Thesis: Hawthorne's story, "The Birthmark," is an allegory of marriages that fail because male domination, in what should be a partnership, produces death rather than life.
I. Hawthorne's allegory is open to many interpretations. But they must be consistent with all elements of the story.
II. The origin of Aylmer's and Georgiana's marriage is presented in terms that are unlike most courtships and marriages.
III. Aylmer is threatened by Georgiana's presence and fears the creation of a domestic sphere will obliterate his own work.
A. Aylmer's attack on Georgiana centers on the birthmark.
B. Aylmer feels the need to subordinate her world to his.
C. Aylmer wishes to make Georgiana's beauty, her perfection, the result of his science and thoroughly integrate her into his world.
IV. Georgiana must agree to becoming part of Aylmer's world.
A. Some critics believe she is merely a passive person.
B. Some critics believe she personifies self-sacrifice or is
devoted to romantic ideas of herself and her marriage.
C. Aylmer persuades Georgiana that she can have domesticity
only if she shares his view of her imperfection.
V. The time in the laboratory is a parody of traditional
romantic courtship and marriage details.
A. Georgiana is wooed and seduced by Aylmer's domestic
arrangements in the laboratory and by her first view of
B. Their union in the laboratory boudoir produces death
Nathaniel Hawthorne's short story "The Birthmark" is an allegory. There are many ways of interpreting this allegory and these interpretations are not exclusive. In fact, the various interpretations may enrich each other. One interpretation of the story is that it is an allegory of marriages that fail because male domination, in what should be a partnership, produces death rather than life. The main facts of the story are that two people marry and the man kills the woman. ...