The Birthmark
"We choose our joys and sorrows long before we experience them." Kahlil Gibran, Sand and Foam. This quote by Gibran means that people choose their fates long before they become their realities. For example, Oedipus, in Oedipus Rex, had sincere intentions to avoid his fate of killing his father and lying with his mother. However, he chose his sorrow long before his dreaded fate came true. His selfish actions throughout his life caused his foretold downfall, or failure. Aylmer in the story The Birthmark, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, reflects Gibran's quote as well. Aylmer's intentions of changing his bitter distaste for his wife's birthmark turned out to be deadly for her because of his choice to be a failure in life. As a person overall, Aylmer reflected a complete failure. Hawthorne displays the true failure in Aylmer through his actions while married to his wife, Georgiana. Had she recognized Aylmer's true self a bit more keenly, she would have seen the failure in him, as well as, another day. Aylmer proves himself as a failed scientist through his usage of deceptive illusions, a failed humanitarian through his egocentrism, and a failed husband through his greater love of science over his wife.
Aylmer chose to utilize all of his talents in the wrong type of way. He had a God-given ability for arts and sciences, but chose to use it in a devious manner. He had an ingenious mind, but let his ego get the better half of it. He had a beautiful wife, but chose his love of science over hers. Gandhi once said, "You must be the change you wish to see in the world." I truly believe Aylmer had a chance to change his lifestyle through marrying Georgiana; I feel he married her to make a change for the better in his lifestyle. However, he quickly reverted back to his true nature after marrying Georgiana and chose his imminent sorrow of failure. All along, failure had been The Ailment in Aylmer. Aylmer clearly demonstrates a failure as a husband through his deep love of science over his wife. I feel that Aylmer's lonliness persuades Georgiana to become a part of his life, but his greater love of science persuades Georgiana to become a part of his "folio of failures." Steven Youra comments, "As he [Aylmer] observes and notes down with self-congratulation his wife's last moments, his love reveals itself for what it is - an absolute intolerance for (what he perceives as) his wife's imperfection" (45). I disagree with this latter half of this quote by Youra. Youra feels Aylmer's love for Georgiana becomes based upon his desire of his her perfection. I believe that Aylmer love becomes strictly a love for science, rather than a love for perfection. I also feel he wants to remove her birthmark because his relationship with science convinced him that they both had the power to remove it. Aylmer fails as a husband because he chooses his love of science over his love for Georgiana, and she ends up losing her life as a result. Hawthorne foreshadows this at the beginning of the story saying, "His love for his young wife might prove the stronger of the two; but it could only be by intertwining itself with his love of science, and uniting the strength of the latter to its own" (29). Hawthorne here explains Aylmer's profound love of science and how it must be combined with the love of his wife. Aylmer fails to recognize love as
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Approximate Word count = 1444
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)
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