Class 04/17/2012

"The Birthmark" by Nathaniel Hawthorne was the last short story read for class. In class we discussed the differences between Georgiana and Alymer. Georgiana is the beautiful, good natured, devoted wife to Alymer. Alymer is obsessed, manipulative, and condescending towards his wife. Georgiana's small birthmark drives Alymer practically crazy to the point where he convinces her to let him remove it with his science. Alymer's over-reaching desire for perfection ultimately kills what makes Georgiana human and she dies a few seconds after becoming his version of "perfect". The class lecture helped me to show the allegory present in the story and the theme of science vs. nature.