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An Analysis of The Birth-Mark by Nathaniel
Hawthorne
As in all of Hawthorne's writings when one finishes reading his
stories you come up with more questions than answers. No other
writer makes you question like Hawthorne. The philosophical
question of what is true perfection and can it be achieved
through physical means or is it a state of the spirit is the
heart of Nathaniel Hawthorne's story The
Birth-Mark.
Aylmer, the main character of the story is a brilliant
scientist/alchemist. He posses a belief in "man's ultimate
control over nature", and thinks there is nothing man can't
master or achieve. His obsession with his wife's small
imperfect birth mark, which resembles a hand, begins shortly
after they become married. Aylmer is fixated with his wife
Georgiana's perfection; he believes that in order for him to
experience perfect love, he must have a perfect woman to love.
His obsession gradually becomes Georgiana's obsession at which
point she becomes so distraught that she tells Aylmer "Remove
this dreadful hand, or take my wretched life". Aylmer sits down
and tells his wife that there may be risk involved but he is
confident that he shall remove the mark and his beautiful bride
will be perfect in every way. He sets up comfortable
surroundings for his wife described as "beautiful apartments,
not unfit to be the secluded abode of a lovely woman". After
the alchemist attempts and fails numerous methods for removing
the mark from his wife he develops a "perfect elixir" that will
without a doubt cure her and make her completely perfect. He
administers this elixir and to his great delight sees the
cursed hand start to fade and disappear; only to have his wife
tell him "Aylmer-dearest Aylmer-I am dying!"
Georgiana achieved perfection in Aylmer's eyes in her dying
moments; so did he Aylmer achieve what he set out to
accomplish? I believe he did. Aylmer was a man who loved his
work; he loved science more than he could ever love any human
being. He was a man riddled with his inadequacies and
imperfections, and as a result of his low view of himself, he
demanded perfection in his wife. This is exhibited when
Georgiana is reading out of his ledger which is described as a
"sad confession, and continual exemplification, of the
short-comings of the composite man". Aylmer was a self serving
individual whose only goal is to make his wife perfect for his
own sake or perhaps for science's sake. All these things being
true; I do believe he loved Georgiana, and in his own bizarre
way he wanted her to be perfect for her sake, because he
believed that she deserved no less. In his quest for her
perfection (which is impossible in the purely material sense)
he destroyed her.
Aylmer's wife Georgiana was at first a happy woman; married to
someone she believed to be a great man, until one day her
husband tells her that the mark upon her cheek might be
removed. This of course is the beginning of her as well as her
husband's obsession with removing her one imperfection. The
first thing that stuck out in my mind about Georgiana was her
undying love, loyalty and desire to please her husband. This
was very much a mark of the time. The fact that she would
rather die than meet his disapproval I found significant. She
seemed to me, to be the ultimate exemplification of love and
unselfishness, to an insane level, which is exhibited in the
line "You have aimed loftily! ? You have done nobly! Do not
repent, that, with so high and pure a feeling, you have
rejected the best earth could offer." Georgiana does not feel
ill towards her husband because she believes his feelings to be
those of pure love.
The Birthmark touches on similar themes as Marry Shelly's
Frankenstein in the idea that humans can possess a supernatural
power to undo and make perfect what is imperfect. Aylmer does
not believe in God or the natural laws he created, which is
obvious by his belief in man's ultimate control over nature.
God created man as a part of nature and we are not above nature
but integrated with it. Just as today we are fighting the
ethical issues of an increased understanding of science versus
what we know to be natural law. Hawthorne's story The Birth
Mark is just as relevant today as it was when written in 1843
if not more so. Today we are struggling with issues such as
cloning, stem cell research and other aspects of science that
seem in contradiction with God's and nature's laws. If
confronted with the modern day issues we now face Hawthorne's
opinions would probably be the same as he has set forth in this
short story; that when man tries to accomplish what he was not
intended to accomplish disaster will be the ultimate result.
The hand was not only a birthmark but an integral part of
Georgiana's soul, and removing this mark in the quest for
perfection was her demise.
Hawthorne is telling us that humanity is imperfect, there is no
perfection in the physical sense, and the only way to achieve
perfection is through the spirit in death. The Christian
parallel is clear here; none of us are perfect and the only way
to become perfect is to become one with God, in death, which
results in our going to heaven. This goes back to what makes us
who we are; we are not pure flesh and blood, our psyches and
our true selves go so much further beyond that.
Nathaniel Hawthorne's short story The Birth Mark touches on
philosophical and ethical issues valid in his time, as well as
ours. His work makes us think about what is perfection and is
it desirable in the physical state. In the end we discover that
if we overstep our bounds and try to make perfect that which is
imperfect, death will be the final result, for only in death
through God, can we achieve perfection.
by John Schlismann - 12th July 2008
Back to Top
John Schlismann has an interest in American Literature. To read
the Birthmark goto:
http://www.online-literature.com/hawthorne/125/
Source: http://www.creativewriter.me.uk
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