According to Nathaniel Hawthorne biography, his clear insight about humanity’s diseases, sins and quarrels, and, along with these conflicts, their paradoxes influences one of his finest works, “The Birth-Mark” in 1843. Interestingly, in 1812 the Grimm Brothers’ “Snow White” tells a similar story through symbolism and character development. Both authors use symbolism to establish the bridge between life and the state of death and to show signs of dominance. In addition, the parallelism between the two stories demonstrates the similarities between Aylmer and the evil stepmother. As a result, it raises a question of whether or not perfectionism is worth pursuing.
In Hawthorne’s story, the birthmark symbolizes many things depending upon the…show more content… The birthmark on Georgiana’s cheek is “deeply interwoven” (214) into her snow white skin. Instead of allowing it to take over her identity, Georgiana copes with the fact that she is born with it and views it as a lucky charm (214). Her opinion of the birthmark changes when her newlywed husband Aylmer is disgusted by the sight of the tiny, crimson red hand nested on her face. Her confidence drops dramatically. Georgiana becomes lifeless whenever she catches him staring at her because she knows that she is not the target, the birthmark is. Soon the topic about the birthmark circles her life. She cannot live a day without the mention of the birthmark on her face. The birthmark, once was a lucky charm, now is taking over Georgiana’s life and peace because she can no longer see her own reflection the same way again. “Not even Aylmer now hated it so much as she” (220). In Snow White’s case, she lives with seven men. This clearly shows that she is outnumbered by the opposite sex. During her time living with the dwarves, her role is to clean and cook for them; whereas, the dwarves’ role is to go to work and return home after work hours. It is evident that the male role is dominating the female because of his ability to make money. Furthermore, Snow White’s inability to defend herself indicates that she is the damsel in distress who requires constant protection from the antagonist by a male