Aylmer In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Birthmark

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Aylmer didn’t know how far was too far. In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story “The Birthmark,” he creates a fictional character, Aylmer. Aylmer was a scientist who could be depicted as an idealist, and a passionate murderer. Georgina was Aylmer’s wife. She was a sweet and insecure character. While she thought they were happily married, Aylmer realized that his wife had a flaw that couldn’t stay unnoticed. There was a birthmark on her cheek, and while others thought it was beautiful, he thought it was hideous. He became paranoid with the birthmark. She was hurt by his actions and his words, so she decided to have the birthmark removed. She was scared and nervous but she went along with the operation done by Aylmer. When the operation was over, the birthmark was gone and they were content and more in love than ever. That didn’t last long because she became ill and died not long after that, due to the removal of her birthmark. “The Birthmark” is a parable of a scientist who murdered his wife in the process of trying to modify her into a man’s idea of what a woman should be or look like, while she was blinded by her lack of confidence, lack of independence and her love for him.…show more content…
The way he thought of the birthmark, that the removal of it would complete her and make her perfect, made him unappreciative of all that his wife was. She wasn’t only the little hand-shaped mole on her face, but she was his partner and also a human with feelings. It would be different if he only wanted to help her look better than what she already did, but it’s obvious that it wasn’t his intention. He only wanted to feed his curiosity and get rid of his nightmares. He was selfish in that way because he didn’t think of her health. He didn’t think he would hurt her feelings, but someone who was more selfless could see that his words would leave
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