Perfection In The Birthmark

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Perfection, something so impeccable that there is no room for improvement (“Perfection”). The ideal of perfection is quite impossible due to the fact that there is always a way to further improve, therefore perfection is only an impractical fantasy, not a sensible objective to work towards. However, in “The Birth-Mark,” by Nathaniel Hawthorn a man becomes obsessed with the thought of perfection and attempts to change nature for that very intention. Georgiana, a beautiful, young woman married to a scientist by the name of Alymer, has become a living, breathing experiment. Her appearance is nearly perfect, except for a single red hand shaped birthmark that rests upon her cheek – her fatal flaw. After marriage, Aylmer begins to despise his wife’s single visible imperfection. He persuades Georgiana to allow him to remove the …show more content…
The elixir rids Georgina of the mark and ultimately kills her in the process. Throughout the tale, there were several warning-like events foreshadowing Georgiana’s untimely death. When Aylmer was brainstorming ways to remove the mark he despised so greatly, he had a dream. In his dream, “he had fancied himself with his servant Aminadab attempting an operation for the removal of the birth-mark; but the deeper went the knife, the deeper sank the hand, until at 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” (Hawthorne 214). This dream showed Aylmer that he could kill Georgiana by removing her birthmark, foreshadowing the conclusion of “The Birth-Mark”. His dream was meant to caution Aylmer, to leave the birthmark alone. Nevertheless, he did not heed the warning and continued to search for a means to remove the imperfection, resulting in Georgiana’s death. This, however was not the only event that foreshadowed Georgiana’s death. After his dream, he was able to convince
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