Alrashidi 1

Abdullah Alrashidi

Professor Dr. Carol Pulham

Course ENG 200

11 March 2021

Paper 3 (Fiction)

"The Birthmark" by Nathaniel Hawthorne

"The Birthmark" is the short story of Nathaniel Hawthorne. This story reminds the style

of another writer Edger Allen Poe. Although his stories are more horrific this story also ends

with somewhat negative kind of feelings for the main character of the story. There is no rush of

characters and the whole story is based on just two characters. One is Georgiana and the other is

Aylmer. Both of them are husband and wife and the whole story is about the crimson birthmark

on the left cheek of Georgiana. The impact of the story is psychological. Hawthorne portrays a

very different type of mind just like Poe as in his story exists. The character of Aylmer displays

an obsessive kind of attitude in his dealings with not only objects but also with his wife. This

story has some different themes which exhibit the psychological state of Aylmer in the story.

These themes of the story "The Birthmark" are the obsessive desire for perfection, the fight with

nature, taking continuous failure as success, ignorance for Georgiana’s love, and the last

important theme of the story is Aylmer’s foolishness.

First of all, obsessive desire for perfection is the essential conflicting theme of the story.

This divulges when Aylmer sees the birthmark of the left cheek Georgiana’s. It is explained in

the story as “With the morning twilight Aylmer opened his eyes upon his wife's face and

recognized the symbol of imperfection” (Hawthorne). The word imperfection for just a mark on
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the cheek and a mark which is natural sounds strange. But for Aylmer, it was not just the sign of

imperfection rather he decides to eliminate that from his wife’s face to make her beauty perfect.

John Lammers in his article "Powers’ Eve Tempted: Sculpture and ‘The Birth-Mark’" states that

“Aylmer sees it in a more comprehensively negative way as a sign of Georgiana’s ‘liability to

sin, sorrow, decay, and death’ (Lammers).” Due to this mentality, he was anxious to remove it.

Removing a birthmark is not an easy job. He was not thinking about the pain and hurt of

Georgiana rather convincing her for the treatment of removal of the birthmark. The noteworthy

point is that Aylmer was a scientist and he will himself treat her. His negative psyche does not

allow him to accept Georgiana in his married life as she is and he was forced because of the evil

nature that he desired for a clear face of his wife without any mark. Otherwise, he feels a

problem in his marital relationship such as “Her husband tenderly kissed her cheek—her right

cheek—not that which bore the impress of the crimson hand” (Hawthorne). This whole

description can be summed up that in obsession for a perfect beauty of his wife he Aylmer

becomes blind to his wife’s pain and without that he seems uncomfortable with his marital

connection with his wife.

The second important theme of the story is the fight with nature. Aylmer becomes ready

to remove the birthmark of Georgiana and considers it as a defect of nature. For instance, he

talks to his wife Georgiana and considers it a victory if he corrected the issue. He said that “what

will be my triumph when I shall have corrected what Nature left imperfect in her fairest work!”

(Hawthorne). He forgets that a natural mark is just like the part of the body and harming any part

of the body whether small or big, is a very hurtful process. But his behavior again shows

Aylmer's problematic personality. A normal human being can be indifferent to such a thing but

an extremist like Aylmer makes it his duty to remove at any cost whether he disturbs Georgiana
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mentally or hurts physically whereas Georgiana warns him about it by saying “’ I know not what

may be the cost to both of us to rid me of this fatal birthmark. Perhaps its removal may cause

cureless deformity; or it may be the stain goes as deep as life itself’” (Hawthorne). Instead of

considering her fear and warning, Aylmer remained firm on his decision and make her silent by

saying that he is “‘convinced of the perfect practicability of its removal’ (Hawthorne)”. It is a

surprising situation that an ill feeling is more important for Aylmer than his loving wife and he

becomes ready to fight against nature to make his wife perfect and end this natural mark from

her left cheek.

The third significant theme is taking continuous failure as success and still considers

himself perfect who can easily remove Georgiana’s birthmark. His success story was disclosed

by Georgiana in the story as she was checking his previous record of experiments in the

laboratory. There she came to know that “Much as he had accomplished, she could not but

observe that his most splendid successes were almost invariably failures if compared with the

ideal at which he aimed” (Hawthorne). Due to these continuous failures, Aylmer should not

make Georgiana his experimental object rather he should realize that it is insane. But he does not

learn anything from it.

Another vital theme of the story is the ignorance of Aylmer regarding Georgiana’s love

and care. She is a very obedient lady and loves Aylmer. When she sees that Aylmer is firm in his

decision, she becomes willing the remove her birthmark. She was well aware of the pain and

problem caused by this procedure. Still, she gives her consent for surgery. Georgiana said that

“Danger is nothing to me; for life, while this hateful mark makes me the object of your horror

and disgust, … remove this dreadful hand, or take my wretched life!” (Hawthorne). She loves

him very much and just for him she agrees to this operation. However, the worst point is that
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Aylmer who was ready to make her perfect by removing the mark was unable to understand her

deep love for him as her love and care for her husband makes her willing to lie on the death bed.

It is true because he took her life and even at the time of death she was caring for Aylmer. She

said, "‘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 earth could offer’” (Hawthorne).

Aylmer does not care for her love and his ignorance makes his wife die. She involves in this

process just because he was not feeling comfortable with her in his relations such as “Her

husband tenderly kissed her cheek—her right cheek—not that which bore the impress of the

crimson hand” (Hawthorne). Aylmer hates that birthmark on her left cheek and in that hate, he

was that much blind that he sacrifices and ignored his wife’s love.

The last essential theme of the story is Aylmar’s foolishness. First of all, his inappropriate

reaction when he sees the birthmark on his wife’s face is the best example of Aylmer’s

foolishness. His decision to operate for the removal of that birthmark as well as his trust in his

success after a list of failures was also examples of foolishness. Moreover, his obsession for the

removal of birthmark and ignorance for the love of a loving and caring wife is also his

foolishness. Lastly, his focus was on the removal of the birthmark and not to save his wife’s life.

In the end, it can be concluded that the short story “The Birthmark” is a story of a couple

that represents the bitter reality of the earth. This story throws light upon the psychological state

of mind of the main character Aylmer. His behavior is abnormal as his wife bears everything in

his love. Although she was known to the severity of the operating process of the birthmark, still

she agrees to the satisfaction of her husband. Thus, this story has different themes which include

the obsessive desire for perfection, the fight with nature, taking continuous failure as success,
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ignorance for Georgiana’s love, and the last important theme of the story is Aylmer’s

foolishness. It is his foolishness which forced his wife to death.

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Works Cited

Lammers, John. "Powers’ Eve Tempted: Sculpture and ‘The Birth-Mark’." Short Story Criticism,

edited by Lawrence J. Trudeau, vol. 232, Gale, 2016, pp. 168-174. Gale Literature

Criticism, link-gale-com.libproxy.ocean.edu/apps/doc/YAXCYA153345331/LCO?

u=toms86543&sid=LCO&xid=4bb20fa3. Accessed 9 Mar. 2021. Originally published in

Publications of the Arkansas Philological Association, vol. 21, no. 2, 1994, pp. 41-58.

Meyer, Michael, ed. The Compact Bedford Introduction to Literature, 12th edition.