The Birthmark's Disadvantage

1002 Words5 Pages
Lizbeth Sánchez ENGL 3104-116 Mr. Penner “The Birthmark” is a short story written by Nathaniel Hawthorne. It begins telling the story about Aylmer and Georgiana, a married couple. The problem here revolves around the obsession of Aylmer for his wife’s birthmark. It is nobody’s fault Georgiana had fate at the end of the story. “…to tell you the truth it has been so often called a charm that I was simple enough to imagine it might be so” (1034). Where she says she loved her birthmark, she was proud of it. She was glad with her birthmark before Aylmer begun disliking it. On the other hand, Aylmer did not notice her birthmark on the cheek before marrying her. Suddenly he became obsessed with it. He constantly told her negative things about the birthmark, making her adopt his point of view. However, she was not force to drink the liquid even though he was criticizing the “odious hand” (1036). What to blame may be her obsessive love for her husband and his obsession with perfection. She did not hate the birthmark before Aylmer began to criticize it. In fact, she said it was a charm, “a magic endowment” (1035). Georgiana is described at first as a confident and beautiful woman. Nevertheless the issue is that she has a man by her side which is lack of confident causing, in my opinion, low down her self-esteem. Aylmer was constantly saying the birthmark was a defect, an earthly imperfection. It is clear he projects his insecurities to Georgiana. In his life he had failed many experiments and is not the best human being on earth. It is a rude action from Aylmer to constantly talk about that imperfection. What man does criticize his wife for a birthmark? No man who truly loves his wife does this. “Then why did you take me from my mother’s side? You cannot love what shocks you!" (1035) she responded burst into tears when Aylmer said: “…you came so nearly perfect from
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