls into a deep sleep and soon the birthmark begins to fade. ...
Shortly after their marriage he asks her if she had ever thought of removing her birthmark. ... Georgiana first begins to detest the birthmark after hearing a dream of her husbands. ... The birthmark it self represents imperfection. ... (p119) However it was the birthmark that made her human. ... The Birthmark shows the reader that humans should not attempt to play God. ...
