In the short story “The Birthmark,” Nathaniel Hawthorne recounts a tale of a man who becomes so obsessed with a birthmark on his wife’s cheek that he completely disregards everything else about her, objectifying her to the point where he treats her like an experiment rather than someone he actually cares about. Aylmer’s neurotic captivation with Georgiana’s birthmark and his unreasonable desire to perfect his wife leads to her crippling self-loathing and ultimately her demise. Hawthorne not only exposes the destruction that a relationship such as theirs causes but cautions against the idea of complete obedience and devotion from a wife to her husband. At first, Georgiana is a confident person, assured in her own beauty and unique allure. When …show more content…
Aylmer questions if she has ever thought of getting her birthmark removed, she tells him she has not and continues, “It has been so often called a charm that I was simple enough to imagine it might be so” (Hawthorne 138). Even though she mildly insults herself in the process, calling herself “simple” merely because she did not think of her birthmark as an imperfection, Georgiana has enough self-confidence to know that the blemish does not diminish her beauty whatsoever. Aylmer’s response to this, instead of being reassuring, is to tell her that her she is “so nearly perfect from the hand of Nature that this slightest possible defect, which we hesitate whether to term a defect or a beauty, shocks me, as being a visible mark of earthly imperfection” (Hawthorne 138), taking the first of many blows to her confidence and making her question her own desirability. It happens slowly at first, Aylmer occasionally making offhand comments about what he refers to as a defect or imperfection, but escalates until it is all he can think about. He reckons that “had she been less beautiful….he might have felt his affection heightened by the prettiness of this mimic hand” (Hawthorne 138), but since it is her only noticeable “flaw,” he becomes obsessed with its removal. His irrational fascination with her birthmark begins to take its toll on Georgiana, and she “soon learned to shutter at his gaze” (Hawthorne 139) because every time he looks at her he makes it evident he finds her birthmark hideous.
One night Georgiana overhears a dream he has in which he tries to remove her birthmark but ends up having to cut out her heart. Upset, she confronts him, and he admits to the dream, informing her in more depth about his abhorrence of the blemish on her cheek. By this point, Georgiana’s self-esteem is practically nonexistent and she has grown tired of her husband’s constant repulsed looks. Indeed, she now refers to the birthmark as “terrible” and tries to hide it from her husband’s view when he looks at her. In light of his dream, she tells him “Danger is nothing to me; for life, while this hateful mark makes me the object of your horror and disgust—life is a burden which I will fling down with joy” (Hawthorne 140). Aylmer’s relentless preoccupation with her birthmark has affected her so deeply that she would rather die than be on the receiving end of his revulsion any …show more content…
longer. Delighted by this new development, Aylmer starts preparing for the removal of the mark immediately, his confidence in himself absolute. While he works on experiments for the removal, Georgiana reads the books in his scientific library. She proves to be intelligent beyond his comprehension, understanding the tomes she reads as well as his scientific records. She recognizes that his failures overshadow his successes for the most part and realizes that she cannot trust his judgment. Despite this, she lets him continue with the procedure, even though she knows she has reason to doubt his abilities. Throughout the process, Aylmer treats Georgiana like an experiment instead of treating her like his wife getting an operation. When he is experimenting on her, it becomes evident that he cares more for his work than he does for her, which displays how his obsession has overshadowed his love for his wife. When he talks to her he can only discuss his achievements in the world of science or the procedure he will use to remove her birthmark. He no longer views her even as a companion, much less a person he loves or cares about. Georgiana follows Aylmer into his laboratory at one point to tell him about a symptom that has caught her attention and finds him “pale as death, anxious and absorbed” (Hawthorne 146).
He reprimands her for entering his lab without warning and accuses her of not trusting him, to which Georgiana replies that it is he who does not trust her. She lets on that she knows very well that the procedure may not be successful but insists that he go on with it anyways. Aylmer’s treatment of his wife as an object that has to be fixed to fit his idea of a perfect woman has proved to be so detrimental to her self-worth that she willingly risks her own death to make him happy. Aylmer, on the contrary, cares little for the happiness of Georgiana. He is so engrossed in experimenting and removing her birthmark that he does not talk to her unless it is about the procedure or his own achievements, and he can barely stand to look at her. While Georgiana does everything in her power to make sure her husband is content, Aylmer thinks only of
himself. Despite Hawthorne’s tendency to write two-dimensional characters, Georgiana is quite obviously portrayed as an intelligent, kind person who knows more than just blind obedience to her husband. In spite of this, she complacently lets Aylmer experiment on her in order to remove her birthmark which he detests so. Instead of being confident about her beauty and intelligence, Georgiana dwells on Aylmer’s hatred of her birthmark and in time comes to hate it even more than he does. She internalizes his attitude towards her and comes to believe that death would be a better fate than having to bear witness to her husband’s disgust. Her hatred for herself and her birthmark, which comes directly from Aylmer’s constant criticisms, demonstrates just how damaging Aylmer’s treatment of his wife and Georgiana’s blind obedience can be.
Aylmer’s desire to make his wife perfect is doomed to failure because perfection, Hawthorne suggests, is the exclusive province of heaven that cannot be found on earth. Because she becomes an ideal being, completely unmarried, Georgiana is no longer able to exist in this world. The birthmark has references to life, death, nature, beauty, insecurities and disgust.
The attempted removal of Georgiana’s birthmark by Aylmer signifies a desire to conquer nature and reveals a hidden quality within Aylmer. The first instance in which the reader sees Aylmer trying to conquer or control nature is subtle, it is near the beginning of the story and the narrator says “[Aylmer] persuaded a beautiful woman to become his wife” (211). The common belief is that love occurs naturally and cannot be forced. It seems as though the narrator chooses to state that Aylmer persuaded his wife, rather than fell in love with her, in order to indicate early on in the text Aylmer’s tendencies toward manipulating nature. Later in the
When Aylmer tells Georgiana that her so called “beauty” mark is in fact an “earthly imperfection”, she is immediately affected and overcome with a thought that had never occurred to her in all her life. Having always been told that the mark upon her face was that of beauty, she was angered and appalled shouting
Torvald and Alymer think they’re inlove with their wives but, they are not. Alymer and Torvald love their possessions, similar to loving a car. They love the feeling and the moments they get to spend on earth mesmerizing their beautiful uniqueness, but they do not care about the wellbeing of the other person. “Women define visibility as including communication, verbal and non-verbal, show the slipperiness of the slope, and raise question of consciousness.” (Deutsch, 1889) In both relationships there was a lack of communication, intimacy, and respect. Nora and Georgianna both wanted their loved ones to show concern for them even in rough circumstances, but both men failed either because of selfness or love of science. When Torvald received the IUE from Krogstat, his immediate response was “I’m saved!” Being selfish his first thoughts are of himself rather than, his kids, and Nora. Aylmer’s attention to his wife’s birthmark over time, drove Georgianna insane to the point where she would die trying to remove a little mark on her face. Alymer started to point out that she is no longer perfect because of the birthmark. After you marry someone you accept their flaws internally and externally, and both failed to do so therefore, they lost their wives.
According to Liz Rosenberg, throughout Hawthorne’s literary career, “[He praised] the imperfect and moral quality of human nature” (Rosenberg 1). The two motifs of morality and imperfection in “The Birthmark” direct the readers’ attention towards Hawthorne’s belief that instinctive actions represent human nature in a more genuine way than actions influenced by religious laws. In the short story, Georgiana’s blemish represents the actuality of human nature and not the false pretense of perfection that people thrive so hard to achieve. However, Georgiana herself represents the general population in society. Because Georgiana dies after the author portrays her as completely perfect, one can imply that perfection cannot be achieved and is only an idea fabricated by society’s leaders or governmental bodies.
Uttering heartless words to a partner about their flaws is a reflection of one’s insecurity in the relationship. The short story “The Birthmark” gives readers insight into Aylmer, a questionable scientist who fails at experiments, and his wife Georgiana, an obedient wife who fulfills her husband’s commands. Aylmer is insecure and as a result denigrates Georgiana about her birthmark to purposefully make her despise the mark. Georgiana never thought of her birthmark as a flaw because men were enchanted by her fairy-like miniature hand with a shade of crimson. However, Georgiana being the good wife that she is, agrees to become her husband’s experiment to get the birthmark removed in order to make Aylmer happy. In this story it is evident that
Yet, Georgiana has a quality about her that her husband Aylmer can hardly stand. Despite her lovely pale face, a tiny
...ection. By removing the birthmark from Georgiana’s face, Aylmer has taken away her humanity thus leading Georgiana to her death. Georgiana cannot live anymore because she is no longer a human being. Therefore claiming that science has its limits over nature and if those limits are crossed the consequences could be fatal.
The scene in question opens with Georgiana asking Aylmer to recall if he had dreamt of the birthmark. Georgiana’s high self-consciousness and shame felt from Aylmer’s horrified stares motivates her to confront Aylmer. At first, Aylmer denies the suggestion but then decides to admit he had dreamt of it. Before Aylmer can reveal his nightmare, Georgiana expresses a desire to rid herself of the mark. In doing this, Georgiana describes the birthmark using negative terms such as “fatal birthmark” and “stain.” Prior to her request, Georgiana had described the birthmark as “a charm.” This shift in perspective is key to both the plot of the story and its implications for
The story’s tone is one of romantic controversy, a dilemma at a high level of existence. The scientist’s love for his craft competes very intensively with his newfound love for his wife. It is also very psychological, strictly dealing with the raw mind of its subjects as if the ominous narrator told the story from inside their mind, rather than observe it from the outside. He describes the processes that one may take to reach a certain degree of knowledge and to find the elixir of life, which is described in this story as the ultimate goal of the scientific community. Also, the narrator is very opinionated about events in the story.
In the short story, “The Birth-Mark” by Nathaniel Hawthorne, we get to experience the lengths of which someone will go to achieve perfection. But, in the case of this story, this perfection is not a goal for themselves but in someone else. Aylmer is a highly respected man that has delved into many regions of science and his wife, Georgiana, would be considered a classically ideal woman except for one thing, the birth-mark that stains her left cheek. Aylmer’s obsession with his wife’s perfection leads the couple down a very dangerous path intermingling loving devotion and the misuse of science for one’s selfish desires.
The character of Aylmer can be seen as a sinister, mad scientist who constantly fights with nature in order to attain human perfection. From the beginning of the story Aylmer’s fight with nature can be seen. “We know not whether Aylmer possessed this degree of faith in man’s ultimate control over nature. He had devoted himself, however, too unreservedly to scientific studies ever to be weakened from them by any second passion” (Hawthorne 218). This shows Aylmer’s passion in trying to discover the secrets of nature and being able to master it. Aylmer’s obsession with perfection and defying nature can be seen again when he is discussing the mark on Georgiana’s cheek. “’No, dearest Georgiana, you came so nearly perfect from the hand of Nature, that this slightest possible defect, which we hesitate whether to term a defect or a beauty, shocks me, as being the visible mark of earthly imperfection’” (Hawthorne 219). This shows Aylmer is not trying to remove the mark as an act of love, but instead trying to remove the mark because it symbolizes a stain of imperfection by nature. Aylmer is obsessed in his efforts to remove the mark and his motivations are not to make Ge...
Every man before has always complimented Georgiana on her sweet imperfection. People would tell her all the time that true beauty was in that little blemish. Aylmer, being the man of Science wanted to change what nature had created. Typically, we all know better than to go against Nature, but not Aylmer. Georgiana finally agreed to let her husband remove the birthmark due to a frightening dream Aylmer had encountered. Aylmer started working on a potion to remove Georgiana 's birthmark. As soon as Georgiana sipped the potion, she suddenly falls into a deep coma-like state. The birthmark magically disappears from Georgina 's face. However, as the birthmark fades away, so does Georgina 's life. Hawthorne uses Georgiana 's character to symbolize beauty in this story. Georgiana is already made perfect in the eyes of Nature and all other men, expect Aylmer. Aylmer, representing Science, tries to change Georgiana 's beauty that Nature has created. Aylmer was successful in removing the birthmark, but unsuccessful in keeping Georgiana alive. Aylmer was too intertwined in Science to realize that Georgiana was perfectly made by Nature. Nature paid Aylmer back for trying to correct Georgiana 's face by taking the life of his beloved
One of the main themes discussed in this story is perfection which was evident by Aylmer obsessing over making his wife perfect by removing the birthmark off
Though she consents to having her birthmark removed, Georgiana’s initial reaction to Aylmer’s shock at her facial defect is to redden “with momentary anger” before dissolving into tears (645); though her secondary reaction fits into the stereotypical female response to a physical critique, the fact that her initial reaction is anger implies that she is more than merely a docile housewife. However, her actions still reflect those of a docile housewife; when he confines her to a dimly lit apartment, she acquiesces solemnly and quietly spends her days doing as Aylmer