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Aylmer In The Birthmark By Nathaniel Hawthorne

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In Nathaniel Hawthorne short story “The Birthmark,” Aylmer is an astute run amok, a man whose mind has inundated his sense of decency. An incredibly adroit scientist, he has made many exiting revelations about the physical world. His inquiries into the spiritual world, however, incline to be more perturbing. Albeit he protests that he would never genuinely carry out his more outlandish ambitions – such as turning base metal into gold, making a potion that would give its imbiber sempiternal life, or engendering humans from nothing – he believes that he at least capable of performing such miracles. And his actions belie his claim to venerate life: he has invented a poison capable of killing a person instantly or during the course of years, depending

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