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.
Themes
The Limits of Scientific Achievement
The Romantics were thematically interested in science as a symbolic pitfall that, they believed, stands in the way of self-examination. Romantics prioritized the subjective realms of the human mind, and they often perceived the more “objective” art of science as a foil to their preferred topic, the individualized exploration of emotion. In this light, Aylmer is a classic, disordered Romantic antihero: though he possesses a human desire to be close to his wife, his obsession with science drives him to prioritize perfecting her physical appearance over feeling love or desire for her. While Aylmer waits for the elixir to do its work, for example, he kisses the mark on her cheek, even as it makes him shudder, demonstrating his internal conflict over the object of his true desire.
Aylmer’s deeply flawed scientific process can be compared to the medieval science of alchemy, which promised to transmute substances into new, more valuable forms. Like an alchemist, Aylmer is interested in discovering a secret “golden” formula, which would improve his wife and help her be her physically best self. Aylmer’s failure to recognize the essential quality of human flaws abets his scientific drive, allowing it to take priority over his emotional needs; as a result, Aylmer kills that which he loves, proving that science has a limited ability to improve human lives and to maximize human potential.
Sexual Politics, Marriage, and Desire
Hawthorne’s story addresses the theme of sexual politics by demonstrating the potential harm that can take place when people desire their partner or spouse to change. “The Birthmark” is the first story Hawthorne composed after marrying his wife, Sophia, and it examines many of the anxieties a newlywed might experience: distrust between partners, illicit or unnatural desires, and horror at a spouse’s susceptibility to injury, and death.
For Hawthorne, the idealization of women is an expression of open hostility towards women; from this point of view, “The Birthmark” functions as a cautionary tale that demonstrates what can happen when a husband seeks a perfect wife. Aylmer has no complaint about Georgiana’s mind or intellect, nor does he doubt her feelings for him; she seems to be a pleasant conversationalist and a loving partner. Instead, Aylmer is unhealthily obsessed with her physical form and with his own need to control it and fashion it according to his desires.
Aylmer influences Georgiana, and she grows to hate her birthmark as he does. She initially thinks of her birthmark as a charming feature, but Aylmer gradually convinces her that she needs perfecting. The story emphasizes her overwhelming beauty, which makes her descent into self-loathing ironic. In one chilling moment, Georgiana realizes that Aylmer has frequently been asking how she is feeling, and she wonders if he has begun her treatment without her knowledge; she blames her perfume, or something in the food, for her unexpected physical symptoms, revealing that Aylmer is a psychologically damaging romantic partner, which makes him a particularly sinister villain.
Related Titles
By Nathaniel Hawthorne
