Symbolism In The Birthmark
Feminist View of Aylmer
By the end of the eighteenth century, science had found its way into the advancement of humankind in the realm of medicine. Men believed they could cure and save all creatures on earth from their flaws and defects. Aylmer in Nathaniel Hawthorne 's "The Birthmark" is one such character. Aylmer is a scientist who strives for perfection, so much so he believes his newly wed wife, Georgiana, would be the "ideal loveliness" if her birthmark were removed. Stacy Tartar Esch believes the birthmark in the short story is the symbol men 's incapability to accept women as their equals. Instead, men need an ideal vision of what they believe a woman should be; men need to feel that their woman is his ideal. A woman is neither a woman …show more content…
Aylmer sees Georgiana as neither his wife nor a woman. He sees her as a flaw; an object that he can alter. Aylmer treats Georgiana as a plant and gives her an elixir that he uses to take away disease from a geranium. Georgiana is the flower that needs Aylmer 's help, an object that Aylmer will desire when the birthmark is removed. Aylmer has an "artistic vision;" he sees Georgiana as the canvas with an unintentional defect on its white fabric. Aylmer cannot see past appearances he "neither recognizes the differences between the real and ideal worlds" (Folsom 46). The real world has defects and flaws that "Nature, stamps ineffaceably on all her productions, either to imply that they are temporary and finite" (Hawthorne 170). Georgiana becomes the object after she marries Aylmer, because until that time he did not see her birthmark. Georgiana is an object because she is not Aylmer 's ideal woman and until she is, he will not look past her facade to see her inner being. Aylmer being a scientist hopes "to make the Ideal manifest in an imperfect world". He attempts to make Georgiana the perfect object in a world where nothing is perfect. Aylmer sees Georgiana as an object that can withstand Nature 's grasp and become immortal when he says, "You are fit for heaven without tasting death!"(Hawthorne 178). Objects do not taste death and can be immortal. Aylmer wants Georgiana 's beauty to withstand time to tell the …show more content…
She is no longer a person and becomes the object that rejects human feelings. Aylmer rejects who Georgiana is as a person and makes her his experiment. Being an experiment Georgiana forgets that she is a person and wishes to be Aylmer 's ideal. She says she wants the hideous birthmark removed. The mark is apart of Georgiana and was nature 's intention for her as a human. Without the birthmark, Georgiana becomes perfected and is not human anymore; she would be perfect in nature 's eyes and therefore become immortal. Humans are mortal and Georgiana would be inhuman if this mark were removed. If Georgiana 's did not have the birthmark, she would be void of humanity because the mark symbolizes her as a human. Humans define their with feelings humanity. In Aylmer 's eyes, the birthmark is Georgiana 's earthly emotions because he describes the mark as her "liability" for human afflictions (Hawthorne 170). After the mark 's removal Georgiana dies. The mark symbolized Georgiana 's humanity without it she
By the end of the eighteenth century, science had found its way into the advancement of humankind in the realm of medicine. Men believed they could cure and save all creatures on earth from their flaws and defects. Aylmer in Nathaniel Hawthorne 's "The Birthmark" is one such character. Aylmer is a scientist who strives for perfection, so much so he believes his newly wed wife, Georgiana, would be the "ideal loveliness" if her birthmark were removed. Stacy Tartar Esch believes the birthmark in the short story is the symbol men 's incapability to accept women as their equals. Instead, men need an ideal vision of what they believe a woman should be; men need to feel that their woman is his ideal. A woman is neither a woman …show more content…
Aylmer sees Georgiana as neither his wife nor a woman. He sees her as a flaw; an object that he can alter. Aylmer treats Georgiana as a plant and gives her an elixir that he uses to take away disease from a geranium. Georgiana is the flower that needs Aylmer 's help, an object that Aylmer will desire when the birthmark is removed. Aylmer has an "artistic vision;" he sees Georgiana as the canvas with an unintentional defect on its white fabric. Aylmer cannot see past appearances he "neither recognizes the differences between the real and ideal worlds" (Folsom 46). The real world has defects and flaws that "Nature, stamps ineffaceably on all her productions, either to imply that they are temporary and finite" (Hawthorne 170). Georgiana becomes the object after she marries Aylmer, because until that time he did not see her birthmark. Georgiana is an object because she is not Aylmer 's ideal woman and until she is, he will not look past her facade to see her inner being. Aylmer being a scientist hopes "to make the Ideal manifest in an imperfect world". He attempts to make Georgiana the perfect object in a world where nothing is perfect. Aylmer sees Georgiana as an object that can withstand Nature 's grasp and become immortal when he says, "You are fit for heaven without tasting death!"(Hawthorne 178). Objects do not taste death and can be immortal. Aylmer wants Georgiana 's beauty to withstand time to tell the …show more content…
She is no longer a person and becomes the object that rejects human feelings. Aylmer rejects who Georgiana is as a person and makes her his experiment. Being an experiment Georgiana forgets that she is a person and wishes to be Aylmer 's ideal. She says she wants the hideous birthmark removed. The mark is apart of Georgiana and was nature 's intention for her as a human. Without the birthmark, Georgiana becomes perfected and is not human anymore; she would be perfect in nature 's eyes and therefore become immortal. Humans are mortal and Georgiana would be inhuman if this mark were removed. If Georgiana 's did not have the birthmark, she would be void of humanity because the mark symbolizes her as a human. Humans define their with feelings humanity. In Aylmer 's eyes, the birthmark is Georgiana 's earthly emotions because he describes the mark as her "liability" for human afflictions (Hawthorne 170). After the mark 's removal Georgiana dies. The mark symbolized Georgiana 's humanity without it she