The Birthmark Character Analysis

Georgiana knows the strain this is putting their marriage. Georgiana begun to contemplate the removal of the birth-mark as well, "Aylmer," resumed Georgiana, solemnly, "I know not what may be the cost to both of us to rid me of this fatal birthmark. Perhaps its removal may cause cureless deformity; or it may be the stain goes as deep as life itself. Again: do we know that there is a possibility, on any terms, of unclasping the firm gripe of this little hand which was laid upon me before I came into the world?" Aylmer assured her "Dearest Georgiana, I have spent much thought upon the subject," hastily interrupted Aylmer. "I am convinced of the perfect practicability of its

In “The Birthmark” we first learn about the main character named Aylmer. He is fascinated with science. “He has devoted himself, however, too unreservedly to scientific studies ever to be weaned from them by any second passion” (Hawthorne 952) He eventually finds love with his wife Georgianna, but there is something about her he just will not seem to take much longer. Georgianna has a red birthmark on her cheek which is the shape of a small hand. While she thinks it is beautiful, the most important person in her life doesn’t feel the same way. In fact, Aylmer is truly disgusted and in shock by her mark, claiming it is a “visible mark of earthly imperfection” (Hawthorne 953). Finally telling his wife how he feels, Georgianna is in disbelief. She is upset, hurt, and confused, even questioning their marriage as she tells him “You cannot love what shocks you!” (Hawthorne 953). The last thing she would have thought is that the person she planned to spend the rest of her life with doesn’t see her beauty mark the way she does.

Georgiana had always lived with the birthmark, and was quite fond of its charm. Many people in the town believe it was a fairy’s handprint left to sway all hearts; to them the mark only magnified her appeal. The mark’s charm had rarely been questioned by anyone other than the jealous women of the town, and its peculiar nature had once intrigued Aylmer and amplified his attraction to Georgiana. He begged for her hand in marriage, but soon after they were wed, he queried whether Georgiana had ever considered having the birthmark removed. She was hurt by the implication that the mark depreciated her and grew upset with her husband. As time passed, Aylmer continued to stare at the mark, unable to keep his eyes from wandering to it. This continued until Georgiana was no longer able to ignore the way his eyes were always fixated on this sole imperfection, the crimson hand that kept him up at night and plagued his dreams. She asked Aylmer to remove the mark, or take her life because she no longer wanted to live if she had to live with the mark. She preferred death to the harsh scrutiny from her husband.

Once Georgiana also begins to view her birthmark as an imperfection, just like Aylmer does, she begins to hate it and demands it be removed. “’Remove it, remove it, whatever be the cost, or we shall both go mad!’” (Hawthorne 21). Georgiana is sacrificing everything she can in order for this birthmark to be removed, even death. Aylmer warns her of the dangers of performing such a surgery but she refuses to think it over and believes she is “most fit to die” (Hawthorne 21). Of all mortals, she believes that she has reached her potential in the world and there is no more use for her on the world unless she is perfect, with no birthmark and no imperfections.

Georgiana’s birthmark disgusted Aylmer in way where he begins to reject her in every way. Thought their life could have been a sweet and romantic life, turns into a nightmare when Aylmer becomes obsessed with removing a small birthmark on Georgiana’s cheek. Aylmer doesn’t just love science but he is obsessed with it. His hope is very high when it comes to using science to remove her birthmark, which to her the birthmark are like her charm. There are many kind of symbol that symbolize a person of who they are and it might have a connection to their life, but for Aylmer, that mark on his wife cheek is awful and he shudders at the sight of it.

Hawthorne achieves this same task in the character of Georgiana in "The Birthmark." Georgiana, too, is presented as an ideal specimen of womanhood. She is beautiful, intelligent, and devoted to her husband, the alchemist, Aylmer. She would be absolute perfection, except for one flaw: a birthmark in the shape of a fairy-sized handprint on her left cheek. While those who love Georgiana attest that the mark is a symbol of the "magic endowments that were to give her such sway over all hearts," Aylmer and her detractors regard it as a "bloody hand" that belies "his wifeâs liability to sin, sorrow, decay, and death" (Hawthorne, "The Birthmark" 119-20). Hawthorne continues to impart Aylmerâs inner feelings of shock and horror over Georgianaâs single physical flaw, gradually leading his audience to share his disgust for the dreadful

The topic of nature and its mysteries come back to fruition as he attempts to obtain perfection by removing his love’s imperfection. In this passage, Aylmer confirms the belief that the birthmark is a symbol of earthly imperfection rather than a charm. He states the prominence of the mark on Georgiana’s face and the utter shock that he undergoes due to the mere presence of the symbol. Aylmer is obsessed with nature’s mysteries and hopes to control entities that are surely out of his reach. When referring to the birthmark he states, “Ah, upon another face it might (be a charm), but never on yours”

The birthmark symbolizes being mortal, or mortality. The narrator use the birthmark as a leeway to show that everything, and everyone, has flaws. No one is perfect, and even though you might not have a birthmark, or something that sets you off and makes you different from someone else there's still no one in this world that is the same as you. It doesn't just have to be an external flaw though, you can have internal flaws as well. If you're rude, selfish, and uncaring then that's a flaw too, and that's what the narrator was trying to explain to the reader. Even though Georgiana is almost completely perfect she has the hand-shaped mark on her cheek that sets her off from everyone else, and that blemish is what makes her who she is. It makes

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story, “The Birthmark”, demonstrates how Georgiana’s image of herself changed throughout the story. At the beginning of the story, Georgiana felt as if her birthmark was beautiful, but as the story progresses, she begins to view that the mark as an imperfection. When Aylmer first addressed Georgiana about her birthmark appearing as an imperfection, Georgiana stated, “To tell you the truth it has been so often called a charm that I was simple enough to imagine it might be so" (“The Birthmark”). She had always viewed her mark as a unique and positive addition to her beauty.

Aylmer has not only sickening distaste for Georgiana’s birthmark but also an obsession of control (even when it comes to things he can’t control). Ayler goes so far to control Georgiana’s near perfect looks but to also control nature itself, and it wasn’t Aylmer who had to pay for his sins at the end of this story. Georgiana dies at the end of “The Birthmark” due to her husband’s ambitions and it took seconds near death for Georgiana to tell Aylmer how selfish he was to try to control a higher power. “With so high and pure a feeling, you have rejected the best the earth could offer. Aylmer, my dearest Aylmer, I am dying!”

Aylmer see Georgiana's birthmark as a flaw that stops her from being a perfectly beautiful women,however as a scientist aylmer thinks he's some sort of god and believes he has some kind of power to remove this imperfection , As his wife Georgiana is willing to let him remove it, She then

Portrayed as spiritual and intellectual in contrast with his crude laboratory assistant Aminadab, Aylmer becomes disturbingly obsessed with a birthmark on his wife’s countenance. The plot of the short story revolves around the man’s attempt in removing the mark, which results in the death of Georgiana. In the very beginning of the story, the audience discovers through the narration that Aylmer views his wife’s birthmark as more than a congenital, benign irregularity on the skin. In reality, the primary reason why he becomes severely obsessed with the birthmark is because in his eyes, the mark symbolizes something. Aylmer proceeds to further clarify his inner thoughts by replying to his wife, “This slightest possible defect, which we hesitate whether to term a defect or a beauty, shocks me, as being the visible mark of earthly imperfection” (Mays 340). Although Georgiana is initially mortified and even goes as far to question the existence of the marriage between them, the narration later sheds light and explains that the precise reason why Aylmer is excessively bothered with the birthmark is because he regards Georgiana as virtually the embodiment of perfection. As a consequence, perceiving a flaw on his wife’s image that clashes with the concept of her beauty inevitably leads him to feel aggrieved and begin to judge the birthmark as a dangerous blemish residing on her skin.

The birthmark may represent a variety of things, as the narrator states that Aylmer views the birthmark as a reference to Georgiana’s “liability to sin, sorrow, decay, and death” (Par. 8). Aylmer is deathly afraid of the birthmark and what he feels it means, so much so that he even has a nightmare about it that foreshadows Georgiana’s later death. After Georgiana confronts Aylmer about his nightmare about her birthmark, she decides that she must allow Aylmer to do whatever it costs to rid her of the birthmark so she won’t feel tortured by his disgusted gaze. Georgiana herself even foreshadows her own death when she says that they both don’t know “the cost...to rid [her of the] fatal birthmark” and that the “stain [of the birthmark] goes as deep as life itself” (Par. 16). When Georgiana finally drinks the potion that Aylmer concocts to rid her of the birthmark, the birthmark slowly begins to fade away in the same way that a “rainbow [fades] out of the sky” (Par. 84).

Aylmer is absolutely disgusted with the birthmark and thinks that if she got rid of it she would be a perfect women. In Georgiana’s eyes she says, “To tell you the truth it has been so often called a charm that I was simple enough to

She had the qualities to become married, she married a scientist to prevent some financial hardship, and she was the epitome to the perfect woman, except for her birthmark. Other women of that time period thought of her birthmark as disgusting and revolting; they were just jealous because Georgiana was capturing all the men’s attention instead of it being put on them. The men of this time period flaunted over Georgiana and thought of her birthmark as something special that makes her different; they all were fascinated by it. Aylmer thought of the birthmark to be Georgiana’s opening to mortality and the introduction to her imperfectness so she started to imagine it as a negative image being placed on her as well. To fit in with the wifely roles, Georgiana dedicated herself to her husband in more ways than one.