Katherine Carey
Dr. V. Paul Hitchcock
ENG 02303-03
8 Feb 2012

Short Story Essay In The Birthmark, Aylmer, who is a well- known scientist, marries Georgiana who at birth received a birthmark on her left cheek that looked like a small handprint. After being married Aylmer for some time he did not like the birthmark that was on her cheek and asked if she ever wanted it removed. She too decided that since her husband did not like the birthmark and she did not want to be a disgrace to her husband that she would have the birthmark removed. He then took her to his lab and he got to work on something that was going to get the birthmark to go away. Georgiana said over and over that if he could not get rid of it then she did not want to live. He finally came in with a cure. He tested it on the plant that had blotches on its leaves. The flower began to grow and the blotches disappeared. Georgiana then decided to take the potion. She fell asleep and her husband sat by waiting. After a while the birthmark then disappeared and with his excitement he woke his wife. They were both excited that the birthmark had disappeared but shortly after Georgiana had passed away. Knowing that he husband did not like her with her birthmark and her feeling like a disgrace to her husband she agreed to allow her husband to get rid of the birthmark, before she had no issue with her birthmark. Her husband was only worried about what was on the inside, and by getting rid of the birthmark he was messing with God’s design especially when she trusted him so much that she took the potion and later on died. There are some people in society that will only look at a person on the outside and only worry about the beauty of a person on the outside. In The Birthmark this is what Aylmer does when he looks at Georgiana. He looks at her physical appearance and wants to remove the birthmark. He does not look past the birthmark to her inner beauty. Unlike Aylmer, his under worker Aminadab thought that she was beautiful with the birthmark. When Aylmer brings Georgiana to the lab he states, “If she were my wife, I’d never part with that birthmark.” Even though Aylmer found the birthmark a disgrace there are others that think it not to be. If Georgiana would have realized that in the beginning and did not want to risk her life just because she is a disgrace to her husband she could have found a better person that loves her for who she is on the inside and the out. Aylmer could not look past the birthmark and it cost Georgiana her life. There are many people that would look past the physical part of someone and that are who they fall in love with. There does have to be some attraction to that person when you do fall in love is falling for what is on the outside and the inside. There are some people that do not follow that rule and only go for the prettiest or the most handsome guy on the block. After she tried the potion and the birthmark disappeared she messed with what God wanted her to look like. He makes us to be unique. There are many people that change what the look like because they feel they are not pretty or handsome and it is wrong. There is a reason why they made you look the way you are. Now there are many people having plastic surgery and messing with how they look because they feel they are “ugly” when they are truly not. They are just self-conscious about their looks or they may have been picked on by bullies. Either way when you mess with what God has made you be it has some consequences. In Georgiana’s case she dies. She wants to make her husband happy because he does not like her birthmark and she has him try to remove it. There are people in the world that have surgery or have procedures done to fix their outer beauty that go into debt, get extremely sick or even worse die. Georgiana trusted Aylmer to make her a potion that would get rid of her birthmark that she did not like because her husband was disgusted by it. You should be able to trust your marital partner unless they did something to deceive you. You trust that they will stay faithful to you, stay with you no matter how bad things get and that you will work it out. It is in the vows you make to them before you say “I do”; when they promise to do all those things you expect to be able to trust them no matter what. She trusted that what he gave her was going to get rid of her birthmark. She trusted that it was not going to kill her. He tried it on the plant and it worked on the plant. Seeing that it worked on the plant, it made it even more real and made her trust him so much more so she took the potion. In The Birthmark there are some lessons to be learned from Georgiana’s mistakes. She should not care what people think of her on the outside. If they really care for her then they will love her for her beauty from the inside. Also you should not mess with what God has made you. He did it for a reason and trying to change it can have some serious consequences. Another thing is that even though they are your husband or wife does not mean you should trust them. If you are comfortable with how you look but they want to change it and give you a portion because you disgust them then they are not with it. They do not love you for your inner and outer beauty. It is a package deal. You have to accept the person for what is on the outside and the inside.