RR 4 Essays (632 words) - The Birth-Mark, Given Names, Skin

Reading Reaction Reading Reaction on "The Birthmark" The short story "The Birthmark" by Nathaniel Hawthorne is about a devoted scientist named Aylmer who is someone that has no other passions except for science. This passion was almost set aside completely once he found the love of his life, the sweet, beautiful Georgiana. Georgiana has such a way of beauty that almost reaches perfection. However, there is one speck of imperfection that is strikingly red across her cheek. Georgiana has a birthmark in the shape of a small hand on her face. She has never had a problem with this birthmark and her past lovers have always seen it as very attractive. "some fairy at her birth hour had laid her tiny hand upon the infant's cheek," (Hawthorne, 1846, p. 37). This birthmark was such a beauty mark that made Georgiana's face so special and unique the epitome of human imperfection . Prior to getting married, Aylmer never paid too much attention to the birthmark on Georgiana's face. However, after tying the knot, Aylmer grew more and more irritated with the red hand on her cheek. He became so obsessed with getting rid of this birthmark on her cheek that Aylmer even had a dream of cutting it out. In his dream, though, the deeper he would try to get to the birthmark, the deeper it would go. Eventually the birthmark reached to her heart and he was fully willing to cut through her heart to get it out. When Aylmer told Georgiana of his dream, she grew upset quickly and told him to find a way to get rid of her birthmark on her face. Before this incident, Georgiana had never thought of herself as an ugly person, but she did, and it was very upsetting. Aylmer had already began devising a plan to rid Georgiana's face of her birthmark. He had developed an elixir that would eventually put her to sleep and remove the birthmark on her face. Once Georgiana dr inks the elixir, it puts her to sleep and Aylmer watches the birthmark slowly fade. Aylmer's assistant, Aminadab, was in the lab during this procedure and laughed after he watched the birthmark fade. Initially Aylmer encouraged the laughter after the successful removal of Georgiana's birthmark, however that mood changed not long after. The ruckus woke Georgiana up from her sleep and her first words were, "My poor Aylmer!" (Hawthorne, 1846, p. 54). She then explained to him that although he had done a rather noble job on removing the birthmark that she was dying. Aylmer was foolish to focus on such a small imperfection on a rather perfect face and he quickly lost the love of his life. It was after Georgiana died that Aminadab chuckled even louder than he did the first time. He saw the bigger picture of everything; he saw what the birthmark symbolized. The birthmark , as a whole, symbolizes human imperfection as a general concept. People are in no way, shape, or form perfect beings. Being unique and different is a mere definition of what being human means. The color is a deep red which does not go unnoticed on any shade of skin tone, however, the truly unnoticeable aspect o f Georgiana's birthmark was the shape of it. A tiny hand placed upon her cheek, as if God himself had left it when creating her beautiful face. Once Aylmer expressed his growing disgust over her birthmark, she began to see herself as ugly which is a common occurrence when any human being is exposed of their flaws. There is no perfect human, and that is why Georgiana died after the birthmark vanished.