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Professor Jacobs

ENG 132

25 September 2017

Literary Analysis: The Birthmark

Nathaniel Hawthorne short story The Birthmark shows the idiocy to create a perfect woman. Hawthorne shows this message

through the story of a scientist Named Aylmer and his beautiful wife, Georgiana, who has a birthmark shaped like many different

things on her cheek. Aylmer became fascinated with the mark that he forgets the beauty of his wife and tries to remove the mark with

his science. Throughout the story The Birthmark Hawthorne uses the Setting to illustrate Aylmer. He also describes the symbolism

using very descriptive language.

The birthmark on Georgianas cheek, the object that has Georgiana and her Husband both to have mutual hate because

Georgiana just couldnt understand why she wasnt good enough for her husband .In the story Aylmer shows his wife to describe the

flaws of perfection .When Georgiana tried to pluck the flower Hawthorne stated The whole plant suffered a blight, its leaves turning

coal black as if by the agency of fire. Georgiana who tried not to and who wasnt a individual with flaws tried to have a perfect

flower. The story says the flower died .the Flower shows that as beautiful and perfect a person can be it cannot be touched by someone

who is imperfect. Hawthorne uses symbolism to further illustrate sinful of a man. Aylmer, had a dream about the hand and see himself
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removing the birthmark but it seems to have a hold on Georgianas heart this representing how strong the hold of a small birthmark is

over Aylmer and now Georgiana.

The setting was in the late 1700s in Aylmers laboratory. Where he attempted to remove the birthmark from Georgians face.

It was dark where most of his experiments took place. The physical setting of Aylmer laboratory is quite interesting .they describe

how they decide to move from Aylmers laboratory and how Aylmer checks the conditions around his libratory and how Georgiana

wakes up in a room where it had been made beautiful for he. Aylmer comforts her with some of his creations. The story explains and

describes the Boudoir for Georgiana and contrasting the lab where Aylmer usually works. "Nature is yet severely careful to keep her

own secrets She permits us, indeed, to mar, but seldom to mend, and, like a jealous patentee, on no account to make," Hawthorne

explains how Aylmer has failed on more easier experiments and why Aylmer could also fail with this experiment basically telling us

readers that science and scientist have their limits. The story was written around the time when scientist could pretty much find out

anything. Aylmer showed that he cared and loved his wife but didnt care enough to leave the birthmark alone.

Hawthorne explains that Georgiana represents the closest state to perfection if not in another man eyes she was perfection that man

can aspire but to Aylmer she was just not perfect yet. He strives for perfection in his wife, His goal IF successful, it will result in his

losing of his wife but the perfect cannot exist in the world. Instead he is the cause of Georgians death of her soul and purged of all sins
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and finally allowed to achieve perfection after not being able to be perfect in her husbands eyes. The fate of the world, no matter how

dark it is its in the hands of God and Nature and no man could defeat either of them. Instead of trying to pursue the ultimate power

and trying to change the laws of Nature through science, he should just pursue happiness in love. The story stated had Aylmer

reached a profounder wisdom, he need not thus have flung away the happiness which would have woven his mortal life of the

selfsame texture with the celestial. He could just left his wife alone.