32 pages • 1 hour read
Nathaniel HawthorneThe Birthmark
Fiction | Short Story | Adult | Published in 1843A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Symbols & Motifs
Georgiana’s Birthmark
The birthmark is a potent symbol of human imperfection, and by extension, a symbol of the frailty of the human condition. Because Aylmer and Georgiana’s admirers perceive Georgiana as someone whose beauty is close to perfection, her birthmark is a stark reminder that she is not perfect; she is merely a human being who is subject to all humanity’s failings. The birthmark is a constant physical reminder of what Aylmer calls “his wife’s liability to sin, sorrow, decay, and death.”
The birthmark is also a symbol of Georgiana’s sexuality. The narrator is careful to point out that the birthmark was not a deterrent when Aylmer was courting Georgiana. His neurosis arises after they marry; that is, when sexual intercourse becomes a part of their relationship. The narrator also points out that the mark all but disappears when Georgiana blushes: “When she blushed it gradually became more indistinct, and finally vanished amid the triumphant rush of blood that bathed the whole cheek with its brilliant glow” (Paragraph 7). This description suggests Aylmer has the power to minimize the appearance of the birthmark simply by giving his wife romantic and/or sexual attention. Instead, Aylmer pursues his scientific ambitions and experiments with his wife, destroying her in the process. Aylmer’s obsession, Hawthorne suggests, is disordered and neurotic, resulting in the metaphorical (and literal) death of their relationship.
The Boudoir and Aylmer’s Lab
In “The Birthmark,” Hawthorne contrasts the heavenly and the earthly realms; the spiritual and magical conflict with the “real” and physical. The settings of the story exemplify this contrast. Aylmer creates a pleasant, perfumed apartment for Georgiana, but he works in the furnace room, which is sooty and uncomfortable. Georgiana’s boudoir reflects Aylmer’s desire to elevate Georgiana to a spiritual sphere and to deny her access to mortal toil and decay; ironically, by seeking to shield Georgiana from his work and to remove from her face a symbol of her human fragility, he takes away her humanity.
Aylmer’s lab is separated from reality, and perhaps more importantly, from nature. It is a realm entirely of Aylmer’s creation and under his control. Natural light cannot penetrate his work space. In the boudoir section he builds for his wife, the perfumed lamps and unnatural lights make Georgiana think it “might be a pavilion among the clouds” (Paragraph 28). Georgiana’s environment may feel magical, but the narrator is careful to reinforce that these “enchantments” are scientific in origin and that they are illusory. Though Aylmer created the space for Georgiana, he lacks power over Georgiana and over nature itself.
Aylmer’s Dream
Like many of his Romantic contemporaries, Hawthorne often uses dreams in his fiction as a vehicle for shedding light on human truth and desire. Sleep enables the subconscious to express itself, and, unencumbered by reality, the protagonist in a dream state can access deep and latent emotions. While Aylmer might claim to Georgiana that he wants the very best for her and that he wants to improve her for her own good, his dream reveals the truth: that he will stop at nothing to exert his control over her, even if his processes result in her death.
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By Nathaniel Hawthorne
