Perfection is something everyone strives for, yet no one can truly achieve. In today's society, an immeasurable amount of time is wasted, and millions of dollars are spent, in the hopes to reach this unreachable goal. In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Birthmark, he takes readers into a world where the foolishness of trying to achieve physical perfection is discovered. Hawthorne's ongoing theme shows how striving for perfection can wind up being the downfall of mankind. .
The moral of the story is that there is a high price for the pursuit of perfection. The main character Aylmer wanted his wife Georgiana to be free of blemishes. It was mentioned that everything about her is good, except he could not stop staring at the birthmark on her face. Aylmer believed the crimson hand "was the bond by which an angelic spirit kept itself in union with a mortal frame" (29). In other words, it was ugly and kept her from being perfect. This is relatable to religion. Aylmer in this story, is similar to God, and Georgiana represents mankind. Aylmer felt that Georgiana was an angel trapped in a mortal body. He believed that once the birthmark was removed she would have angelic properties. Georgiana (man) wanted to please Aylmer (God), but could never be perfect. She tried and tried and tried, but is never perfect enough (the repeating of sin). Then Aylmer took things into his own hands. He created an elixir to remove the crimson hand. By doing this one could draw parallels to him 'playing' God. Aylmer decided the one imperfection about Georgina he does not like, he will remove. The elixir did work and her birthmark faded away. However, it also caused her immediate death. Hawthorne used the death of Georgiana to show how foolish it is to be obsessed with physical perfection. .
Aylmer had "the best nature has to offer" (301), but still insisted on focusing on her Georgiana's one flaw. For him, that one flaw kept him from having the perfect wife.
