Symbolism in "The Birthmark"

Essay by bm77ok January 2009

download word file, 4 pages 0.0

Downloaded 23 times

"All symbols are neutral until someone interprets them and that interpretation gives it power" (Dewey). Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Birthmark" narrates a story about a scientist named Aylmer, his beautiful wife Georgiana and the removal of a birthmark from her cheek. The birthmark is not significant simply because of the title or the fact it is on the cheek of one of the main characters. The importance of this minor entity relates to how the entire story revolves around it. Through the use of the birthmark, Hawthorne symbolizes imperfection, man's struggle with nature and science, and the mortality of mankind.

Although the birthmark can been seen in many ways, the most common interpretation is the imperfections Mother Nature imposes on all her creations. In reality the birthmark could be viewed to some as a unique or charming characteristic. It is described as "a singular mark its shape bore not a similarity to the human hand though of the smallest pygmy size" (Hawthorne 417).

However when placed upon the left cheek of Georgiana a woman perfect in every way except for that slight flaw it makes a world of difference. Aylmer goes as far as to say " 'Dearest Georgiana, you came so nearly perfect from the hand of Nature that this slightest possible defect, which we hesitate whether to term a defect or a beauty, shocks me, as a visible mark of earthly imperfection' "(Hawthorne 417). The birthmark shocks Aylmer to the point he cannot glance at her face without feeling disgust. Many people "affirmed that the bloody hand, as they chose to call it quite destroyed the effect of Georgiana's beauty, and rendered her countenance even hideous" (Hawthorne 417). The Characters of the story perceive the birthmark as the only thing holding Georgiana back from perfection. If not...