Nathaniel+Hawthorne

The Birthmark

**The Birthmark** is a short story about a scientist named Aylmer who balances his love for science with his love for his wife Georgiana. They recently married and since then all that Aylmer can think about is Georgiana’s birthmark on her left cheek. The mark is crimson red and changes color when she blushes. The mark can be covered up by two fingers and is in the shape of a hand. Aylmer thinks that the mark is her only imperfection and he expresses that **too** her, but Georgiana thinks it’s a charm. Aylmer has a dream that if they took the birthmark off her, it takes part of her away. Then the next day, they go to a servant named Aminadab and she faints. Aylmer is yelling at Aminadab to continue with the operation and Aminadab thinks it’s a bad idea.Georgiana regains consciousness and tells Aylmer to never look at the birthmark again. Aylmer says that she does not need to hide it because it’s her only imperfection. Then Aylmer goes off to create a new potion that will remove her mark **and how it i**s the most powerful concoction in the world. Georgiana reads all of his journals and feels more in love with him. She realizes with all good things comes some bad things, or imperfections. Georgiana walks in Aylmer’s laboratory and Aylmer shows **her pot**ion. She drinks the liquid and she falls asleep. While asleep, Aylmer watches closely for changes on Georgiana's cheek. The mark starts to go away and her skin becomes very pale. Aylmer is happy with the success but Georgiana tells her husband that she is sick and is dying. Those were the last words that she tells Aylmer.

The main theme that I picked up while reading the story was the struggle with human imperfection. Aylmer throughout the story talks about how much the birthmark bugs him so much that he can't see him loving his wife fully unless it's removed. The fact that he can't look past a small thing like a birthmark shows that he does not truly love her. When you love some**one you** can look past the small things and see the things that really define a person. In his attempt to get rid of the birth mark he eventually kills her, "As the last crimson tint of the birthmark – that sole token of human imperfection – faded from her cheek, parting breath of the now perfect woman passed into the atmosphere, and her soul, lingering a moment near her husband, took its heavenward flight." This passage is saying that she is only perfect after she is dead and only the perfection of an angel can live up to the high expectations of society. In the story he is so bothered by the mark that he has nightmares about the birth mark. This shows that the birthmark is consuming his life and he can't even be a functional member of society, let alone have a decent relationship with the person he supposedly "loves." Hawthorne also shows how deeply the imperfection is rooted in society in this passage, "but the deeper went the knife, the deeper sank the hand, until at length its tiny grasp appeared to have caught hold of Georgiana’s heart; whence, however, her husband was inexorably resolved to cut or wrench it away." This was about G's **dream, this show**s in his subconscious he knows that he can’t get rid of her imperfection an she will never be perfect, yet he still tries to make her his perfect wife. He talks about how otherwise perfect she was, but that was not good enough, “but seeing her otherwise so perfect, he found this one defect grow more and more intolerable with every moment of their united lives." This shows that he acknowledges that she is otherwise perfect, but the one flaw bugs him so that it could ruin there life to day. I think this relationship is common in today’s society and depicts the ideals of many in this country. All these exert support the theme of the struggle with human imperfection.

When reading "The Birthmark" I could really relate it to the world, People are constantly judging, and giving **there** opinions on how to make **some one** better. Instead of looking at themselves, and working on themselves, they choose to gossip and focus **there** energy on superficial things that don't really have an impact on anything. A person should be judged on the things **they have t**o say, not the designer **there** wearing, or the doctor that performed **there** last plastic surgery. There are even shows and magazines that are based only on the attempt to improve a person looks, rather then help them with making them a better **persons** soul. People at our school laugh at others because **there** hair is ugly, or **there** not wearing the coolest styles. This world would be a much better place if people didn't look at the superficial things, and look at what someone has to offer intellectually. In the book A was trying to make his wife perfect when no one can ever be perfect. Instead of trying to improve other looks, we should be trying to make ourselves better people. __The fact is that no can ever be perfect because once you change yourself, you make yourself less perfect in a different aspect. We should all focus on making ourselves better, not perfect.__ A great observation...changing to please others compromises ourselves.