Answer:
Nathaniel Hawthorne “The Birthmark"
"If the birthmark is explicitly a “symbol of imperfection” (par.9)," it is a psychological imperfection especially on the part of Aylmer.
He saw a lovely lady, Georgiana and married her. After the marriage, he then noticed that she had a "birthmark" that reduced or diminished her perfect beauty. This shows that Aylmer, the acclaimed scientist was himself very imperfect in his evaluations. He was attracted to beauty. The attraction blinded him to discover the facial "birthmark." When the attraction faded, he worked himself up to ensure that the "birthmark" was removed, not caring that the "birthmark" was part of who Georgiana was.
One can also say that the imperfection reflected the sexual prejudices that women face in the hands of their husbands. And this raises the question: why do men desire women? Is it for their beauty or for their sexual prowess or is for satisfying their sexual urges? The warning is that one cannot make love to somebody one does not love in totality, otherwise, sexual relationship is reduced to depraved sensuality, that is below what we have come to know about some animals. Love-making is a sharing of the the most intimate of ourselves. A man who rapes a woman has raped himself, and is far less than a man.
Explanation:
"The Birthmark" was a short story by Nathaniel Hawthorne written in 1843, which puts to question the love men profess to their wives. Is it a love that enlivens or a love that annihilates the "beloved?"
