Symbolism In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Birthmark

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The story’s problematic ‘hero’, Aylmer, can be described as a neurotic scientist, an artist, a philosopher and most recently a newlywed. Shortly after his marriage, his wife’s beauty and kindred spirit was not enough to make him forget her only defect "the crimson birthmark" which stood apparent on her cheek – a haunting awareness of his “wife’s liability to sin, sorrow, decay and death”, which also signifies Hawthorne's intention for it to symbolize human imperfection. Aylmer’s dark obsession for divine perfection was not long in rendering the birthmark a frightful object, causing him more trouble and horror than he had ever known. He could no longer accept that his “perfect” wife had one flaw, and began to contemplate its removal. His passion for science is to become the “savior” to his own personal distaste, or so he believes. …show more content…
Given the series of events that follow, Hawthorne makes it very clear during the discourse of the story that Aylmer is the source of the conflict, not the birthmark itself. The birthmark is actually natural and distinct, and commends Georgiana’s beauty. It was the bond by which her angelic spirit was tied to her mortal body. Aylmer believed that by uniting his love of science with his love for his wife, he could end the separation he felt between the two things that he cherished the most. Hawthorne writes: “It was not unusual for the love of science to rival the love of a woman”. The conflict between science and nature illustrates the concept of man versus woman, through the feminine conceptualization of nature and the masculine traits of the world of

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