Themes In The Birthmark

Is it possible for anyone to be perfect? Not at all! The theme that I chose was was that it is foolish to strive for perfection. In this paper I will support this theme by explaining how this relates to “The Birthmark”.

I think this is the strongest theme in the story because Aylmer thinks he can make his wife Georgiana a perfect person. You can not be perfect it’s impossible to be perfect. Aylmer has this potion that can make Georgiana perfect but it could lead her to her death. When she drinks this potion she will be unmarred. She will not have one scar on her body whatsoever. She dies after drinking this potion because the only way you be perfect is to die and go to heaven. In the beginning of the story Georgiana does not think of it as a imperfection. She thinks of it as a charm or a symbol of beauty. As you get into the story Aylmer is making Georgiana think of it as a imperfection. She is ashamed of showing to Aylmer because he thinks it is a huge flaw and whenever she is around him her face gets pale and you can see the birthmark even more. There is no such thing as a perfect human whatsoever. The only person that could be perfect is Jesus.
The way Aylmer is looking his wife Georgiana makes him not see the good in is wife at all. He only the sees that one fatal flaw in Georgiana. I also think that is society is today. No one in this world sees the good in anyone at all. They will always see the flaws in someone. We will always judge a book by its cover and that is how our world is. No can be be perfect but in this story and in our society I think that some of our flaws bring out more beauty and make us more beautiful than what we already are. Georgiana's birthmark for example, she thinks of it has a charm or a sign of