Symbolism
Georgiana's Birthmark
The predominant symbol in the story is Georgiana's birthmark, which is a small red mark resembling a hand print in the middle of her cheek. "In the center of Georgiana's left cheek, there was a singular mark...It's shape bore not a little similarity to the human hand, though of the smallest pygmy size." (421)
The birthmark symbolizes human mortality and the imperfection of human nature. For Aylmer, Georgiana came "nearly perfect from the hand of Nature" (421). The presence of the birthmark, therefore, deeply disturbs him because it reminds him of his wife's humanity and mortality when he is on a quest for divine perfection. The status of the birthmark as a symbol of mortality is almost irrefutable, since it is declared as such in the story itself: "The crimson hand expressed the ineludible gripe in which mortality clutches the highest and purest of earthly mold, degrading them into kindred with the lowest, and even with the very brutes, like whom their visible frames return to dust" (422). In the very next sentence, the birthmark is described as "the symbol of [Aylmer's] wife's liability to sin, sorrow, decay and death" (422), thus also suggesting Hawthorne's intention for it to symbolize human imperfection. "It may be the stain goes as deep as life itself." (Hawthorne 423)
Aylmer's mistake lies in assuming that human nature, bringing with it all its flaws and its mortality, is something distinct from the spirit that causes the degradation of the higher nature or the spirit. According to Rosenberg, "he mistakes Georgiana's physical imperfection for a spiritual one, and, in trying to cure her of her human nature, he kills her" (146). The birthmark is inseparable from Georgiana's spirit, just as the soul's human experience is inseparable from the soul itself. To be perfect is to be non-human, which is what happens to Georgiana at the end, when she dies because a non-human cannot continue to live in a human body.
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Aylmer (god) & Aminadab (man)
While the birthmark is easily the most blatant symbol in the story, symbolic characterization is not limited to Georgiana. Aylmer and Aminadab act as symbols for the divine and the earthly, respectively. In many instances, Aylmer is described in godlike terms, while Aminadab is constantly described as a brute. This contrast between them reflects the central conflict in the story, one between divine perfection and human imperfection. Throughout the story, Aylmer makes claims about himself that are reminiscent of a deity. He tells his wife to not doubt his power, which "might have enlightened [him] to create a being less perfect" (423). He claims the ability to make a potion to "prolong life for years, perhaps interminably," and when mentioning one powerful poison, his words became alarmingly similar to those of any mythological god: "No king on his guarded throne could keep his life if I, in my private station, should deem that the welfare of millions justified me in depriving him of it." (Hawthorne 426)
If Aylmer symbolizes god, Aminadab becomes a clear symbol for human beings. Indeed, Hawthorne describes him as such when he says, "With...the indescribable earthiness that incrusted him, he seemed to represent man's physical nature" (424).
Walsh notes that Hawthorne makes repeated references to the earth, dirt, and clay when mentioning Aminadab, all things that are associated with humans in a Biblical context. According to Walsh, "Clay is mentioned in Job 10.9...Job is expressing the fact that as creations of God we have no right to question God’s work—particularly that he created us as “flawed” and mortal—or to presume to perfect God’s work, as Aylmer does" (259). Aminadab is the only character who seems to have no desire to "perfect" Georgiana (Hawthorne 424). The obvious associations of clay with Aminadab in the story would suggest that he acts as a symbol for all the imperfect, base qualities that render humans human. Aminadab is the only one left laughing and (twistedly) joyous in the end, so Hawthorne seems to be making a statement about the ultimate triumph of human nature over higher nature. |
The Boudoir as Heaven
Georgiana's boudoir, where Aylmer secludes her for the period of her treatment, symbolizes heaven as created by the "god" that is Aylmer. The descriptions of the boudoir are all strangely ethereal and draw clear parallels with heaven: "For aught Georgiana knew, it might be a pavilion among the clouds" (424). However, this boudoir is no ordinary heaven, because its god is the self-important Aylmer. He takes away the natural sunshine, the light of the divine, and replaces it with "perfumed lamps, emitting flames of various hue, but all uniting in a soft empurpled radiance" (425). Aylmer has taken the concept of playing god to an entirely new level, eliminating as much of the natural world as possible to supplant it with his own ideal reality.
Georgiana's boudoir, where Aylmer secludes her for the period of her treatment, symbolizes heaven as created by the "god" that is Aylmer. The descriptions of the boudoir are all strangely ethereal and draw clear parallels with heaven: "For aught Georgiana knew, it might be a pavilion among the clouds" (424). However, this boudoir is no ordinary heaven, because its god is the self-important Aylmer. He takes away the natural sunshine, the light of the divine, and replaces it with "perfumed lamps, emitting flames of various hue, but all uniting in a soft empurpled radiance" (425). Aylmer has taken the concept of playing god to an entirely new level, eliminating as much of the natural world as possible to supplant it with his own ideal reality.