Perfection is a Birthmark

Perfection is a Birthmark

            I think that in Aylmer’s case, it wasn’t the actual birthmark that affected him but what it represented. It reminds him of the imperfections of nature, which is something he has dedicated his entire life to eliminating. Yet, he has had very few successes. When he sees the handprint, he is reminded of his failures. The birthmark is a red hand on her cheek which can’t be hidden. Which is why he becomes so obsessed with it. It is also a reminder for Aylmer of Georgiana’s past suitors and is therefore a mark of impurity.  The fact that the mark is in the shape of a hand is also important to note because it makes Georgiana’s beauty into an object that can be touched and manipulated.

This story shows how women are often times treated as objects that shouldn’t be able to decide what they want to look like or be with. When Aylmer first confronts Georgiana about her birthmark she replies: “Then why did you take me from my mother’s side? You cannot love what shocks you” (Hawthorne, pg 85, paragraph 3). Georgiana makes it sound like it wasn’t her choice to marry him. Whether that is true or not, this illustrates how trapped Georgiana feels now that she is stuck with a man that doesn’t appreciate her natural beauty because he is not capable of accepting nature as it is.

            This story also raises the question of how far a person is willing to go to become accepted by the person they love. The story answers this question in the end with Georgiana’s death because it shows that if you blindly follow someone’s orders, you could end up becoming seriously harmed or killed. It’s like when you hear the situation of “if your friends told you to jump off a cliff, would you?” We’ve all heard this before, but how seriously do we understand it. Your immediate response hopefully is of course not. But, what if you are constantly pressured to do so or your “friends” assure you that you won’t get hurt from the jump? Or you start to be treated differently by said friends just because you won’t adhere to the expectations that people have for you? Would you still be able to say no? Georgiana was pretty much in this exact situation and was eventually battered down by Aylmer’s behavior toward her birthmark to accept his resolution to get rid of it. Georgiana was an innocent so far as the reader knows (although she may have a questionable past with her previous suitors), yet a physical tribute made Aylmer feel she was less.

            The handprint is also like a mark of abuse or aggression. The way Aylmer treats his wife creates all sorts of contradictions and makes Aylmer a hypocrite. When she goes into his laboratory uninvited, Aylmer grabs her to make her leave. “He rushed towards her and seized her arm with a grip that left the print of his fingers upon it,” (Hawthorne, pg. 95, paragraph 5). Aylmer makes almost the exact print that is on her face on her arm when not a second before he was preparing for the removal of the birthmark on her face! It becomes clear that it was never really about Georgiana and making a correction on her face. It is about Aylmer achieving perfection and him never being able to accomplish that. He is taking his frustrations out on Georgiana and she is the one who truly loses in the end. This scene also serves as a metaphor because it shows how you can try to be perfect but the decisions you make to become perfect make you less perfect. In fact, it becomes the undoing, downward spiral, flush down the toilet, etc.

            Perfection can drive a person insane for many reasons. First, its basic definition is difficult to actually understand. Especially because everyone has their own ideas of what is perfect. This makes it difficult to be perfect in everyone’s eyes. Second, becoming whatever entails being perfect is challenging. As a musician, I will practice one little piece of music for hours on end to make it perfect. I used to think that my music always had to be a certain way and then I discovered that’s not necessarily true. Making something into my own little thing of beauty helps me achieve my own form of perfection. My definition of perfection is to be the most you that you can be in the best ways. If Aylmer had realized this he may still have a wife.