“The Birth-mark” 525give up her life. Georgiana’s love for him is so great
that she is willing to give up her life in an attempt to
make him content with her; further, her own hatred
for the birthmark has now surpassed her husband’s
because of her love for him. Aylmer’s behavior, on
the other hand, indicates that his love for his wife is
now even more secondary to his love for science, as
he has already put a great deal of thought into the
surgery that would remove the mark.
Aylmer’s love/obsession with science causes the
tale to build toward its climax—the attempted
removal of the birthmark. Aylmer takes Georgiana
into his laboratory and, with the help of Aminadab,
his rough and dirty assistant, begins preparations for
the experiment. As the two men prepare, Aminadab
offers up a view of love much closer to that of Geor-
giana’s, saying that if he were married to her, he’d
never part with the mark. This comment is quickly
forgotten, as Aylmer focuses on making Georgiana
more comfortable. This suggests a certain degree of
caring for his wife, although at this point it seems
that Aylmer looks at her more as the subject of his
experiment than his love.
While Georgiana waits for Aylmer, she begins
to browse his collection of journals. One contains
all of her husband’s experiments; as she reads
through it, she realizes that the majority of his suc-
cesses were by-products of failed experiments. His
failures make him more human, and cause her to
“love him more profoundly than ever.” His imper-
fections have made him more human and caused
her love for him to grow. Aylmer, on the other
hand, loves Georgiana less as a person and more as
a potential experiment, because of her “imperfec-
tion.” If he succeeds, his love for her will grow, but
only because she will represent his own ability to
change nature, to play God.
By tale’s end, Aylmer succeeds in removing the
mark. He gives Georgiana a liquid-filled goblet to
drink, and she falls into a deep sleep. As she rests,
the mark disappears, and Aylmer begins to rejoice.
As Georgiana wakes, he praises both the success of
his experiment as well as her perfection but still fails
to mention his love for her. Georgiana, however,
continues to put Aylmer’s interests ahead of hers;
the liquid given to her has poisoned her body and
she is dying, yet her first words upon waking are of
concern for her husband. His happiness now super-
sedes even her own desire to live.
Hawthorne aptly distinguishes between two
opposing versions of love in “The Birth-mark.”
Aylmer’s love of science and his own intellectual
pursuits run just as deep as Georgiana’s love for him,
and both characters become obsessive in their love.
Also, because Georgiana’s love centers on a desire for
the complete happiness of her beloved, she is in love
with an entity that can never be satisfied. Aylmer’s
hubris can never be sated; there will always be more
to learn and more experiments to attempt.
Ronald DavisScience and technoloGy in “The Birth-
mark”
An unnatural obsession with science and technol-
ogy is the catalyst for the major events within “The
Birth-mark.” One of the main characters, Aylmer, is
a renowned scientist and recluse, having dedicated
so much time to scientific pursuits that he has
little time for anything else. Even Aylmer’s love
for his wife, Georgiana, is second to his love of
science. Through Aylmer and Georgiana’s relation-
ship, Hawthorne offers a warning against Aylmer’s
reckless experimentation, showing as he does in
other works how things can go horribly awry when
a desire for intellectual pursuits supersedes a desire
for emotional sustenance. Through this relation-
ship, he also explores the nature of obsession and
objectification.
Early in the story, Aylmer begins to focus on a
small blemish marking Georgiana’s cheek. Geor-
giana is hurt by Aylmer’s comment that he finds
the mark shocking, and because she doesn’t wish
to cause her husband any distress, she asks him to
rid her of the mark. Oblivious to his wife’s sensi-
tivity, Aylmer leaps at the opportunity to perfect
her. Having already thought a great deal, and even
dreamed, about the process of removing the mark,
Aylmer immediately sets into motion a series of
experiments designed to destroy it. The next day,
the process begins. Aylmer takes Georgiana to his
lab and shows her his various experiments. He is
invigorated by her presence in his laboratory, most
particularly by her attention to and admiration
of his tales of scientific discoveries. Thoroughly