Examples Of Archetypes In The Birthmark

In the story “The Birthmark” by Nathaniel Hawthorne, he uses several techniques to help build his story. Hawthorne tells a story of a man of science whose name was Aylmer. He married a beautiful women named Georgiana, although she was quite beautiful she had a birthmark on her face which, in Aylmer’s eyes was an imperfection. Aylmer tries to perfect Georgiana, but in the end Aylmer’s attempts to change Georgiana causes him to lose her. Aylmer does not accept the idea of imperfections in people.

Alymer’s perception of the symbolism of the birthmark is revealed right after Georgiana’s thoughts were given. “You came so nearly perfect from the hand of Nature, that 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” (Hawthorne 212). Aylmer thought that the birthmark symbolized the imperfection of earthly things. His view was elaborated on later in the story “selecting it as the symbol of his wife’s liability to sin, sorrow, decay, and death” (Hawthorne 213). In addition to Aylmer’s view of the birthmark as a mark of earthly imperfection, he also thought of it as a symbol for his wife’s inevitable fall from near perfection as she ages.

He focuses on how wonderful and triumphant he will be once he has created the first perfect human being that he seemingly forgets that there is a great deal of danger and even the risk of death in removing Georgiana’s birthmark. Aylmer voices this prideful desire in the story, saying “‘I feel myself fully competent to render this dear cheek as faultless as its fellow; and then, most beloved, what will be my triumph when I shall have corrected what Nature left imperfect in her fairest work! Even Pygmalion, when his sculptured woman assumed life, felt not greater ecstasy than mine will be’” (Hawthorne 3). In this quote we see that he has no doubt about performing the surgery, and hints that he even looks forward to performing it so that his wife may become perfect.

Aylmer’s tragic flaw was that he seeked perfection in every aspect of his life and if a part of his life was not perfect, he had to change or fix it. Aylmer, not long after marrying Georgiana, began to complain about the birthmark that laid on her left cheek. While everyone else in the community thought of Georgiana’s birthmark as beautiful, Aylmer thought the birthmark was a “symbol of imperfection” (Hawthorne 2). Aylmer is determined to make his wife perfect by removing her birthmark. He later tells her that he has found a solution that would take the mark off of her cheek.

Later on Aylmer would come to understand how connected the birthmark was to Georgiana, just as Aminadab had understood earlier. Selfish and blinded by his obsession he continues the course of removing the birthmark costing Georgiana her

Eckstein states, “Aylmer, however, does not want to cooperate by seeing his science as one study among many: his science must also be philosophy and religion.” (517) Throughout “The Birthmark,” Aylmer sees reality through a scientific and natural lens. As Georgiana and Aylmer’s time as newlyweds continues, Aylmer equates Georgiana birthmark as a sign of mortality and weakness. Aylmer says, “No, dearest Georgiana, you came so nearly perfect from the hand of Nature that 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.” (Hawthorne 2) Aylmer symbolizes the birthmark as a sign of mortality and imperfection, and as a scientist who wants to master nature, he is dedicated to removing it.

In “The Birthmark”, Aylmer is bothered in seeing a birthmark on his wife Georgiana’s cheek. I believe that Aylmer was truly evil in the way he manipulated Georgiana in thinking he truly cared about her. Aylmer’s ideas of perfection were the most dangerous thing about him and even led him to kill. When Georgiana learned of her husband’s disdain towards her birthmark she was devastated. Slowly, Aylmer manipulated Georgiana into believing that this mark would need to be removed.

The birthmark itself symbolizes morality. Aylmer, this brilliant scientist and husband to Georgiana, sees it has as fatal flaw. It also represents this imperfection of human nature. Nothing is perfect in nature, but science can help improve to make it seem flawless.

The hand serves as the image of mankind. Aylmer sees his wife’s birthmark as “the symbol of his wife’s liability to sin, sorrow, decay, and death” (2). The way he views the mark on her cheek serves as a reminder that death is inevitable for both him and Georgiana. It contrasts Aylmer’s idea of achieving perfection through science and it disturbs him. When Aylmer dreams of removing Georgiana’s birthmark, he sees that the hand’s “tiny grasp appeared to have caught hold of Georgiana’s heart; whence, however her husband was inexorably resolved to cut or wrench it away,” (3).

Georgiana’s birthmark is a symbol of her mortality. The narrator explains that everything in nature is flawed and dies. The hand shaped mark is the only thing on an otherwise perfect person, the thing that portrays her as mortal. Aylmer believes that the birthmark marks his wife’s premature death. Being the smart man that he is one would believe that he would just see the birthmark for what it is, but he makes a fatal misinterpretation.

“The crimson hand expressed the ineludible gripe in which mortality clutches the highest and purest of earthly mould, degrading them into kindred with the lowest, and even with the very brutes, like whom their visible frames return to dust” (Hawthorne 1322). The birthmark represents Georgiana’s mortality and humanity. Morality links to imperfection because that’s what being human means. Aylmer wants to make Georgiana perfect, which is impossible, but that is his goal. To make someone perfect or immortal would give Aylmer the control that he so badly yearns

Equally Aylmer and Dr. Rappiccini, both characters in Hawthorne’s works causes destruction of human life with selfish aims to perfect the woman of their choice. In the case of Aylmer’s love interest in science, just as with the case of Beatrice’s father, blinds him to the true beauty and humanity of the woman before him. Aylmer views Georgiana’s birthmark as a symbol of imperfection and tries to remove it. At the end of the story, Georgiana say, "My poor Aylmer," she repeated, with a more than human tenderness, "you have aimed loftily; you have done nobly. Do not repent that with so high and pure a feeling, you have rejected the best the earth could offer.

When Aylmer and Georgiana got married, Georgiana was taken from her mothers home, making her complete dependent on Aylmer and his opinions. In addition to this, Aylmer’s belief hat he is better than God, and has the ability to remove Georgiana’s birthmark, creates inequality in their relationship. Finally, due to Georgiana’s obsession with what Aylmer thinks of her, paired with Aylmer's rude looks and comments, leads her to do something

The theme of perfection is again prevalent here, as it shows how the desperation of having a flawless wife has affected Aylmer’s separation from his scientific abilities to his natural moral reaction to life, and those that are a part of it. Furthermore, the theme of perfection ends quite ironically as it shows that such strong intentions of being ‘perfect’ will end up doing more harm than good. For reference, in The Birthmark Aylmer does finally achieve the removal

Aylmer is consumed with a pursuit of perfection in his scientific studies and also in nature. The leads to Aylmer being appalled at the blemish on his wife Georgiana’s cheek. He tells Georgiana “you came so nearly perfect from the hand of Nature, that this slightest possible defect..shocks me, as being the visible mark of earthly imperfection” (216). This is the catalyst for Aylmer's seeking for perfection in his wife who is a natural being. Aylmer recognizes that there is a “fatal flaw of humanity, which Nature...stamps ineffaceable on all her productions” (216).