This document provides a summary and analysis of Nathaniel Hawthorne's short story "The Birthmark." It discusses how the story warns of the dangers of pursuing physical perfection through science and reflects Hawthorne's era. It analyzes symbols in the story and compares the character of Aylmer to real-life figures like Sir Kenelm Digby. The document also discusses how the story foreshadows ideas like Darwinism and eugenics that aimed to define and pursue human perfection. Overall, it examines how Hawthorne used "The Birthmark" to demonstrate the moral failings and harm that can result when men try to play God and perfect nature.

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Whitney R. Driscoll
13 August 2016
“The Birthmark” and Science
Man, in his utmost desire for physical flawlessness, proves blind to the pain he inflicts
upon his fellow men and himself. Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Birthmark” provides an
interesting tale that forewarns about the dangers of science and its influence on men to strive for
this perfection. Throughout the short story, the themes of science and perfection intertwine and
combine, demonstrating that Hawthorne saw the effects of science on mankind. He effectively
provides his readers an interesting tale that shares a moral through his symbol of the birthmark.
Hawthorne’s mournful tale uses the male protagonist, Aylmer, and his beautiful wife, Georgiana,
to show how the journey for physical perfection ultimately leads to the loss of true bliss. One
cannot comprehend the tale’s moral, however, without taking a quick stroll through “The
Birthmark.”
“The Birthmark” begins with a short introduction of the man named Aylmer who, as
Hawthorne writes, is, “a man of science, an eminent proficient in every branch of natural
philosophy, who not long before our story opens had made experience of a spiritual affinity more
attractive than any chemical one” (Hawthorne 340). Soon after meeting Aylmer, the reader
discovers that this “man of science” briefly lost his interest for nature to the love a woman – a
woman named Georgiana. He married Georgiana, giving her all his love; but soon, Aylmer’s
obsession with scientific knowledge emotionally drags him away from his love for his wife as he
finds it more and more difficult to ignore the only defect on Georgiana’s flawless skin: the
birthmark, “a singular mark, deeply interwoven, as it were, with the texture and substance of her
face” (Hawthorne 341). Aylmer’s disgust with the birthmark encourages him to manipulate his
wife into feeling ashamed of its presence. At his insistence for its removal, Georgiana relents as

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now her sole wish is for her husband to gaze upon her with full devotion and not shudder every
time he sees her small defect (Hawthorne 343-45). However, Aylmer’s attempt at eradicating
imperfection leads to Georgiana’s death and his remorse for not realizing that his wife was true
perfection (Hawthorne 351). Aylmer’s devotion for science, therefore, corrupts his own love for
Georgiana and blinds him to the beauty she already possessed.
Through his short story of “The Birthmark,” Hawthorne reflects the era in which he lived
and forewarns of man’s blindness to how science makes him pursue perfection. According to
John J. Miller in his Wall Street Journal article, Hawthorne wrote “The Birthmark” around the
same time his wife, Sophia, had a miscarriage. Sophia, after she lost her child, later went on to
say, “Men’s accidents are God’s purposes” meaning that everything happens for a reason
(Miller). Miller believes the miscarriage and what his wife said gave Hawthorne purpose and
inspiration for the “The Birthmark” (Miller). This makes sense considering “The Birthmark” is
all about perfection and how men continue to strive for it. Miller further goes on to say
Hawthorne forewarns that those who do not accept imperfection as human and attempt to
interfere with it will do so “at our peril” (Miller).
The peril which mankind faces in its attempt for perfection is seen mainly in the scientific
realm. Yukitoshi Hayashi explains this danger eloquently in an article entitled “Science and
Religion in ‘The Birthmark’ and ‘Rappaccini's Daughter’” which provides some interesting
insight on “The Birthmark.” Hayashi points out how prior to the eighteenth century, many
advances in science were made; some of these include the publishing of Sir Isaac Newton’s
Principia and the establishment of the Royal Society (Hayashi 1). When Hawthorne’s century
rolled around, James Watt improved the steam engine, the Industrial Revolution took place, and
the era itself became known as the age of reason. These events appear relevant in an indirect way

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as Hayashi states, “Aylmer… seems to be one of the scientists in such an epoch. He seems to be
familiar with some of the latest discoveries such as a kind of magic lantern, electricity, and
daguerreotype” (Hayashi 1). Hayashi further points out how in that particular age science was
still considered “natural philosophy” and that before many scientific discoveries, most
phenomena in nature people called miracles or mysteries; scientists, therefore, were believed to
violate “the realm of God” (Hayashi 2). Hayashi shows how as science transformed, providing
more and more explanations for the natural world, Hawthorne foresaw how increased scientific
knowledge took away the morality of human beings.
Hawthorne, perhaps, found his inspiration for the character, Aylmer, in the real life
perfectionist known as Sir Kenelm Digby. Author Alfred Reid so aptly writes in “Hawthorne’s
Humanism ‘The Birthmark’ and Sir Kenelm Digby”, “Heart and mind are tainted by mortality…
They lead to evil as well as to greater good; evil and suffering, in turn, become agents of
ennoblement,” (Reid 337). Perhaps the “agents of ennoblement” were the reasons Reid saw the
striking resemblances of Aylmer to Sir Kenelm Digby. Reid describes the history of Sir Digby
and how, when his wife died, people rumored he “had poisoned her with ‘viper-wine,’ either
because of jealousy or through experiments to preserve the glow of youth and beauty in one of
the celebrated beauties of the age” (Reid 337-38). Reid points out that Hawthorne’s protagonist
also killed his wife for the sake of perfection (Reid 339); this suggests that Hawthorne saw the
pitfalls of the desire for perfection in Sir Digby and wished to portray this same downfall in
Aylmer as a warning to others. Additionally, Reid describes other similarities including how both
the fictional character of Aylmer and the real life person of Sir Digby were scientists, owned
works from Albertus Magnus and the friar who made the Brazen Head, as well as performed
experiments with natural elements (Reid 339-40). Reid uses these similarities to not only show

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how Hawthorne drew from his knowledge of Sir Digby to create the character of Aylmer, but
also how both Aylmer and Digby destroyed the people they loved most for the sake of perfection.
Hawthorne describes Aylmer as desiring to understand the laws of nature so he could
overcome “Nature” therefore becoming the creator of perfection. Hawthorne shows how Aylmer
believes himself to be equal to God as he tells his wife, “doubt not my power… I feel myself
fully competent to render this dear cheek as faultless as its fellow” continuing with saying that
his triumph will be when “I shall have corrected what Nature left imperfect in her fairest work!”
(Hawthorne 343). One further example of Aylmer’s desire for the infinite is, as Hawthorne
describes, how he “handled physical details as if there were nothing beyond them; yet
spiritualized them all, and redeemed himself from materialism by his strong and eager aspiration
towards the infinite. In his grasp the veriest clod of earth assumed a soul” (Hawthorne 348). The
last statement appears to reference the Holy Bible where it says “And the Lord God formed man
of the slime of the earth: and breathed into his face the breath of life, and man became a living
soul” (Genesis 2:7). Through this association between Aylmer and God one can assume
Hawthorne desires to stress Aylmer’s endeavor to be like God and from this show how men, as
they progress in science, wish to play God.
While Nathaniel Hawthorne could not see far into the future, his warnings of striving for
perfect are proven true in Darwinism and eugenics. Charles Darwin, author of “The Descent of
Man” wrote how it might “be enquired whether man, like so many other animals, has given rise
of varieties and sub-races,… races differing so much that they must be classed as doubtful
species” (Darwin 395). In this statement by Darwin, one can safely assume that he believed some
races of man to be subhuman, maybe not even human at all but closer to being an ape. Another
more famous quote from Charles Darwin describes his belief more clearly as he talks about how

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civilized men choose to “check the process of elimination” and “build asylums for the imbecile,
the maimed, and the sick” enabling the less fit men to survive and thrive (Darwin 501). He later
says, “No one who has attended to the breeding of domestic animals will doubt that this must be
highly injurious to the race of man … hardly any one is so ignorant as to allow his worst animals
to breed” (Darwin 501). To Darwin, it is quite apparent, that the races considered inferior to
civilized men should not be allowed to survive and reproduce children. Charles Darwin,
therefore, provides an example of how men can lose their morality when seeking perfection.
Eugenics furthers this idea of physical perfection and shows the morals of “The
Birthmark.” According to the article “The Effect of Science upon Man,” eugenics desires “a
selection between individuals. It asks simply for a gradual increase in births among those
individuals who are above the average of their group in socially valuable qualities. It wants a
gradual decrease in births among those below the average of valuable qualities” (Science
Service). It further states its approval of parents with the “best home training for their children”
and states that this would be “a happy philosophy for planning mankind’s future” (Science
Service). This article provided by Science Service proves how man’s use of science to gain
perfection leads to the suppression of those considered unworthy of such perfection.
Hawthorne, while showing through Aylmer how men desire perfection, also uses several
symbols within the theme that show man’s attempt for perfection always fails and perhaps even
brings about violent results which many choose to ignore for the sake of perfection. The first
symbol used is that of a flower which Aylmer shows to Georgiana. “Aylmer bade her cast her
eyes upon a vessel containing a quantity of earth,” Hawthorne writes. Later, when Georgiana
looks upon the pot, she is “startled to perceive the germ of a plant shooting upward from the soil.
Then came the slender stalk; the leaves gradually unfolded themselves; and amid them was a

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perfect and lovely flower” (Hawthorne 345). From this excerpt one believes Aylmer has
succeeded in achieving the same level as God only to be proven mistaken when “Georgiana had
no sooner touched the flower than the whole plant suffered a blight” (Hawthorne 345). At
another point in the story, Aylmer gives Georgian a liquid which he claims, “Unless all my
science have deceived me, it cannot fail” (Hawthorne 350); he then shows her how it takes the
blemishes out of a certain plant. But later on we find his attempt to remove the birthmark fails
and kills Georgiana as it “grappled with the mystery of life and was the bond by which an
angelic spirit kept itself in union with a mortal frame” (Hawthorne 351). Hawthorne shows how
Aylmer in his efforts to perfect nature over and over again fail because he himself has flaws.
Another way Hawthorne shows the dangers of science is through his description of Aylmer’s
devotion to his scientific studies. When Aylmer looks upon his wife’s birthmark, Hawthorne
writes how every time he looked “upon his wife’s face and recognized the symbol of
imperfection; and when they sat together at the evening hearth his eyes wandered stealthily to
her cheek, and beheld, … the flickering hand that wrote mortality where he would fane have
worshipped” (Hawthorne 342). Through this statement, Hawthorne shows how Aylmer’s love for
science has lessened his love for his own wife as now he can no longer accept anything less than
perfection. Another example of Aylmer’s belief that he can achieve perfection is within the very
realm of his laboratory where “during his toilsome youth, he had made discoveries in the
elemental powers of Nature” and that “he had studied the wonders of the human frame, and
attempted to fathom the very process by which Nature assimilates all her precious influences
from earth and air and from the spiritual world, to create and foster man, her masterpiece”
(Hawthorne 344). These statements exemplify Aylmer’s obsession with science and his belief in
obtaining perfection.

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The troubling tale of “The Birthmark” forewarns of how man’s own desire for flawlessness
only creates misery for his fellow men in life. Not only does it caution against tampering with
nature, but also foreshadows a day when man, as he delves deeper into the mysteries of science
will play God. Man in his denial of his own mortality seeks out ways to create perfection even if
it means sacrificing his fellow being. As Hawthorne writes in the end of Aylmer, “he failed to
look beyond the shadowy scope of time, and, living once for all in eternity, to find the perfect
future in the present” (Hawthorne 351); perhaps this concluding sentence rings truest of all as it
makes a bold statement that those who choose to pretend they are God in an attempt to gain
perfection within humanity fail and destroy the lives of those among them. Yet as men try to gain
perfection, they inflict upon their seemingly more imperfect fellow men certain inequalities and
perhaps even death. Just as Aylmer considered the birthmark the defect of his wife, making her
ugly in his eyes, so too do “civilized” men consider the maimed and unattractive as the defect of
society. So the moral of “The Birthmark” lives on, though its warnings are continuously left
unheeded.
(Word Count: 2226)

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Works Cited
Darwin, Charles. The Origin of Species and the Descent of Man. “The Descent of Man,” edited
by the Modern Library, Random House, 1871, 395-920.
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. “The Birthmark.” The Norton Introduction to Literature, edited by
Spencer Richardson-Jones, 11th
ed., W.W. Norton & Company, 2013, 340-351.
Miller, John J. "Gothic Mystery Meets Puritan Belief; Medical ethics are at odds with the ideal of
human perfection in Nathaniel Hawthorne's 'The Birthmark.'." Wall Street Journal
(Online), 24 Apr. 2015, eLibrary, Web. 01 Aug. 2016.
Reid, Alfred S. "Hawthorne's Humanism: "The Birthmark" and Sir Kenelm Digby." American
Literature, vol. 38, No. 3, Duke University Press, 1966, 337-351, file:///F:/English/Comp.
%201302/essays/large%20essays/Essay%20IV/sources/2922905.pdf.
Science Service. "The Effect of Science upon Man." The Scientific Monthly, vol. 47, No. 1,
American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1938, 73,
file:///F:/English/Comp.%201302/essays/large%20essays/Essay
%20IV/sources/16811.pdf.
“The Book of Genesis.” The Holy Bible Translated from the Latin Vulgate, Lepanto Press, 1914,
5-61.