"The Birthmark" by Nathaniel Hawthorne

My Reflections on “The Birthmark” by Nathaniel Hawthorne

    In, “The Birthmark,” the fascination with the perfect human form seems to come into play. The character Georgiana thinks nothing of her birthmark until her husband Aylmer becomes obsessed with it. Aylmer lets the birthmark upon his beautiful wife’s face consume him so much that he forms a distasteful look when he looks at his wife and sees the birthmark. As he shudders every time he looks at his wife, she then begins to develop a distaste for the birthmark to ultimately agreeing to letting him remove it. The story is an example of how easily a person’s self-esteems can be affected by someone they love.

     While reading “The Birthmark,”  one can easily question why the birthmark was such a big deal throughout the story. Maybe the author was trying to show the workings of the mind and how easily one thought can change into something bigger. Once something gets in your mind, it his hard to change it. The power of the mind is a powerful thing. It could cause someone to shutter when they see something that they have developed a bad taste for. The story also shows how someone with good self-esteems after daily attacks begins to think the same as those who attack or mistreat them. The power of the mind can drive someone crazy when you are consumed with bad thoughts.

     The story reflects how in today’s world people are willing to risk their life to look a certain way.  This must be a theme in a woman’s life that has always been around. At the end of the story, Georgiana  feels this way as well which ultimately causes her death. Georgiana’s feelings and impending death are foreshadowed as her husband’s feelings about removing it are mentioned in the story.