The Birthmark

3 Pages 751 Words

In “The Birthmark”, Hawthorne described a young scientist who killed his own wife by pursuing a “perfect future” (1) while trying to remove a birthmark on his wife’s face. This becomes an obsession to Alymer and this obsession proves to be fatal to Gerogiana.
The Birthmark on Georgiana face was not seen as ugly but merely as an imperfection to her overall beauty. It was the birth mark that made her human. “Nature, in one shape or another, stamps ineffaceable on all her reproductions”(2). When Alymer married Gerogiana he put little thought into the birth mark that was on her face. During the marriage Alymer became obsessed with the mark and believed it to be her “liability to sin, sorrow, decay, and death”(2). Alymer becomes increasingly obsessed with the mark and Gerorgiana tells Alymer to “do whatever necessary to remove the birth mark no matter what the consequences”(3). She tells him this instead of going off and finding someone who was perfect in his eyes. This is her downfall. She is willing to risk her life for her perfection so that her husband will have a peace of mind. She would do “what ever necessary to relieve her husband from his misery caused by her birth mark”(3). Some believed that Georgiana’s birthmark was actually the source of her life. That the mark on her face was connected to her blood line that kept her body going with the blood necessary to live. The birth mark was “In the centre of Georgiana’s left cheek,…a singular mark, deeply interwoven, as it were with the texture and substance of her face”(2). The birth mark “serves as the grasp that nature holds on her” (2)
Nature has put a balance on all life. Georgiana was perfect in every way except for her birth mark. Nature put the birth mark on her to keep the balance of life. When Alymer attempted to remove the birth mark he altered the balance. “Since nature can not be changed or altered…punishmen...