Friday, February 17, 2012

Imperfection: Merely Superficial


            Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story “The Birthmark” is a tale that showcases a thematic discussion of perfection versus imperfection, and the natural versus the unnatural.  The crux of the story’s narrative revolves around Aylmer, a scientist, and his wife Georgiana.  Georgiana is described as a picture of beauty by most, a picture only lightly tarnished by a small birthmark upon her face.  Unfortunately for Georgiana, Aylmer is unable to look past this slight imperfection, and seeks to concoct a formula that will remove the mark from her face permanently.  Aylmer’s efforts grow towards borderline obsession, and his ultimately bitter success offers an interesting perspective upon the motifs of perfection and imperfection.  Aylmer becomes more and more absorbed in perfecting his wife by removing the birthmark, but is unable to understand that the mark itself grants a semblance of natural perfection. 
            The most important aspect of the birthmark is the strangely polarizing descriptions made by Aylmer and those of other men.  When the birthmark is first discussed, the narrator explains how Georgiana’s previous lovers would playfully claim the birthmark was created when a “fairy at her birth hour had laid her tiny hand upon the infant's cheek, and left this impress there in token of the magic endowments that were to give her such sway over all hearts” (85).  The metaphor utilized by Hawthorne paints the origins of the birthmark in a positive light, as though its creation were a gift from a spirit of the supernatural.  The diction is crucial to the metaphor, especially the words “fairy,” and “token.”  The word “token” implies that the birthmark is a gift rather than a scar and the term “fairy” hints that this gift was granted by a kindly, otherworldly being.
            On the other hand, Aylmer tends to assume the opposite view.  Rather than viewing the birthmark The scientist describes the birthmark on several occasions as being a “bloody hand” or even a “fatal hand” and views the mark as the sole permanent marring of Georgiana’s perfection.  Aylmer’s quest to remove the mark progresses to near obsession however, as the scientist slowly comes to believe that the imperfections created by the mark have grown more than skin deep.  In a telling moment,  Aylmer displays the corrosive effects of an acid and upon being asked by Georgiana if this solution is intended for her, Aylmer replies that the solution was “merely superficial” and that Georgiana’s “case demands a remedy that shall go deeper” (93).  The word “remedy” indicates that Aylmer perceives the birthmark in the same vein as a disease or plague that must be cured.  When coupled with the words “merely superficial” however, imply that Aylmer believes this imperfection has grown beyond a mere birthmark and become a figurative scar upon Georgiana’s soul.  The foreshadowing of Aylmer’s remedy displays his desire to cleanse not only his wife’s face, but her very spirit through unnatural means.
            The ultimate irony at the end of the tale is stated by the narrator: Aylmer had “failed to look beyond the shadowy scope of time, and, living once for all in eternity, to find the perfect future in the present” (99). In becoming so consumed with removing this twinge of perceived imperfection from his wife’s body, the narrator concludes that Aylmer failed to realize that it is only through accepting these natural imperfections that humans are capable of understanding the true, natural perfection that lies beyond, or is perhaps even augmented by these birthmark-like blemishes.  Instead, Aylmer’s intent to remove the mark by unnatural, scientific means results in Georgiana’s death, a sign that the very imperfections she possessed were the only link to the living world.

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