The Birthmark

6 Pages 1442 Words

Individualism
In the story “The Birthmark” by Nathaniel Hawthorne there is an underlying theme of individualism. The character Aylmer is a scientific person. The fact that the whole story is about removing a physical flaw from Georgiana’s face when she is obviously beautiful demonstrates the degree of individualism between men and women. Men’s lives are public and open to society and the lives of women are private.
As the story progresses Aylmer sees the birth mark as progressively more repugnant when he originally found Georgiana beautiful. Aylmer only sees Georgiana’s superficial beauty and no longer sees her for her inner beauty, the beauty of nature. Aylmer is a man, who in his time had a public life. The lives of women were seen differently than the lives of men. Women’s lives tend to be more private. The theme of individualism as is portrayed in “The Birthmark” is much different than today’s. Hawthorne is setting out to warn people that the rules of individualism can be harmful if used irresponsibly. Because Aylmer’s public life is to be seen by all, he is ashamed of the birthmark on his wife’s face. By wanting to remove Georgina’s birthmark he was attempting to redeem him self at any cost.
Hawthorne also wants the reader to understand that when men take the role of god into their own hands. With this power the results are usually disastrous. Aylmer and Georgiana are talking about a potion that has the power to postpone death indefinitely,

and in her disbelief, she says,
“Aylmer are you in earnest?” Asked Georgiana, looking at him in amazement and fear; “it is a terrible thing to possess such power, or even to dream of possessing it (Hawthorne, 1963, p. 211)!”
This theory of man playing God that Hawthorne points out has been a part of man’s public nature from the beginning of time.
There is always a price to pay for individualism. In “The Birthmark” Aylmer and ...