The Birthmark Literary Analysis

In the short story, “The Birthmark,” author Nathaniel Hawthorne creates a scientist named Aylmer who struggles with his obsession of an imperfect birthmark on his wife’s face. Aylmer lives in the late eighteenth century and has devoted his life to studying how nature works. Aylmer finally decides to give his work a break and marry a beautiful woman named Georgiana who has a red, hand-shaped birthmark on her cheek. The men think it is beautiful and the women despise it. Georgiana has always liked her birthmark, until one day Aylmer tells her he finds it unsightly and he thinks she would be perfect without it. Georgiana now thinks she is ugly and Aylmer sees her as imperfect. This comment devastates Georgiana deeply, leading her to ask Aylmer

to discover a way to remove the birthmark. Aylmer creates an elixir and gives it to Georgiana to drink, and when the birthmark begins to fade, he becomes overwhelmed with joy. Georgiana then tells Aylmer she is dying, and as the last bit of the birthmark disappears, she dies. This story proves that human perfection is impossible and making an attempt to achieve perfection is futile.