The Birthmark Passage Analysis

Passages from the text pg.#s Commentary
“She felt how much more precious was such a sentiment than that meaner kind which would have borne with actual; and with her whole spirit she prayed that, for single moment, she might satisfy his highest and deepest conception.”
p.8 1. (T, P) Aylmer’s foolishness of striving for perfection leads to his wife’s death. He is unable to see her the way she is due to her tiny imperfection which is not good enough for him. It shows that no one is perfect and that it should not exist in this world. Aylmer’s wife dies because she was to perfect to live in imperfect world. Nathaniel Hawthorne’s purpose is that striving for perfection is to deny what makes us humans and also when loves become an obsession it becomes
deadly.
“In those days when comparatively recent discovery of electricity and other kindred mysteries of Nature seemed to open paths into the region of miracle, it was unusual for the love of science to rival the love of woman in its depth of absorbing energy.
p.1 2. (SMI) I the short story by Nathaniel Hawthorne mention that the story takes place latter part of the century which means, he was referring to the late 1700s. The mood of this story as you can tell is ominous. You can tell that the story does not have a happy ending. Aylmer loves and he is obsessive about science than he loves his wife, so he will do anything to remove the birthmark. Also you can tell from the start that the birthmark is going to cause some type of damage.
“We know not whether Aylmer possessed this degree of faith in man’s ultimate control over nature”
p.1 3. (POV) You could see in the short story that it is in third person point of view. Also using third person makes it less personal. The narrator has access to Aylmer’s and Georgiana’s thoughts. It also shows that the narrator does not about everything that is going on in the story. The narrator also hurries to explain any detail that the readers might not understand.
“Georgiana, you have led me deeper than ever into the heart of science. I feel myself fully competent to render this dear check as faultless as it fellows; and then, most beloved, what will be my triumph when I shall have corrected what Natural left imperfect in her fairest work!
p.3 4. (CON) Aylmer loves his wife, however she has a small birthmark on the side of her left cheek that he hates and thinks that it’s disturbing. This conflict has both external which is between Aylmer and Georgiana over the birthmark she have and internal conflict is within Georgiana’s love and self-interest. Also Aylmer’s obsession over science and success and failure. You could see that her husband does not see the beauty in her and he cannot accept her for who she is.
“Danger is nothing to me; for life, while this hateful mark makes me the object of your horror and disgust, -- life is a burden which I would fling down with joy. Either remove this dreadful hand, or take my wretched life!”
p.3 5. (CP) Georgina worships her husband and she is willing to sacrifice everything, including her own life. In the short story, you see that she have a lot of trust in him, which shows a lot of faith on her part. She is also innocent and our sympathy lies with her.
“‘Ah, upon another face perhaps it might,’” replied her husband; ``but never on yours. No, dearest Georgiana, you came so nearly perfect from the hand of Nature that this slightest possible defect, which we hesitate whether to tem a defect or a beauty, shock me, as being the visible mark of early imperfection.” p.1
6. (CC) When he married Georgiana he did not care about her birthmark and then he starts to hate more and more. Aylmer is obsessed with removing tiny birthmark on Georgiana’s cheek. He is a superficial perfectionist who kills his wife by experimenting in matters beyond his control in his attempt to play God. He cannot stand her imperfection, even though so many other guys told her how pretty she is.
“He had fancied himself with his servant Aminadab, attempting an operation for the removal of the birthmark; but the deeper went the knife, the deeper sank the hand, until a 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.” p.2 7. (F) Aylmer’s dream basically told him what was going to happen, but he went with it anyways. Aylmer had a dream the previous night cutting off his wife’s birthmark and he ended up killing her in the process. Aylmer did not remember about the dream, until Georgiana brought it up and surged him to remember about his dream. She also was not surprised by her death because she heard her husband muttering in his sleep and also she read his journals that were full of his failures.
“‘Drink, then, thou lofty creature!”’ exclaimed Aylmer, with fervid admiration. “‘There is no taint of imperfection on thy spirit. Thy sensible frame, too, shall soon be all perfect.”’ p.8 8. (CX) The entire story has been leading to this. The wife is given a drink to get rid of her birthmark and it kills the wife. Also as Georgiana studies several features of her husband’s profession she finds herself fascinated by what he can do. Although she finds out that all of his experiments never quiet reached his goal.
“‘Yes, master,”’ answered Aminadab, looking intently at the lifeless form of Georgiana; and then he muttered to himself, “‘If she were my wife, I’d never part with that birthmark.”’ p.4 9.
(I) Aminadab know way better than Aylmer what is going to happen, but in the story he is supposed to be dumb. In the description it clearly shows that Aminadab is dumb and Aylmer treats him like one. This is ironic because Aylmer is supposed to be smarter than his assistant. That means that Aylmer did not understand that what the dumb man had to say about Georgiana’s death.
“‘My poor Aylmer,’” she repeated, with a more human tenderness, you have aimed loftily; you have done nobly. Do not repent that with so high and pure feeling, you have rejected the best the earth could offer. Aylmer, dearest Aylmer, I am dying!’” p.9 10. (R) When Aylmer gives her the drink, she drinks the potion and the mark fades, but she starts to fade with it too. The readers are left with the blunt reality that Aylmer rather removes the birthmark that could he wife’s death rather than obsessing over her beauty that other would love her to be their wife. Also the immorality of perfection leads to
death.
“In the latter part of the last century there lived a man of science, an eminent proficient in every branch of natural philosophy, who not long before our story opens had made experience of a spiritual affinity more attractive than any chemical one.
p.1 11. (LM) The story was written during part of the Romanticism movement. He wanted to explore themes of nature and human kinds, as well as to push the restrictions of human imagination and creativeness. He also thought that people were getting to dependent on science and wanted to remind us that there is nothing influential than emotion.
Nathanial Hawthorne was born on July 4, 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts. He is a popular example of a Romantic author from the 19th century. He was an American novelist, Dark Romantic and short story writer. In his story, he wanted to remind people that people were getting to dependent on science that there is nothing better than nature and showing emotion.

"Nathaniel Hawthorne Biography." - Life, Family, Childhood, Children, Name, History, Wife, Mother, Son. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 July
2016.