Aylmers View of Untrue Flawlessness and His Egocentrism - Research Paper Example

Aylmer’s View of Untrue Flawlessness and His Egocentrism In Hawthorne’s story edited by Baym, (2003, p. 1289-300) “The Birthmark”, he highlights Aylmer’s attempt to unnecessarily remove his wife’s birth mark, a case that at the end concluded how he could be considered as a failure both as a lover and a scientist. He succeeded to eradicate the birthmark that disgusts him but put to death his wife he intended to make perfect. The whole story only opens the driveway to conclude both Aylmer’s view of untrue flawlessness and his egocentric nature. The mere appreciation of every angle of nature, its complexities and simplicities is tantamount to the acceptance of the purpose of God. Even though it is true that God has made everything at its best, man like Aylmer on his creative ability to invent tried a lot of things to device such that brought unfavorable changes and reactions to nature and to him. The drama begins as Aylmer’s left his laboratory and married a woman named Georgiana. The woman possesses beauty that he appreciated, but there is a thing that “shocks” him and that is Georgiana’s birthmark. Aylmer’s has his own standard of beauty and considers Georgiana’s birthmark as a flaw, a charm that is nature-given but Aylmer hardly rejects (Baym, 2003, p. 1289). As a man of science, he personally set standards of his own, perverted to the view that true science and beauty subjects to the rule of nature. The rule of science states: “For every force of action there is always an equal and opposite reaction.” This fact is true. Man can use his knowledge to make science follow the track he wanted, but still nature governs the reaction, wherein man and science are both totally without control. This truth will appear at the end of the story. There is a thing that can be mainly revealed in Aylmer’s character and views. He is blind to the fact that when get married, he associates himself to the obligation of not just being a man of science but a husband. It means that it is his responsibility to engage in a mutual relationship wherein both parties will benefit being together, and not just being slaves of each other’s individual fantasies and vanities. Getting married is like putting a valuable possession in your hand that only death should separate one another. It is a matter of acceptance that choosing a partner implies that you will accept the whole person whatever a person is, and any “flaw” (as what Aylmer viewed of the Georgiana’s birthmark) could be complemented by the totality of what good things that she has. It is indeed painful that when Aylmer has chosen Georgiana to be his wife, he never first assess that there is something that he would not be proud about his wife. He is of course a scientist, but his poor anticipation in choosing a companion marks out. He chooses Georgiana and appreciated her beauty but later on evaluated her as imperfect because of “just a birth mark” on her face (Baym, 2003, p. 1290). His words of mouth reveal his materialistic nature. What he values most is not how God and nature presented Georgiana to him but how he interpreted the work of God. Many men could have the same idea as how Aylmer possessed. Hearing a person complaining about why God has made his fingers of different length possess the same short sightedness that Aylmer has. Physiologically, there is an importance why the finger has different sizes, and that is to the fulfillment of its function to hold things. The moment the fingers bends close together, picking things can be done successfully. Similarly, Aylmer is dissatisfied with his wife’s birth mark. His view of being beautiful is beclouded by the curtain of untrue flawlessness that is to say “no birthmark” on Georgiana’s face means perfection for him. You could just imagine him as a man of science that does not really understand beauty in the real concept of what is “humane” in Georgiana. We could say that it could be evaluated as another form of selfishness that extends only to his individual selfish need. He did not realize that he is married and that his satisfaction should not only concentrate on his own but for him and for his wife. Marriage requires personal responsibility from both (Sparks, 2006) and Aylmer lacks of it. Georgiana’s birth mark could be interpreted positively. For a true lover, the birthmark could be a touch of fairy, thus to highlight loving a person both on her strengths and weaknesses, with or without flaw. On the contrary, other wants the birthmark to disappear in order to arrive to the conclusion that she is a perfect example of perfection (Baym, 2003, p. 1289). Unfortunately, Aylmer does not belong to the first ones that love a woman both to her strength and weaknesses. He is included to those people that interpret flawlessness only on the material side. It means that their senses are too short to perceive what lies within a person like Georgiana. As a scientist, his point of interest mainly describes his addiction to his own likes and dislikes. This is a narrow mindedness that closes the door in thinking for the welfare of Georgiana’s emotional need and safety. Aylmer’s story can be related to the negative ideas of ethnic prejudice, wherein white might discriminate the blacks. That is what he attempts is the achievement of perfect whiteness (Gruesser, 2006), such that symbolizes the consideration of superior or inferior color. Blacks are disregarded because of their colors and discrimination heightens the idea that superiority can be achieved by being white. The perfection that Aylmer wants to achieve is an egocentrism that is similar to ethnocentrism. Egocentrism deals mainly of thinking only of person’s concern. Ethnocentrism in the same manner instills the belief of the superiority of one group to the other (Eaton, 631). In the broader sense, Hawthorne’s depiction of Aylmer’s character is a form of symbolism that might represent a larger scope in relation. Sociology defines ethnocentricity as, “the tendency to view the norms and values of one’s own culture as absolute and to use them as a standard against which to judge and measure all other cultures” (Encyclopedia of Sociology, pp. 107). This idea in sociology could in anyway be correlated in Hawthorne’s presentation of Aylmer. Aylmer symbolizes a person marked with an idea that is similar to ethnocentricity. We can see how selfish Aylmer is in terms of understanding Georgiana’s emotions. Aylmer’s idea against the acceptance of Georgiana’s totality including her “birthmark” hurts her. We can hear the sentiment of Georgiana saying, “"…why did you take me from my mothers side? You cannot love what shocks you!" (Baym, 2003, p. 1290). Her words could not be concluded only as a sudden emotional response but of logical nature. What shocks Aylmer is Georgiana’s birth mark. Then why decide to take woman from her parents and love not her totality. Therefore Georgiana understood her husband’s extreme desire of achieving physical perfection that it seems to be not with her because of her birth mark. Because of Aylmer’s eccentric and egocentric desire he used his knowledge to experiment on his wife. Perfection is what he wants to achieve and he made himself believe that out of his human nature something that could be concluded perfect can be obtained. It is hypothetical. It is only the alchemist believed that they can make gold out of the base metals. And it is only Aylmer that believed that perfection can be achieved by means of removing Georgiana’s birth mark. Human remains human and subjected by nature to what it purposed. Our being is in a systematic blue print deeply traced in the genes and everything that might superficially appear was a product of a complicated structure that makes man. Georgiana has a birthmark on her face and that was the mark of her person that is deliberately given by God and nature. We can see that Aylmer understood that Georgiana’s birthmark is not just an ordinary freckle that appears on the skin. The story suggests that as he speaks with his wife told that that mark is more than just a freckle. Her case demands a remedy that shall go deeper (Baym, 2003, p. 1295). It means that Aylmer but understood that Georgiana’s birthmark is a mere product of nature’s dictate, and mending it is getting into what he termed as “deeper”. He also perceived the potential danger that accompanies the process (Baym, 2003, p. 1298). Georgiana submitted herself to his husband for the eradication of what dissatisfies Aylmer even when she later understood of its danger (Baym, 2003, p. 1298). When she was brought to the laboratory, Aminadab (Aylmer’s lowly assistant) muttered that if Georgiana is his wife, he would not take a part of that birth mark (Baym, 2003, p. 1298). Indirectly, it seems that Aminadab in his lowly state possess wisdom that is beyond what that intellectual Aylmer’s possess. Aminadab whom he called as “clod and earthly mass” (Baym, 2003, p. 1300) understood what Aylmer has not understood. He is not just given enough time to say whatever he thinks about the scientist’s idea, but his mere reaction as he muttered the word concretize his moralistic point of view regarding the birth mark in such deeper apprehension. Paying attention to the final stages of the story, the dramatic sentiments of Georgiana discloses. In reference to the beginning of this drama, Georgiana refused and cried about how Aylmer see and interpret her birthmark. Later on, as his husband exerts much effort to remove the birthmark and informed her about the danger of the last procedure, she never refused but instead of revolting against her husband exclaimed, “There is but one danger–that this horrible stigma shall be left upon my cheek! . . . Remove it! Remove it!–whatever be the cost–or we shall both go mad!” (Baym, 2003, p. 1298). This implies that she cared no more of herself but give more importance to what the egocentric nature and view of his husband wants. She died during that last process, and declared forgiveness for her husband that frantically desired for the eradication of the mark (Baym, 2003, p. 1298). The birthmark has been successfully removed, but that same thing that removed what Aylmer rejects put the woman that she loved to death. His happiness has been for a short time, such that defines how fool he is succeeding to remove a small birthmark he called as a flaw, and wasted the loveliest thing that he might just have enjoyed if he was just contented. To sum this up, Aylmer is but a failure both as a scientist and as a lover. He failed to understand the real meaning of flawlessness that only God can give. He failed to realize that he became egocentric insisting his idea of removing his wife’s birthmark. It is too short for a man that experiences death to achieve such perfection that he wants. He overestimated the knowledge that he has and found himself a victim of his high mindedness. Now, what Aylmer has is the perfect face of his wife as he believed and a life of his love that was taken by God and can’t be brought back to him: a perfect reward for his wrong and egocentric view. BIBLIOGRAPHY Nathaniel Hawthorne. “The Birthmark”. Norton Anthology of American Literature. 6th Edition. By Nina Baym, 2003. Volume B. pp. 1289-3000 Sollors, Werner. “Neither Black nor White yet Both.” Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1999. Gruesser, John Cullen. “Black on Black: Twentieth-Century African-American Literature about Africa”. Lexington: UP of Kentucky, 2000. Eaton, J.W., “Ethnocentrism.” Encyclopedia Americana. (Vol.  10, pp. 631). Chicago: Encyclopedia Americana. 1997. Gruesser, Dr. John. “Playing with the (Birth) Mark: Aylmer’s Failed Attempt to Achieve Perfect Whiteness.” Kean University. 2006. 18 July, 2006. < http://www.hawthorneinsalem.org/page/10227/> Dr. Brett Sparks. “How Important Is Personal Responsibility? National Institute of Marriage.”2006.18 July, 2006. Melissa A. Grubbs.   “Concept Analysis: Ethnocentrism.” November 2000. Graduate Research LLC. Last updated December 7, 2000. 18 July, 2006. “Ethnocentricity.” Encyclopedia of Sociology, (pp. 107). February 2, 2000. 18 July, 2006. Read More