The Birthmark - a Short Story by Nathaniel Hawthorne

THE BIRTHMARK

The Birthmark is a short story by Nathaniel Hawthorne begins with a devoted scientist, in a brief who married a beautiful woman with a single physical flaw, a birthmark on her face. Now, Georgiana is distinctive because she has a small red birthmark on her cheek in the shape of a tiny hand. Most men who pursued her found the birthmark attractive while some women said that it messed up an otherwise perfect face. But Aylmer wants it removed because he believes the mark is a sign of imperfection on a beauty but Georgiana believes it to be a blessing. Georgiana falls completely to pieces because Aylmer thinks the birthmark is ugly, she now thinks herself ugly, and both partners become increasingly unhappy in their marriage.

Sometime later, Aylmer tells his wife of a dream he had in which he tried to surgically remove the birthmark. The deeper he cut, the deeper the birthmark went, until it was a part of Georgiana's very heart. In the dream, he wanted to keep cutting through her heart to get it out. She was so upset with his dream that she told Aylmer to figure out a way to get rid of it with whatever risk if that will help others and their relationship. That's how much she loved her husband.

Aylmer has already been working on such a plan. He takes Georgiana into his laboratory, where he has set up a special room for her to hang out while he experiments a potion with which to remove the birthmark. In the laboratory, Aminadab, Aylmer's assistant, who says he would not remove the birthmark if Georgiana were his wife. Aylmer uses illusions as if he could control the spiritual world. The flower illusion is aborted due too much stimulus so he moved on to taking her portrait in his own way which failed too, only showing a blurred vision and the hand. After several hours of being gone Aylmer returned with the most beautiful fragrances and one poison. Georgiana turns through