The Birthmark

“‘Shocks you, my husband!’ cried Georgiana, deeply hurt; at first reddening with momentary anger, but then bursting into tears. ‘Then why did you take me from my mother's side? You cannot love what shocks you!’” 

This passage contains elements of gothic fiction. Georgiana’s shock at Aylmer’s revulsion is tied to the experience of horror. Gothic writers of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries employed moments of shock and revulsion in order to enable readers to have an emotional experience while reading.

“[The birthmark] was the fatal flaw of humanity which Nature, in one shape or another, stamps ineffaceably on all her productions, either to imply that they are temporary and finite, or that their perfection must be wrought by toil and pain.” 

Nature, personified as female, is Aylmer’s antagonist in the short story. He positions himself in conflict with nature when he states his determination to remove the “flaw” stamped on Georgiana before she was born. Aylmer’s decision to challenge nature suggests that he feels he is as powerful as nature, and his pride in his own self will lead to a tragic outcome at the conclusion of the story.

“Truth often finds its way to the mind close muffled in robes of sleep, and then speaks with uncompromising directness of matters in regard to which we practise an unconscious self-deception during our waking moments.” 

The Romantics often employed dreams as a literary device. The literary descriptions of dreams enabled a character’s deepest beliefs or intentions to be revealed both to the reader and to other characters in the work of literature. Aylmer’s dream forces him to face the reality of his own ambition; he will remove the birthmark from his wife’s face, no matter the risk to her life.

“‘Even Pygmalion, when his sculptured woman assumed life, felt not greater ecstasy than mine will be.’” 

Aylmer compares himself to Pygmalion, the mythological sculptor who creates a statue of a woman and falls in love with his creation. Aylmer understands that, in some ways, he means to outdo Pygmalion. He seeks not to bring something inanimate to life, but rather to edit the creation of Mother Nature herself.

“‘It is resolved, then,’ said Georgiana, faintly smiling. ‘And, Aylmer, spare me not, though you should find the birthmark take refuge in my heart at last.’” 

This passage foreshadows Georgiana’s eventual death at Aylmer’s hands, and it also represents a tragic turn in her characterization. In this passage, Georgiana has submitted to Aylmer’s experimentation out of love and marital devotion, and he is fully prepared to physically root the birthmark out of the organ of love: her heart.

“Her husband tenderly kissed her cheek—her right cheek—not that which bore the impress of the crimson hand.” 

Though Georgiana has professed that she is willing to die for Aylmer’s happiness and satisfaction, he is unable to maintain the appearance of genuine love for her. His revulsion at her imperfection is more powerful than his compassion, which emphasizes his scientific single-mindedness and his ambition to remove the flaw no matter the cost.

“‘Yes, master,’ answered Aminadab, looking intently at the lifeless form of Georgiana; and then he muttered to himself, ‘If she were my wife, I’d never part with that birthmark.’” 

Aylmer dismisses Aminadab as an idiot and a “human machine,” but Aminadab possesses humanity and wisdom, two characteristics Aylmer lacks. Aminadab sees Georgiana for her true self, and he understands her worth and prizes her for the flaws that individualize her and make her uniquely human.

“Soon, however, he forgot these mortifying failures.”

Aylmer’s willful blindness to his own shortcomings is ironic, especially in light of his obsession with Georgiana’s one visible imperfection. Georgiana’s death as a direct result of his experimentation proves that his excessive pride has become his downfall. 

“In his interviews with Georgiana, Aylmer generally made minute inquiries as to her sensations and whether the confinement of the rooms and the temperature of the atmosphere agreed with her. These questions had such a particular drift that Georgiana began to conjecture that she was already subjected to certain physical influences, either breathed in with the fragrant air or taken with her food.” 

In this passage, Georgiana’s paranoia manifests as a gothic element. The reader may feel horror and fear on behalf of Georgiana; as she suspects her husband of perfidy, so does the reader. The reader’s heightened emotional experience enhances the suspenseful qualities of the short story and makes the tragic climax more powerful.

“Georgiana, as she read, reverenced Aylmer and loved him more profoundly than ever, but with a less entire dependence on his judgment than heretofore. Much as he had accomplished, she could not but observe that his most splendid successes were almost invariably failures, if compared with the ideal at which he aimed.” 

Ironically, Aylmer cannot look past Georgiana’s single flaw while Georgiana reads a log of every failure of Aylmer’s. Aylmer’s log endears him to her more deeply. In this way, Georgiana and Aminadab are linked as characters who are deeply human. Like Aminadab, and unlike Aylmer, Georgiana loves not only in spite of imperfections, but because of them.

“‘Why do you come hither? Have you no trust in your husband?’ cried he, impetuously. ‘Would you throw the blight of that fatal birthmark over my labors? It is not well done. Go, prying woman, go!’”

Though Aylmer claims to be a man of science, he shows himself to possess a strong inclination towards superstition. He perceives Georgiana’s birthmark as intimidating in some way and that it could affect some kind of curse or bad luck on his experiments

“‘There needed no proof,’ said Georgiana, quietly. ‘Give me the goblet I joyfully stake all upon your word.’” 

While Aylmer puts all his stakes in science, Georgiana puts her faith in her husband and her love for him. She requires no proof or evidence of Aylmer’s skill, and she appears to experience no fear or reluctance to follow his directions. Georgiana is characterized as an innocent, loving and devoted wife, which gives her death more pathos.

“‘Do not repent that with so high and pure a feeling, you have rejected the best the earth could offer.’” 

Even as she dies, Georgiana seeks to comfort Aylmer, revealing her saintly generosity. Even in death, she prefers to understand his obsession with her birthmark as a selfless act of love, intended for her own good and improvement, rather than an act of control and violence.