the birthmark

¶ … Tampering with Nature Explored in Nathaniel Hawthorne's Story "The Birthmark"

Nathaniel Hawthorne's short story, "The Birthmark," is a journey into the world of unexplored science that has several meanings. While the primary theme revolves around tampering with nature, we find that Aylmer is an interesting character to study. With all of his knowledge, he fails to understand the simplest thing, which is that his wife should not be separated from something that is so very much her own, her birthmark. Through setting, mood, plot, and character development, Hawthorne explores the dark world of alchemy in Aylmer's laboratory. Aylmer's attempt at perfecting a beautiful creature of the earth teaches us that boundaries not only exist between man and nature but that they should also be respected.

This setting of "The Birthmark" serves as the perfect backdrop for the tale, taking place in the "latter part of the last century" (Hawthorne 600). Aylmer is a "man of science, an eminent proficient in every branch of natural philosophy" (600). While Aylmer was married man, it is difficult to assume that he was completely normal. In a time when the "mysteries of Nature seemed to open paths into the region of miracle, it was not unusual for the love of science to rival the love of woman in its depth and absorbing energy" (600). This key passage gives us insight into Aylmer's character. We know that while Aylmer is married, he is also very passionate about science. Nature, the narrator tells us, is on the brink of miracles, and this mentality is one that captures Aylmer and holds him like a prisoner.

Hawthorne sets the mood of "The Birthmark" with an air of mystery and foreboding in the alchemist's laboratory. When Georgiana begins reading some of the books and folios in Aylmer's library, she realizes that he is not all that as successful as she once thought. Some of his "brightest diamonds were the merest pebbles" (608) and though there were some achievements, the book was "as melancholy a record as ever mortal hand had penned" (609). While she still loved her husband, Georgiana looked at him "with a less entire dependence on his judgment than heretofore" (608). Aylmer tells her, "It is dangerous to read in a sorcerer's nooks... Take heed lest it prove detrimental to you" (609). This is an interesting statement, considering that those books have already been detrimental to Aylmer. Georgiana's discoveries and Aylmer's poor attempt at humor foreshadow her upcoming death in the story.

Aylmer wants to fix something that he believes to be broken and his fascination with removing Georgiana's birthmark becomes an obsession that prevents him from seeing things as they really are. His desire to be a great scientist turns him into a dangerous idealist because he is meddling with life itself. However, Aylmer cannot see the destructiveness of his thinking. He believes that he can concoct this magical elixir and he honestly believes that it will work. We can see how Aylmer becomes entangled in the promise of a miracle from nature because he cannot see his past his own vanity. He cannot and will not recognize the fact that Georgiana's birthmark is a part of her that should remain a part of her.

What becomes interesting is how Aylmer's impression of the birthmark changes over time. At first, he mentions removing it as an aside, to which she tells him that it has mostly been viewed as a "charm" (600). Aylmer cannot read the mark in this way and with time, he becomes "more and more intolerable with every moment of their united lives" (601). Eventually, the narrator tell us that the "frightful object caused him [Aylmer] more trouble and horror than ever" (602). Aylmer is learning that he cannot easily intertwine the love of his wife with his love of science as he once though possible. Eventually, though his vanity and obsession, his love of science takes him over completely and with that his reason has been lost. He becomes shallow and selfish and needles her about the birthmark to the point that she feels she has no choice but let him remove the birthmark so that she would be spared from "madness" (603). In all truth, he is madder than Georgiana could ever dream to be. She tolerates him but she is aware that he will never stop mentioning the mark and wanting to remove it. While Aylmer is driven by his passion for science, Georgiana is driven by love for her husband and she is willing to place her confidence in him. Georgiana's giving in to Aylmer's request is really all the confirmation that he needs to push him further and further into his mysterious world of science.

Barbara Eckstein agrees with this notion. She states, "Science gets in the way of love when it comes Aylmer" (Eckstein). Aylmer forgets what he once knew to be true of science. Eckstein claims that Aylmer "does not want to cooperate by seeing his science as one study among many: His science must be philosophy and religion" (Eckstein). Aylmer "pushes ahead despite the warnings of his past experience and troubled dreams" (Eckstein). This statement also allows us to see how Aylmer could not read, or understand, what Georgiana's birthmark actually meant.

Liz Rosenberg notes that part of Aylmer's problem lies the fact that he is an alchemist. He claims, "What Aylmer effects is not a marriage but his own wife's death, the ultimate divorce. Distillation leads to separation, separation to loss" (Rosenberg). Aylmer's problem stems from "his confusion about spirit and matter" (Rosenberg) and this leads to the fatal mistake of thinking that his wife's physical imperfection is a "spiritual one, and, in trying to cure her of her human nature, he kills her" (Rosenberg). He is so blind with ambition, he does not stop to think of what the consequences might be should he fail. Since there was no room for doubt in his mind, he says such foolish things as, "Unless all my science have deceived me, it cannot fail" (Hawthorne 611). Aylmer is a scientist at heart and he proves this when he demonstrates that he is more concerned with a successful experiment than he was with his dear wife's life.

Erich Rupprecht also supports the view that Aylmer's science got in the way of his reasoning. Aylmer thinks that by removing his wife's birthmark, he will do what nature cannot do, which is "create a perfect human being" (Rupprecht). He notes, "Aylmer's selfish and coldhearted quest for ultimate answers and absolute truths ends in the destruction of what he should have loved most" (Rupprecht). This is a perfect summation of what happens. Aylmer is bold enough to declare to his wife that he can create the "elixir of immortality... The most precious poison that ever was concocted in this world" (Hawthorne 607). With this statement, we are reminded of the tragic passion that drove Victor Frankenstein to create his monster. Aylmer truly believes in what he can do in his laboratory and his worst mistake is not considering the negative repercussions of his actions.

Aylmer and Georgiana are two character deeply in love -- unfortunately it is not with each other. Henry James states that the charm of Hawthorne's characters is the fact that "they are glimpses of a great field, of the whole deep mystery of man's soul and conscience... they deal with something more than the mere accidents and conventionalities, the surface occurrences of life" (James). This is certainly true of Aylmer. His attempt to improve upon nature forces us to realize that there are certain things that we cannot control. The forces of nature have proven again and again that they will not conform to man's will nor will they comply with man's desire. Aylmer was better off loving his wife, who could at least return his affections but his mind would not let him love her in that way.

Lynn Shakinovsky asserts that the meaning of "The Birthmark" goes even deeper than tampering with the unknown realm of science. Shakinovsky contends that Aylmer's impression of the mark is different than anyone else's, even Aminadab. Aminadab, who is "incapable of comprehending a single principle" (Hawthorne 605), tells Aylmer, "If she were my wife, I'd never part with that birthmark" (605). This statement emphasizes the extreme nature of Aylmer's desire. Aylmer sees the birthmark as a flaw and it is his point-of-view that proves to be the most damaging and the most fatal. Shakinovsky asserts that Aylmer cannot see "his own response as an interpretation; it is precisely the mark's capacity to signify, its availability for symbolization, that Aylmer is incapable of apprehending" (Shakinovsky). This inability to read the mark's significance results in Aylmer's tragic flaw.

According to Shakinovsky, Aylmer becomes, "Trapped in an obsessional, fixed world view, he reduces the mark of many significations to a single signification or to no signification; his relationship to the mark is a commitment to its literal removal. Thus, although Aylmer may be said to see the mark, he really cannot read it at all" (Shakinovsky). This is an interesting point-of-view about Aylmer and it works with his character. Others identify Georgiana's birthmark as something that is essentially hers and therefore, should remain with her. Shakinovsky goes even further to say that it is a "metaphor for her identity, her sexuality, her being" (Shakinovsky). Aylmer is blind to this fact altogether. He cannot see that "in removing the mark, he removes all there is of her" (Shakinovsky). He could not accept the fact that he could not just remove a portion of her -- it was all or nothing.