The detail from Nathaniel Hawthorne's story, "The Birthmark," that develops the theme that the quest for perfection is destined to fail is;
"'Do not repent that with so high and pure a feeling, you have rejected the best the earth could offer. Aylmer, dearest Aylmer, I am dying!'"
In this story, we learn of a scientist who loved his wife so much that it overrode his love for science. His name was Aylmer and his wife's name was Georgina.
One day, this scientist suddenly started noticing a flaw on his wife's face. This made the woman so frustrated that she cried out and asked the man why he would marry her despite seeing her flaw.
In contemplating how to remove the flaw, the man wondered if removing the flaw might lead to an even cureless deformity.
Conclusively, the man, in his medical trials successfully removed the birthmark but caused his wife's death in the end. This shows that the quest for perfection will fail in the end.
