Perspectives of the Obsession with Imperfections

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A perfect person does not obsess, does not fail, does not sin, and does not exist. The whole universe is imperfect. We fall, rise, and learn. Imperfections are traits that characterized human beings. Flaws make us mortals and imperfect, and we must accept them as part of who we are. Because of our humanity, we cannot change the course of life or actions of our nature. Most of the time, we think of our flaws and imperfections as things we want to get rid of but instead, we must see them as divine gifts of what God gave us. Nathaniel Hawthorne was born on 4 July 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts during the puritan time. Hawthorne’s works reflect his life experiences growing as a Puritan. Puritans believed in utopia, the perfect world, and the perfect life in order to please their God and receive his grace and go to heaven. Although, the protagonists of “The Birthmark” and The Minister’s Black Veil” short stories have obsessions with different type of human imperfections, they are both influenced to achieve perfection.

Aylmer, the protagonist, in “The Birthmark” becomes selfish as a result of his obsession to remove a miniscule birthmark from his beautiful wife’s face in order to achieve perfection. As a consequence of a small and distinct birthmark on his wife’s left cheek, Aylmer frightened, thinks the birthmark is evil that symbolizes sorrow, decay, and death. Although, the birthmark is benign and harmless, that only denotes the flaws that nature has left on a human being, to Aylmer it represents his wife's imperfection, which needs to be fixed and extracted. As a result of attempting to remove the birthmark in order to achieve perfection, Aylmer blinds himself and does not think of the consequences. He dreams of the fatal outcome th...

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...efuse to accept that humans are imperfect leads them to their ultimate downfall. We must accept the things we cannot change. Human beings sin because we are not perfect; we have flaws that nobody can change or remove. We can always improve to be better, but never change human nature to be perfect. Extreme feelings become obsessions and obsessions can become painfully obvious that influence to fatal outcomes. At the end, negative reactions to personal acts and behaviors can become a regret of guilt.

Works Cited

Hawthorne, Nathaniel. “The Birthmark.” The Compact Bedford Introduction to

Literature. Ed. Michael Meyer. 10th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2014. 333-343. Print.

Hawthorne, Nathaniel. “The Minister’s Black Veil.” The Compact Bedford Introduction

to Literature. Ed. Michael Meyer. 10th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2014. 324-332. Print.

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