| Title | : | The Birth-Mark |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | - |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 48 |
| Publication | : | First published March 1, 1843 |
The Birth-Mark Reviews
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*3.5 stars *
“You don't love someone because they're perfect, you love them in spite of the fact that they're not.”
― Jodi Picoult, My Sister's Keeper
Aylmer is a scientist, and science is
his number one love, but then he meets Georgiana, and she’s such a beauty that he can’t believe his luck, and immediately makes her his wife.
There’s just one problem as far as
Aylmer is concerned - Georgiana has a birthmark on her left cheek, it’s in the shape of a tiny hand, but against her pale skin it stands out red and loud, and the longer he looks at it Aylmer finds that he can’t bear this blemish.
Now, as a skilled scientist, Aylmer convinces Georgiana that he can remove her one and only imperfection, and he really believes that he can, but Can he? And should he? Find out for yourself, it’s a very short read and it’s free on this link
https://wikis.westchesterlibraries.or...
My thanks to Kimber for bringing it to my attention. -
"The key to happiness is letting go of that idea of perfection."
—Debra Messing
Aylmer, the scientist, is more in love with his experiments than he is with Georgiana, his beautiful young wife. Somewhat in denial, but more so preoccupied with his work, he has hitherto failed to notice an unusual birthmark on his wife's cheek: a red birthmark, vibrant against her pale skin, and shaped like a tiny human hand.
Many a gentleman would have welcomed the opportunity to kiss that little hand, but oh no, not our Aylmer. He finds the birthmark hideous and wants it removed. I'd have given lowlife Aylmer a thud if I was her! (Aylmer Thud: I do amuse myself).
So the fable proceeds with our scumbag scientist's attempts to rid his dutiful wife of her rather fetching blemish.
Will his God complex and pursuit of perfection be the ruination of their marriage? Will Georgiana put a branding iron to his face and give the bastard a proper flaw that he won't soon forget? Go to this link to find out!
The story can be read in less time than it takes to drink a cup of tea and is well worth your while:
https://wikis.westchesterlibraries.or...
My thanks to Kimber Silver, whose fab review drew my attention:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... -
I see myself in a mirror several times a day. I am all too aware of my imperfections, but I don’t use FaceTune and Snapchat filters to hide them. Nor have I been tempted by fillers or cosmetic surgery. My body, my choice, but what if my husband wanted me to make a little enhancement - or I wanted him to? What risks, pain, and cost would I be prepared to endure? When do silent pressure and the possible loss of love bypass consent?
This Gothic story was written in 1843 and set “in the latter part of the last century”, but it’s horribly pertinent today, when beauty standards are ever more unnatural but are also potentially attainable. At a cost. A societal cost that can include eating disorders, depression, anxiety, social phobia, self-harm, extreme procedures, bankruptcy, deformity, and in extremis, death.
Image: A real girl and a highly edited version of her picture. Part of Dove’s self-esteem project (
Source)
The seduction of science
“During his toilsome youth, he had made discoveries in the elemental powers of Nature, that had roused the admiration of all the learned societies in Europe.”
A few years later, Aylmer “persuaded a beautiful woman to become his wife”.
Something in that phrasing rings muted alarm bells.
Georgiana has a small birthmark on one cheek: a “Crimson Hand”, which she has always believed to be a sort of charm. It brightens and fades a little according to her emotions, and Aylmer is increasingly perturbed by this visible imperfection and (not that he states it) what it seems to symbolise. He has a bloody dream of cutting it away. If beauty is more than skin deep, perhaps imperfections are as well. In her distress at her husband’s increasing revulsion of it and her, eventually Georgiana says, perhaps echoing Lady Macbeth in a very different context:
“Either remove this dreadful Hand, or take my wretched life! You have deep science!”
Science is a potent drug to a scientist like Aylmer. But science has limits, even when ambition does not.
The corruption of science
The story moves from the domestic to the laboratory and adjoining room. There is an air of alchemy, wonder, and claustrophobia:
“There was a distilling apparatus in full operation. Around the room were retorts, tubes, cylinders, crucibles, and other apparatus of chemical research. An electrical machine stood ready for immediate use. The atmosphere felt oppressively close, and was tainted with gaseous odors, which had been tormented forth by the processes of science.”
I thought of
Frankenstein, written 25 years earlier.
The contrasts between Aminadab, the assistant, and Aylmer demonstrate one interpretation of the story:
“A man of low stature, but bulky frame, with shaggy hair hanging about his visage, which was grimed with the vapors of the furnace… With his vast strength, his shaggy hair, his smoky aspect, and the indescribable earthiness that encrusted him, he seemed to represent man's physical nature; while Aylmer's slender figure, and pale, intellectual face, were no less apt a type of the spiritual element.”
Experiments go on for days; time is cloudy like the air. When Georgiana takes an interest in his work, Aylmer is “displeased”, which is evidently a euphemism for his wrath.
When Aylmer comes bearing a crystal goblet, he uses the draught he's made to resurrect a geranium. Science or miracle? Will Georgiana sip from the eucharistic chalice he proffers? The story warns against his hubris, with a homily akin to 21st century mindfulness:
“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.”
Image: Just be in the moment (
Source)
See also
For a futuristic take on similar ideas, see Ted Chiang's short story, Liking What You See, which I reviewed
HERE.
Short story club
I read this as one of the stories in
The Art of the Short Story, by Dana Gioia, from which I'm aiming to read one story a week with
The Short Story Club, starting 2 May 2022.
You can read this story
here.
You can join the group
here. -
The Birth-Mark by Nathaniel Hawthorne
I took Kevin Ansbro's challenge to see if I could finish this short story before I finished my big cup of tea. I did it! Here is the link to Nathaniel Hawthorne's story, The Birth-Mark.
https://wikis.westchesterlibraries.or...
Kevin's review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I do not feel kindly towards Aylmer, the scientist of the story. I wish Georgiana recognized her worth was greater than her husband's wishes. Thanks to Kevin for bringing the story to my attention. -
Another classic tale by Hawthorne with a great moral. Aylmer, a brilliant and obsessed scientist is married to a beautiful young woman, named Georgiana. She has only one fault, a crimson mark on her left cheek. This flaw of nature drives Aylmer into a frenzy. He definitely wants to get rid of this mark. Soon his wife agrees with his plans. Will his special draught be a cure to her beauty spot? Brilliant parable on vanity, beauty and pseudo-science. I also liked the fact that Aylmer is presented more as a sorcerer or alchemist than a true scientist. Aminadab, his helper, is against the removal of the mark... Absolutely recommended, a classic!
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Short story about a great scientist (Aylmer) who becomes fixated on his wife's birthmark, which is on her cheek, to the point where he goes to any lengths to remove it. I didn't like Aylmer at all.
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For some strange reason, this review (written in 2019) has completely disappeared from view! : (
So I've restored it from a backup copy.
"The key to happiness is letting go of that idea of perfection."
—Debra Messing
Aylmer is a scientist more in love with his experiments than with Georgiana, his beautiful young wife. Somewhat in denial, but more so preoccupied with his work, he has hitherto failed to notice an unusual blemish on his wife's cheek: a red birthmark, vibrant against her pale skin, and shaped like a tiny human hand.
Many a gentleman would have welcomed the opportunity to kiss that little hand, but oh no, not our Aylmer. He finds the birthmark hideous and wants it removed. I'd have given lowlife Aylmer a thud if I was her! (Aylmer Thud: I do amuse myself).
So the fable proceeds with our scumbag scientist's attempts to rid his dutiful wife of her rather fetching blemish.
Will his God complex and pursuit of perfection be the ruination of their marriage? Will Georgiana put a branding iron to his face and give the bastard a proper flaw that he won't soon forget? Go to this link to find out!
The story can be read in less time than it takes to drink a cup of tea and is well worth your while:
https://wikis.westchesterlibraries.or... -
What a lovely short story by the author of The Scarlet Letter. The pursuit of perfection...it only takes 10 minutes to read and it hits the mark...a birth mark to be specific.
For a humorous take, read Kevin Ansbro’s review -
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
https://wikis.westchesterlibraries.or... -
"A long time ago, there lived a skillful scientist who had experienced a spiritual reaction more striking than any chemical one."
In this short story, we meet Aylmer, a brilliant researcher who finds himself swept away when love comes calling. Enter Georgiana, the angelic young lady who has made the genius’s mouth water. Aylmer and Georgiana make it official in a hurry because he knows that he is indeed fortunate to have won this beauty’s affection.
But then there is the birthmark.
"The mark was shaped like a very small human hand. Georgiana's past lovers used to say that the hand of a magical fairy had touched her face when she was born."
With each passing day, Aylmer becomes more vexed by this blemish on his wife’s otherwise flawless canvas.
“No dear, Nature made you so perfectly that this small defect shocks me as being a sign of earthly imperfection."
I may have left him with a handprint on his cheek for saying this, but Georgiana is much nicer than I am and she agrees to a series of experiments that will rid her of the perceived shortcoming.
The Birthmark takes less than fifteen minutes to read, and it’s free at the link below. Please take a peek. It’s a terrific tale!
https://wikis.westchesterlibraries.or...
A big thanks to Laysee; her fabulous review brought this story to my attention! -
How come we can never see our own imperfections as clearly as we seem to perceive another’s?
Aylmer has a beautiful wife, perfect in every way, except for the birthmark on her cheek. While some viewed the birthmark as a sign of individual and distinctive beauty, Aylmer saw it as a flaw in an otherwise perfect being. And once the imperfection is noticed, it becomes all he can see. He strives to create a potion that will remove the unsightly mark and restore perfection to his lovely wife. In the end we see that for Aylmer, it seems that love really isn’t blind, while his wife Georgiana loves, with the hope of being loved.
Hawthorne's timeless story will have you considering just how far we should go in our pursuit of both beauty and love. An easy read, find this 4-page short story for free here:
https://wikis.westchesterlibraries.or... -
It was the fatal flaw of humanity, which Nature, in one shape or another, stamps ineffaceably on all her productions, either to imply that they are temporary or finite, or that their perfection must by wrought by toil and pain.
A cautionary tale on human hubris, failure and the impossibility to cope with mortality.
(***1/2) -
This short story was just okay at best. Aylmer, who was a brilliant scientist, was pretty much a jerk. He supposedly loved his wife yet he obsessed day and night over the birthmark on her cheek wondering how to rid her of her imperfection.
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THE BIRTHMARK (1843)
After marriage, a small imperfection on the face of his otherwise beautiful wife ultimately torments a self-absorbed mad scientist taking the reader and story to the dark side.
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The Birthmark is a short story first published in 1843. Hawthorne told a timeless cautionary tale about the human quest for perfection that can become an obsession.
Aylmer was a man of science in the late 18th century. His mastery of science seemed to be a curious blend of alchemy, philosophy, and superstition. Aylmer persuaded a beautiful woman to marry him. We were told that ‘it was not unusual for the love of science to rival the love of women, in its depth and absorbing energy.’ Thus, his love for her was inextricably bound with his love of science.
One day, Aylmer looked at his wife, Georgiana, and saw for the first time a crimson birthmark on her cheek that repulsed him. It bore the shape of a little hand.
To him, that birthmark was a sign of ‘earthly imperfection’, ‘a crimson stain upon the snow’ and represented ‘his wife’s liability to sin, sorrow, decay, and death.’ He found it intolerable and Georgiana, who previously thought it charming, began to shudder at her husband’s critical gaze.
Aylmer’s obsession with the birthmark was so deep, it infiltrated his dreams and disrupted the peace of his marriage. Thus a scientific solution was planned to restore sanity and happiness to their marriage. Science presumably has all the answers and life will be perfect again, but will it truly?
Many thanks to Peter whose review stirred my curiosity about the fate of the birthmark. -
First published in The Pioneer (March 1843), “The Birth-Mark” is first-class Hawthorne, a product of the “Old Manse” years of his marriage. It is an allegory—like many of his earlier efforts—but an allegory fleshed out with new maturity, new humanity, aware of both the sensual possibilities and the tragic ironies of life.
Aylmer, both scientist and philosopher (and a bit of an alchemist too) marries the lovely Beatrice whose only physical flaw is a small birth-mark, on her left cheek, shaped like a little hand, faintly visible when her face glows with excitement but more prominent when great emotion makes her pale. Aylmer becomes obsessed with removing this birth-mark, which “shocks” him, for he considers it the “visible mark of earthly imperfection.” Because Beatrice loves him she agrees, and Aylmer goes to work, employing tools both chemical and occult to eliminate this blot on his wife’s otherwise perfect beauty. “The Birth-mark” is the account of Aylmer’s quest, and its consequences.
Perhaps the most wonderful thing about this story is the way its language yokes sensuality and mortality, beauty and death together. By doing so, Hawthorne foreshadows Beatrice's fate, but he does more: he presents the reader with a fully realized tragic vision of life.Had she been less beautiful--if Envy's self could have found aught else to sneer at--he might have felt his affection heightened by the prettiness of this mimic hand, now vaguely portrayed, now lost, now stealing forth again, and glimmering to-and-fro with every pulse of emotion that throbbed within her heart. But, seeing her otherwise so perfect, he found this one defect grow more and more intolerable, with every moment of their united lives. It was the fatal flaw of humanity, which Nature, in one shape or another, stamps ineffaceably on all her productions, either to imply that they are temporary and finite, or that their perfection must be wrought by toil and pain. The Crimson Hand expressed the ineludible gripe, in which mortality clutches the highest and purest of earthly mould, degrading them into kindred with the lowest, and even with the very brutes, like whom their visible frames return to dust. In this manner, selecting it as the symbol of his wife's liability to sin, sorrow, decay, and death, Aylmer's sombre imagination was not long in rendering the birth-mark a frightful object, causing him more trouble and horror than ever Georgiana's beauty, whether of soul or sense, had given him delight.
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Be careful what you wish for.
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The Birthmark is a wonderful short story by Nathaniel Hawthorne that confronts us with the omnipresent pressure of being physically perfect...by the standards in the eyes of the beholders around us.
Aylmer is a great scientist of in the 1700´s. However, among all interesting scientific topics he could have devoted his attention to, Aylmer is obsessed with the birthmark on his wife Georgiana's cheek that he desperately wants to remove as it depicts a beauty flaw to him. Eventually, after many discussions and tears, Georgiana gives in to her husband and succumbs to his experiment to have the birthmark removed.
As a consequence of Aylmer‘s experiment, Georgiana gains physical perfection with her birthmark completely fading away from her cheek whilst she fatally loses her life!
Perfect read, absolutely recommended!
#GroupReading
#GroupDiscussion
IG: nilguen_reads -
Book Review
Nathaniel Hawthorne is one of my favorite authors but I disliked The Birthmark. It was not a very interesting piece. It reminded me of other war literature, which I have never been able to get into. I would have much preferred that this piece was trashed and we could have read The Minister’s Black Veil. I absolutely love that piece, but we need a diverse experience of literature with Hawthorne, so... The Birthmark and Rappaccini’s Daughter were very similar when it came to the endings. By removing the one part of the beautiful woman that was hideous, their male lovers destroyed and killed them.
In The Birthmark, I sympathized with both the husband and the wife. I am a pessimist and tend to focus on the negative aspects of something, and I wonder how I would have looked at my wife’s face if she had a birthmark like that. It didn’t seem that bad, but it makes me think of how I would feel about my wife, if God forbid, she got into a car accident and had a horrible scar on her body somewhere visible everyday. I would be very cowardly if I only focused on that, and I know that’s what Hawthorne is getting at. It is definitely a piece to make you think about how you view perfection and whether you are an optimist or pessimist.
About Me
For those new to me or my reviews... here's the scoop: I read A LOT. I write A LOT. And now I blog A LOT. First the book review goes on Goodreads, and then I send it on over to my WordPress blog at
https://thisismytruthnow.com, where you'll also find TV & Film reviews, the revealing and introspective 365 Daily Challenge and lots of blogging about places I've visited all over the world. And you can find all my social media profiles to get the details on the who/what/when/where and my pictures. Leave a comment and let me know what you think. Vote in the poll and ratings. Thanks for stopping by. -
Thank you to several Goodreads friends....
This can be read in a couple of minutes ....
But since I am not Technology-Gifted.....I I don’t know how to submit the link here...
For those who would like to read this very short story....
a reminder about what matters and what doesn’t....
several other members - included the link to open.
A thanks- reach- out to Connie, Laysee, Kimber, Kevin, Maureen, Paula ( maybe she started it?- maybe Laysee?)....
Who knows… It’s like that game telephone....
Others???
Enjoy this short story ....
I promise it will be easy for you to find the link! -
3 Stars.
Beauty. It’s in the Eye of the Beholder.
Alymer became obsessed with his wife’s Birthmark, which she’s had since birth. It appeared on her face, like a tiny little hand. Everyone thought she was lovely, yet Alymer knew she could be more beautiful, if only, he could remove it.
As a scientist, he was positive he could do so, thus he set out to do just that. Georgiana loved her husband and as such, she allowed him to do with her as he wished, no matter the cost. Was he successful? Read it yourself to find out:
https://wikis.westchesterlibraries.or...
“The Birthmark” by Nathaniel Hawthorne is an extremely short story that makes you think about your imperfections and what they really amount to. Food for thought my friends.
Thank you to my Goodreads friends Kimber, Kevin and Maureen who turned me onto this short story!
Published on Goodreads On 12.21.19. -
I'm rereading this story for the Short Story Club so I'm writing a more complete review now:
"The Birthmark" is a story with a strong moral message about pride and imperfections. Georgiana, a beautiful woman, has one tiny imperfection--a birthmark on her face. Her husband, Aylmer focuses so much on Georgiana's birthmark that she loses her sense of self-worth. Georgiana agrees to let Aylmer try to remove her birthmark in his science laboratory. Aylmer's journal shows that he has failed in many of his scientific experiments, bringing Dr Frankenstein to mind. Aylmer is far from perfect himself, but he expects his wife to be perfect. Even scarier, he is so proud of his knowledge of science that he forges ahead using his wife as a science experiment.
Georgiana is an obedient, submissive wife which would be considered virtuous at the time. The author writes the story so that the domineering husband/submissive wife roles lead to tragic results. Hawthorn does see the point of view of women in his works.
The story was written in 1843 when the Industrial Revolution was showing both the benefits and limitations of science. "The Birthmark" shows a conflict between Science and Nature, created by the Divine who made humans imperfect. Aylmer tries to control Nature, but Nature has many mysteries, and he is unable to change what the Divine had created in the way he wants.
Today, people are concerned about their imperfections, especially young people who spend a lot of time on social media. Women tend the be judged more harshly for imperfections in their physical beauty. Although Hawthorn's story tends to be a little repetitive, it does have a timeless message.
3.5 stars
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12/24/2019
Aylmer, a chemist, is obsessed with removing a small birthmark from his beautiful wife's face. Hawthorne wrote a story about seeking perfection that can be read in ten minutes.
Thanks to my GR friend Paula.
https://wikis.westchesterlibraries.or... -
Reading this in the 21st century is somewhat of an anticlimax. It can annoy – the male needing to change the female so that she accommodates to what he believes she should be. It can amuse – Aylmer the scientist is a parody, although I was bemused by the fact that the narrator (and the wife!) identifies the admirable savant as a loser. It can disconcert – for scientific pursuit is still presented as an endeavor in magic and alchemy.
But we need to take this seriously after all. The nineteenth century morale can be projected onto our own set of contorted values. The drive to dominate Nature can indeed backfire.
Just have a look at the forests in the Amazon – and this is just an example. -
Very short story but very thought provoking. Thank you to Kimber for the link and other G/R pals for recent reviews that led me to this. I can’t add much to what has already been said except that Aylmer is an idiot. Ok, science rules but to the point of doing that to your beautiful wife??? If I’d been Georgiana I’d have told him to do one but instead she proves a fatal point to him. He had something truly beautiful in every way which he didn’t appreciate until it was too late. Fool.
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The Birthmark is a short story with a gothic horror vibe to it. It follows a scientist, Aylmer, who attempts to cure a small mark on his wife's cheek to make her perfect. In a world obsessed with photoshops and filters and cosmetic surgeries, the premise of this story, written over a century ago, is oddly relevant. Aylmer, in this story, is described as an eminent scientist, 'proficient
in every branch of natural philosophy', whose science borders on alchemy. He marries Georgiana, a beautiful woman with a hand-shaped birthmark on her cheek. He comes to believe it as a symbol of sin and decay, and his constant abhorrence of it makes his wife believe the same. He embarks on the journey to remove it, and the faithful wife obediently allows him, and as expected, they meet a tragic end. The relationship portrayed here between the husband and wife is quite toxic by today's standards, and Aylmer makes for a disgusting human being. I didn't particularly enjoy the prose here and am afraid Hawthorne's writing style might not be my cup of tea. But there are many moral messages in this story that are ageless. The futility of chasing perfection, the need for accepting people for who they are, and to first look at ourselves before judging others are important lessons that we are better off reminded once in a while. -
A small red birthmark on the cheek of your loved one. Is it a charm or a flaw? This short story illustrates the pursuit of perfection and its pitfalls.
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Hawthorne wrote this intriguing, gothic story in 1843, a highly moralistic tale about the obsession with perfection and the dangers and risks involved in seeking this human perfection. It is about a man who is a revered scientist and genius who is married to a beautiful woman, perfect in every way except for the birthmark on her face. He finds the tiny hand-shaped blemish repulsive and wants to remove it. He could, thus, use his scientific techniques in order to change what nature created. Without any thought to consequences or repercussions, the man begins his quest to take away what God gave his wife.
I couldn’t stop thinking about the similarities to Frankenstein here. Another story in which a man of science considers himself to be like God. It makes me wonder if the scientist loves his wife as much as his work or if his love for his work will supplant his love for her because he is prepared to take a huge risk to remove her birthmark. -
I liked this short story more than
Young Goodman Brown but not by much. I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m definitely not a
Nathaniel Hawthorne fan! -
The Birthmark is a cautionary tale about alchemy. Most of the great minds of the 17th century were involved in alchemy, including Robert Boyle, John Locke, Leibniz, and especially Isaac Newton.
Newton was particularly obsessed with The Philosopher’s Stone. Like others, Newton thought the stone could be an agent of universal transmutation. And as shown in Hawthorne’s story, an agent that could "cure" metals of their impurities and even cure human beings of their illnesses. So, it wasn’t just about changing lead to gold.
Newton believed in prisca sapientia, “secret wisdom,” first transmitted by an archetypical figure—such as Moses—and then passed down through a line of successors, usually including Pythagoras and Plato, and that this wisdom was really the ultimate tool for understanding the universe.
But there's no question that alchemy was borderline scandalous. It was universally debunked by the time of Hawthorne in the 19th century. My guess is that there must have been rogue practitioners during this time that Hawthorne was targeting.
But, as the great Ecclesiastes (Koheleth) said, “There is nothing new under the sun”
These notions simply take different forms in different eras. -
Hawthorne is a moralist, so you don't read his work without coming away with something to ponder. This is a tale about pride (Aylmer's), about worthiness and sacrifice (Georgiana's), and about recognizing what is important and worthwhile in life. Most of today's society that focuses too much on the surface, celebrity, and wealth of individuals when determining their worth, could use taking a moment to read this.
Many thanks to my dear friend, Elyse, for reminding me of this marvelous work of literature by a master story writer. -
Our great creative Mother ... permits us to mar, but seldom to mend.
The ornate style of the 1840s short story does not make for easy reading, and the outcome (at least to a modern reader) feels predictable.
There is a certain drollery in the opening paragraph, wherein the discovery of electricity and other marvellous inventions of science seemed to open paths into the region of miracle and as a result, at that moment in time, it was not unusual for the love of science to rival the love of a woman.
And hence one of the major conflicts in this text is established. Is Hawthorne also mocking the promise of science by conflating it with alchemy?
Perhaps really this story is about how we only happen to notice the supposed "flaws" in a spouse after the marriage is well finalized.
