What Are The Flaws In The Birthmark

In the Puritan faith, the men are generally flawed while the women are morally pure in most regards. In the short stories by Nathaniel Hawthorne, “The Birthmark” and “Rappaccini’s Daughter,” Georgiana and Beatrice are, in their respective short stories, pure because they each have one flaw. Also, in their respective short stories, Aylmer and Giovanni are flawed in their obsession with the one imperfection in their woman of interest. In “The Birthmark,” Aylmer wishes to rid Georgiana of her birthmark, which is a red, handprint-shaped birthmark on her face. In “Rappaccini’s Daughter,” Giovanni sees and becomes interested in Beatrice who has a poisonous touch that prevents them from truly being together. Hawthorne creates similar characters in these two short stories to state that women are pure, flaws are human, and the flaws have motives of their own. A main theme in Hawthorne’s works is women are pure. This is the case for these two short stories as Georgiana and Beatrice both listen intently to their male counterparts and lack the flaws that the men in their stories contain. Georgiana is supportive of her husband’s decision to attempt to rid her of her birthmark and even as she questions it, she ponders the happiness it would bring

Georgiana’s birthmark was given to her at birth, however Beatrice’s imperfection or deathly touch is gifted to her by her father as a tool of protection. Beatrice has an old ill father who happens to have a posionuous bush in the center of his garden. Her sister plant has a deadly poison in it that also runs through the veins and breath of Beatrice and therefore she kills anything she touches. While Giovanni and Beatrice consider the gift a curse, Rappaccini attempts to validate his actions before Beatrice takes the potion to rid her of the touch. Regardless of the origin of Georgiana’s birthmark and Beatrice’s touch taking each away from the pair imminently kills