The Concept Of Unrealistic Expectations In The Birth Mark By Nathaniel Hawthorne

Nowadays everyone is hyper-focused on their appearance. From wearing designer clothes to updating social media, our lives constantly revolve around impressing each other., instead of appreciating each other’s uniqueness. The characteristic of Romanticism I chose is, “Aspiration after the sublime and the wonderful, that which transcends mundane limits.” The author that I thought best represents this characteristic is Nathaniel Hawthorne.
In “The Birth Mark” Nathaniel Hawthorne explores the idea of unrealistic expectations that can never be satisfied. The story revolves around a man and a wife, Aylmer and Georgiana, who experience trouble with their relationship because Aylmer cannot overlook and seemingly insignificant blemish on his wife’s

face. This complication leads to Georgiana feeling guilty and begs Aylmer to remove it. After days of laborious experimentation and potion making, the blemish removal potion is perfected and served to the Georgiana. Momentarily after her consumption, the now-perfect Georgiana passes and her soul is sent to heaven. Her last words linger, “My poor Aylmer! You have aimed loftily! You have done nobly! Do not repent that, with so high and pure a feeling, you have rejected the best the world could offer. I am dying!” (Hawthorne) At this moment, Aylmer understood what he had done. From the start, his pursuit for perfection was doomed because perfection is supposed to be only in heaven. I believe Hawthorne was trying to show that Georgiana’s beauty was more valuable with her imperfections, as is everyone’s.
We are all always striving to be perfect, but our flaws are what make us who we are. No perfect creature has ever walked this planet, which is the way it is supposed to be. Aylmer set his expectations too high and ended up with unsatisfactory results. If we continue to set our expectations too high, we will miss the wonderful things sitting right in front of us.