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The Birthmark Character Analysis

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In “The Birthmark”, Aylmer is bothered in seeing a birthmark on his wife Georgiana’s cheek. I believe that Aylmer was truly evil in the way he manipulated Georgiana in thinking he truly cared about her. Aylmer’s ideas of perfection were the most dangerous thing about him and even led him to kill. When Georgiana learned of her husband’s disdain towards her birthmark she was devastated. Slowly, Aylmer manipulated Georgiana into believing that this mark would need to be removed. When Georgiana saw Aylmer looking at her she “shuttered at his gaze and her cheeks changed into a death-like paleness”. (Hawthorne 292) It seemed that Georgiana had a fear of Aylmer that made her extremely uneasy. Aylmer knew that staring at Georgiana would make …show more content…

Unfortunately for Georgiana, he continued to go through with the procedure. Georgiana was still quite frightened by what Aylmer was about to do to her and she faints as soon as she enters the room. It is very clear the fear she has for Aylmer when she says, “Pray do not look at it again. I can never forget that conclusive shudder”. (Hawthorne 295) This shows that she could not get out of her head the way Aylmer would looked at her birthmark. It scared her to she would continue to have to deal with the ridicule from him. No Matter how many times Georgiana hints at not wanting the procedure done, Aylmer continues to reassure her that she would not be harmed. Aylmer is so overjoyed about the birthmark being gone that he barely realizes his wife is in distress. He was overcome with joy as his wife still laid unconscious on the table; “By Heaven it is Well-nigh gone, I can scarcely trace it now”. (Hawthorne 301) Georgiana eventually dies after Aylmer thinks it is all over. Georgiana stayed true to her husband before her death but I still believe she knew she had made a mistake and that Aylmer was not the man she thought he was. Aylmer’s views on perfection led to the demise of Georgiana. He skewed Georgiana’s views by making it seem that if she wasn’t perfect then he could not love her. Throughout the process Georgiana was scared of her husband’s actions but she was made to believe that what he was doing was normal so she went along with it. Aylmer was an evil human being who did not really care about his wife. He only cared about whether she was the perfect women and that led him into committing the murder of his so called “beloved

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