Trading Life for Perfection

Hawthorne's "The Birth Mark" is a well written tale about husband and wife. The wife has a birthmark on her face that is in the shape of a hand that makes her husband not find her as beautiful as he once did. The more he was around it the more he wanted to get rid of it because as he said it was the one mark of imperfection on an otherwise perfect woman. He tries to get rid of it by using science but as the mark fades she loses her life and she dies as a result so that she is perfect but dead. This story has many lessons to be learned whether one does a deep reading or a surface reading. On the surface it is a story about the desire for protection ruining a woman many would be completely satisfied with, including his assistant, this showing that one should be happy with what you have. Slightly deeper still one could see how his view of her beauty drove him and her insane. His constant disparaging remarks about the birthmark ruined his ability to love her as she was and stopped her from ever finding herself beautiful or worthy of his love again, even to the point that she would rather be dead than have him shutter when he looks at her. Deeper still is a commentary about science itself. Science can manipulate the world but it can't improve upon what God has created without serious consequences. Alchemist tried to turn lead into gold and give everlasting life, but only God can create or determine how long a person should live. By trying to improve upon her nature and remove what some thought was the touch of an angel, Aylmer was trying to change God's will and she died as a result. Science's best work that is thought of as diamonds are only worth pebbles as Georgiana implied and most of their best works are failures because they show what can't be done. By always striving for something better or the impossible, no one can ever be happy.