The Birthmark
Complete textAylmer, a scientist newly married to Georgiana, becomes disturbed by a small mark on her cheek. What others can regard as beauty's individual feature appears to him as an imperfection that his experimental knowledge might remove.
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The laboratory extends a disagreement about appearance into a contest over what kind of human life is acceptable. Georgiana's responses show how another person's ideal can become an inward demand. Carefully compare Aylmer's confidence with the record of his experiments and with the assistant's more bodily presence.
Reading focus
Examine how the wish to improve Georgiana alters what Aylmer is willing to value in her.
This reading edition contains 6,455 words in 1 original section. Read the text online with adjustable type and three colour themes, or keep a printable PDF.
Author: Nathaniel Hawthorne. Language: English. Reading edition: 28 October 2026.
Opening excerpt
In the latter part of the last century there lived a man of science, an eminent proficient in every branch of natural philosophy, who not long before our story opens had made experience of a spiritual affinity more attractive than any chemical one. He had left his laboratory to the care of an assistant, cleared his fine countenance from the furnace smoke, washed the stain of acids from his fingers, and persuaded a beautiful woman to become his wife. In those days when the comparatively recent discovery of electricity and other kindred mysteries of Nature seemed to open paths into the region of miracle, it was not unusual for the love of science to rival the love of woman in its depth and…
Contents
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Is this the complete The Birthmark?
This edition contains the complete English literary text, with 1 section and 6,455 words. This reading edition preserves the checked English text and its section order. No study notes have been added.
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