Symbolism In 'The Birthmark' By Nathaniel Hawthorne

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Imagine being someone living in a world where everything had a symbol and a meaning behind it. That person would be able to recognize everything and be able to plan for the life ahead of them. For example, if that person knew sinning would cause an effect on their appearance, they would not sin. On the other hand, if they knew cleansing their sins would bring them to heaven, they would be promised eternal life. In “The Birthmark” by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Georgiana, one of the protagonists, realizes there is a way to release her sins and enter eternal life. In the short story, symbolism is present as the birthmark on Georgiana’s face represents her sins, Aylmer represents God, and both of those symbols lead to everlasting life in Heaven. One …show more content…
The hand-like shape has been imprinted on Georgiana’s face because to be washed away from sin, God’s outreaching hand needs to be prevalent. When the topic of removing the birthmark came about, Hawthorne writes, “deeper when the knife, the deeper sank the hand, until at length its tiny grasp appeared to have caught hold of Georgiana’s heart” (321). As Georgiana’s birthmark represents sin, the knife continued to delve deeper because she knew her sin was attainable, but was not at the time, willing to let her sins go. When the hand-like shape appeared, the shape symbolizes the hand of God pouring into Georgiana’s heart, ultimately changing her heart, preparing her for washing her sins away. When Georgiana and Aylmer agreed to removing the birthmark, Aylmer’s true sign of being God was shown. As they began removing the birthmark, Aylmer said, “With a few drops of this in a vase of water, freckles may be washed away as easily as the hands are cleansed” (324). Because God has the power to wash away sins, Aylmer represents God in this scenario as he is washing away Georgiana’s sins from her face. God and Georgiana work together to release Georgiana’s soul into the heavenly kingdom. The readers can conclude the God was involved in the process of removing the birthmark as Aylmer says, “There is no taint of imperfection on thy spirit. Thy sensible frame, too, shall soon be all …show more content…
Heaven has become the idea for Georgiana in this story as Hawthorne creates the image for the readers from the beginning. To explain, Hawthorne says, “the very process by which Nature assimilates all her precious influences from earth and air, and from the spiritual world, to create and foster man, her masterpiece” (322). This gave Georgiana the impression that she is a masterpiece of God and will be perfected from her earthly sins, so she will be able to enter the kingdom of heaven. As the process of removing her sins was taking place, Georgiana entered the kingdom of heaven and was able to experience it in fully glory. For example, Hawthorne says, “The scene around her looked like enchantment…uniting in a soft, empurpled radiance” (322-323). Georgiana was able to experience heaven given the fact that she might be motivated to confess all her sins and be fully cleansed. When Georgiana finished confessing her sins, she was fully cleansed and was able to move on to the next life. Georgiana was prepared for what was coming as she had already experienced heaven for a short amount of time. Hawthorne describes her process of entering heaven as, “the parting breath of the now perfect woman passed into the atmosphere, and her soul…took its heavenward flight” (328-329). Because Georgiana was able to confess her sins and be fully
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