Noble Love in The BirthmarkOften presented as the story of an unsuccessful attempt to beat nature at its own game, Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Birthmark" certainly lends itself to a a little deeper. Over the years, many scholars have noted that the story of Aylmer and Georgiana is riddled with traditional Hawthorne themes, such as the evils of selfishness and pride, coupled with an element of loneliness (Arvin xvi). However, we want to question whether Aylmer's motivations in this story are purely selfish. Does this man perhaps deserve a touch of human sympathy? With vivid symbolism, clearly defined by the author himself, the reader can choose to take the tale for what it appears to be, a purely selfish experiment gone wrong. Yet it seems that Hawthorne sympathized with his man of science, leaving open the discussion of the idea that love did indeed exist in this sordid world of little hands and test tubes. Even if it is sometimes ambiguous, the tone of the story seems to point precisely towards this idea. Richard Fogle writes of it: “…Hawthorne's attitude is so distant and imperturbable that nothing in the story can be taken simply; in “The Birthmark,” he reaches his greatest rage of disengagement” (Fogle 118). It is through Georgiana's intellectual and moral development, not the actions or words of the scientists, that the reader understands that, although twisted in his methods, Aylmer possesses a kind of "noble" love. When the story opens, we are It is said that "an experience of spiritual affinity more attractive than any chemical experiment" caused "a man of science" to leave his laboratory and marry. The narrator also tells the reader that this was not unusual, middle of paper......horne 165). Wifeless and alone with his furry apprentice, Aylmer can at least rest assured that he “aimed high” and acted “nobly.” Works Cited Arvin, Newton. Introduction. The Hawthorne News. Ed. Newton Arvin. New York: Vintage Books, 1946. v-xvii.Fogle, Richard Harter. Hawthorne's Fiction: Light and Darkness. Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, 1964. 117-31Fossum, The Inviolable Circle of Robert H. Hawthorne: The Problem of Time. Florida: Everett/Edwards Inc, 1972. 77-79 Hawthorne, Nathaniel. “The birthmark.” The Hawthorne News. Ed. Newton Arvin. New York: Vintage Books, 1946. 147-65. Stein, William Bysshe. Hawthorne's Faust: A Study of the Devil Archetype. New York: Archon Books, 1968. 91-92