"The Birthmark" and Humanity

While there has never been anything close to human perfection, there will still always be curiosity over whether it could be achieved. “The Birthmark”, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, is a short story that takes this truth to the extreme. “The Birthmark” focuses on a scientist’s obsession with removing his wife’s only flaw, therefore creating human perfection. “The Birthmark” shows the clear unattainability of perfection, and the danger of attempting to tamper with humanity, through its dark characters, abrupt symbolization, and complex conflicts.

The two main characters of “The Birthmark” are a young couple, who are happily married at the beginning of the story, but are gradually and miserably consumed by the idea of perfection. Aylmer is a well-renowned scientist who has seemingly given up his devotion to science to marry the beautiful Georgiana. His wife is described as nearly flawless, except for a tiny birthmark on her left cheek that “bore not a little similarity to the human hand, though of the smallest pygmy size” (Hawthorne 291). As the story progresses, Aylmer becomes enamored with the idea of removing her birthmark, and it seems that his love of science quickly surpasses his love for his wife. Aylmer convinces himself that he is removing it for Georgiana’s benefit, but as he does more research and spends more time focusing on the tiny birthmark, he becomes disgusted with it, which deeply hurts her. Aylmer is tragically consumed by the absurd idea that he can make his wife “perfect”, and when he does end up “perfecting” her, she dies. Georgiana is described as lovely and self-confident, but as Aylmer gradually becomes more repulsed with her birthmark, so does she. Georgiana’s confidence quickly dissolves, and by the en...

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...r last words are “Aylmer, dearest Aylmer, I am dying!”(Hawthorne 301). None of the characters’ problems are positively resolved, but they can serve as extreme cautionary measures to the risk of tampering with human nature and imperfection.

Through its characters, symbolization, and conflicts, “The Birthmark” shows the danger of trying to create perfection. While the story’s plot seems extreme and unrealistic, the author uses the devastating events throughout it to teach a rather simple lesson, that flaws are normal and shouldn’t always be “fixed”. Aylmer’s obsession with changing humanity and creating artificial perfection causes him to reject “the best the world could offer” (Hawthorne 301).

Works Cited

Hawthorne, Nathaniel. "The Birthmark.” The Norton Introduction to Literature. Shorter 11th ed. Ed. Kelly J. Mays. New York: Norton, 2013, pp. 290-301. Print.