The Birthmark

3 Pages 682 Words

Vanity and pride are often considered major sins of the flesh. In Hawthorne’s “The Birthmark”, vanity and pride play major roles in the downfall of the characters, especially Georgiana. Georgiana is responsible for her own fate to a limited extent due to her husband’s vanity, the time period she lived in, and her own soft personality. The reader is able to follow Georgiana’s downfall throughout the story until the final climax of her personality flaws and Aylmer’s sins ends in her death.
The primary cause of Georgiana’s downfall was one that was out of her control. She mainly fell victim to her husband’s vanity. Georgiana’s birthmark was a part of her and she was accustomed to seeing it upon her cheek. She received compliments about it. The fact that the birthmark was emblazoned on her cheek had never been a cause of concern for her. For Aylmer, the birthmark was a flaw that grew more egregious with every passing day. Aylmer was so concerned with Georgiana’s only physical flaw that his vanity took over his rational thinking. Georgiana fell victim to his vanity due to the fact that she wanted to be pleasing to her husband, and the only way for her to be pleasing to Aylmer was to be rid of the birthmark.
Georgiana also fell victim to the time period in which she existed. In Georgiana’s society a woman was subject to her husband. Aylmer wanted to remove the birthmark; Georgiana would not refute him. The birthmark made Georgiana an abomination to her husband. This played heavily enough on Georgiana’s psyche that she began to become self-conscious about the mark.

Georgiana is so desperate to fit her husband’s ideal that she is willing to give her life, if it means the birthmark would be refuted and she would be perfect in Aylmer’s eyes. This factor was somewhat out of Georgiana’s control. Women of her time were conditioned to be complacent; therefore, she felt compelled to do her husband...