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Rochara Michael
Ms.Angela Jacobs
Eng 132
9 September 17

Analysis of "The Birthmark"

Nathaniel Hawthorne's short story "The Birthmark" shows the foolishness of endeavoring to
create a perfect being, and by doing so, intruding upon the realm of the divine. Hawthorne
conveys this message through the story of the scientist Aylmer and his beautiful wife, Georgiana,
who has a minuscule, hand-shaped birthmark on her left cheek. Aylmer becomes obsessed with
this mark that keeps his wife from being perfect, and resolves to remove the mark using his
science. Throughout the telling of "The Birthmark" Hawthorne uses symbols to further illustrate
the rapacity of man, and the barriers between the earthly, sinful world and heaven.

The flower that Aylmer shows Georgiana depicts the elusiveness of perfection. When Georgiana
tried to pluck the flower "the whole plant suffered a blight, its leaves turning coal-black as if by
the agency of fire" (Hawthorne, 308). Georgiana, a flawed individual, attempts to obtain a
perfect flower, but instead causes the flower to die, for Georgiana's touch represents the
imperfections inherent in all human beings. When Aylmer muttered "There was too powerful a
stimulus" (308), the stimulus he mentions alludes to the flaw within Georgiana. The flower is
continually dying to show that an object as perfect as the flower cannot live or suffer the touch of
the imperfect.

The figures that danced before Georgiana describe how the imagination concocts fanciful goals
that seem reasonable but later proves to be beyond the purview of men. These images "were
perfectly represented, but with that bewitching yet indescribable difference which makes a
picture, an image, or a shadow so much more attractive than the original" (308). This refers to
certain goals that, like mirages, appear solid and within reach, but later proves to be illusory.
Although the scientific community views Aylmer as one of the best of his field, he failed to
discover how Nature created man while succeeding in other areas; the corollary that can be
drawn from his failures pertain to any sublime goals in which mankind attempts to create the
perfect being. Just as the figures are bodiless illusions, the goals of Aylmer and those like him
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are unattainable and without substance.

Hawthorne's use of mirrors to remark on the soul is present when Georgiana looks into her
reflection in a polished plate of metal. Georgiana found the "features of the portrait blurred and
indefinable; while the minute figure of a hand appeared where the cheek should have been"
(308). The plate reflected Georgiana's birthmark, the only thing keeping her from obtaining
unearthly perfection. Although Georgiana did not know the birthmark's true role as an indicator
of the state of her soul, she was troubled by the hand because it confirmed the presence of a flaw
within her. When the mark is removed there will be no distinguishable image in the reflection,
for, having obtained perfection, she will transcend the earthly world.

The birthmark on Georgiana's cheek, the object of Aylmer and Georgiana's mutual hate,
symbolizes the sins of man. Aylmer states that the birthmark was "the visible mark of earthly
imperfection" (301). These sins and flaws separates mankind from the beings in heaven and can
only be purged in death. Georgiana is aware that death, not Aylmer's science, will remove this
birthmark from her cheek. She wishes to "put off this birthmark of mortality by relinquishing
mortality itself in preference to any other mode" (314). In the end, Aylmer does accomplish his
goal of creating the perfect being but at the cost of his wife's life. Georgiana obtains perfection
only at the ascension of her spirit.

Hawthorne demonstrates at once both the inability of men to stay in their place in the universal
hierarchy, by trespassing on the secrets of Nature and God, and the futility of such an attempt
through "The Birthmark". Georgiana represents the closest state to perfection that man can aspire
to but Aylmer is not content. He strives for perfection in his wife, a goal that, if successful, will
result in his losing his wife, for the perfect cannot exist in the earthly world. Instead, at her death
Georgiana's soul will be purged of her sins and finally allowed to achieve perfection.

Works Cited
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