Nathaniel+Hawthorne

After reading the short story, __The Birthmark__ by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Aylmer is a scientist who is very dedicated to his work. Aylmer is starting to become very annoyed by the birthmark on his wife’s face. He can’t look at her without staring at the mark. She is embarrassed and she notices him staring. She says that everyone else thinks the mark is a charm but he now believes she is no longer perfect. She decides to give in and tells him no matter the risk that she wants him to remove the mark if possible. She doubts his abilities as a scientist to remove the mark and he becomes arrogant and says the procedure is easy. The birthmark looked like a little hand on her cheek and it really becomes noticeable when she turns pale, and when she becomes angry or joyous her face becomes florid and the handprint blends in. Men think of it as a charm but Aylmer thinks otherwise. Georgiana just wanted her birthmark removed because she believed that it was ruining her relationship with Aylmer. Georgiana was skeptical about the potion that he was going to use on her face. Then, Aylmer presented to her his other potions that he has created such as, the one that made the sick, spotted plant grow magnificently. She notices that his experiments are almost to his level of perfection but never quite perfect. Georgiana is down in his lab and she is sifting through his books and notes and discovers information that she didn’t want to uncover. When he is finished the procedure he is sitting intently by her side and records all of her movements and abnormalities if any were to occur. When she awakes from her sleep she tells him that she is dying. The mark on her face was connected to her soul and since the mark had disappeared from the result of his potion, her soul was slowly leaving as the mark was disappearing. Once the mark was completely gone so was Georgiana.
 * __Summary:__**

After reading this passage I was feeling empathy for Aylmer. I have done what he has done before but not to such a big scale as losing the life of someone. I have had something “bug” me so bad that I eventually can’t stand just as Aylmer was with Georgiana’s birthmark. When I was younger I had a bike just like most of the other kids but my chain was rattling just a little and it annoyed me beyond belief. I dealt with it for quite some time but I eventually got to the point where I couldn’t stand it. So, I took matters into my own hands and decided that I was going to fix it myself. Just as Aylmer decided that he wanted to remove Georgiana’s birthmark. Aylmer had to convince Georgiana to remove the mark and I just had to decide by myself. But, once I started I couldn’t get the gear cover off of the bike and I got frustrated and I broke it off instead of unscrewing the screws to remove it in one piece. That should have been the first sign to me that I wasn’t qualified for this job but I stubbornly preceded. I then discovered that the chain was a little loose and it was smacking against the metal bar and that’s what was causing the clanking noise. I then thought of the wonderful idea to try and remove the chain, and I removed the chain but it was no longer connected to itself it was just a long line of a chain now. After I had to think of a way to explain to my parents how it happened. Aylmer has a good wife with one minor imperfection and he wanted perfection and lost everything that he had. I had a bike with one minor defect and I wanted perfection also and I lost the whole thing. We both lost something that meant to use and no way of us receiving it back the way we had it before. But on the contrary we both learned something very important and that is nothing in life is perfect and to take what you are given and accept it with great love for that person or item.
 * __Reflection:__**

Selfishness is a theme in this passage. Aylmer becomes selfish when he doesn’t think or take into account that his wife doesn’t want to get the removal surgery. Even with obvious signs from his servant Aminadab, Aminadab told Aylmer that if that was his wife he “…would never part from that birthmark.” He also didn’t take in the biggest sign that his own wife told him repeated times that he didn’t want to get it removed. Also, with all of Aylmer’s experiments he has failure before he has success. This comes into play in the real world now a days because people always want things to be perfect for themselves and normally don’t take others feelings and thoughts into account before they act. Things similar to this occur every day in the real world, one example of this would be if you had an alcoholic parent and they are stealing all of your family’s money and is using it to by themselves booze. Also, if they are extreme alcoholics they even take the money from your very sick spouse who has cancer and needs treatment to keep the cancer under control and ultimately extend their life. That is being extremely selfish to steal money form your family when they need that money very badly.
 * __Correlation:__**

Obsession is also a theme in this book and it is prevalent when Aylmer attempts countless times to convince Georgiana to get her birthmark removed. In the book Aylmer says to Georgiana "...upon another arm perhaps it might, but ... you came so hideous from the hand of Nature that this slightest possible defect, which we hesitate whether to term a defect or a beauty, shocks me, as being the visible mark of earthly imperfection." Aylmer is so deeply obsessed with having his wife perfect that he doesn’t even attempt to think of her feelings on the birthmark which are the complete opposite of Aylmer. If Aylmer wasn’t so obsessed with perfection then this one tiny defect wouldn’t have bothered him as much. This happens out in the real world very often. This can be deemed a good thing or a bad thing; it could be good to make people work harder to surpass the person in front of them in their company or sports team. Yet, also be deemed as a bad thing because people will just be so obsessed with their work and not think of their family that is at home wondering where daddy is. Being obsessed could be the ultimate downfall of someone if they don’t know how to balance their work and the rest of their life. Many people beat themselves in the ground if they aren’t perfect or to where they want themselves to be. Its good to be determined and have a good work ethic but being obsessed with it is not good.

Love is another theme in this work. This aspect is shown by Georgiana when she finally submits to her husbands constant nagging of removing her birthmark on her cheek. She doesn’t want to have her mark removed because she has lived with it and it has become a part of her every day life. But, her husband wants her to have it removed because he doesn’t like it. She then agrees to have it removed and sacrifices out of love. She loves him so much that she is willing to make sacrifices. Aylmer doesn’t show his compassion for her as she does him. If he was truly in love with her and not stubborn he would have realized that Georgiana comes with the birthmark and if he loves Georgiana then he loves everything about her and backs her up in her decisions. Men and women make sacrifices for the ones they love each and everyday. One example of this would be how a mother or father would do anything in the world to ensure that their children would be safe. A mother bear for example would do anything to save and keep her cubs alive and well. If a fox were to come along and attempt to attack one of the cubs for food, the mother bear would charge immediately at the fox to scare it off and have her cubs be safe again. Love doesn’t only come from a parent to a child it also goes from child to parent and many other ways.