"We choose our joys and sorrows long before we experience them." Kahlil Gibran, Sand and Foam. This quote by Gibran means that people choose their fates long before they become their realities. For example, Oedipus, in Oedipus Rex, had sincere intentions to avoid his fate of killing his father and lying with his mother. However, he chose his sorrow long before his dreaded fate came true. His selfish actions throughout his life caused his foretold downfall, or failure. Aylmer in the story The Birthmark, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, reflects Gibran's quote as well. Aylmer's intentions of changing his bitter distaste for his wife's birthmark turned out to be deadly for her because of his choice to be a failure in life. As a person overall, Aylmer reflected a complete failure. Hawthorne displays the true failure in Aylmer through his actions while married to his wife, Georgiana. Had she recognized Aylmer's true self a bit more keenly, she would have seen the failure in him, as well as, another day. Aylmer proves himself as a failed scientist through his usage of deceptive illusions, a failed humanitarian through his egocentrism, and a failed husband through his greater love of science over his wife.
             Hawthorne's character, Aylmer, tries to mesh his deep love of science with the love of his beautiful, newly wed wife, Georgiana. The removal of a tiny birthmark on the left side of Georgiana's face, becomes Aylmer's obsession and latest experiment. Aylmer's "idea of science" leads to the indirect cause of her death at the end of the story. My main argument proves that Aylmer reflects a failure in all aspects of his life: at his occupation, as a humanitarian, and as a husband. Judith Fetterley agrees with my point of view that Aylmer used illusions to trick Georgiana into believing in him as a successful scientist. Robert Micklus agrees with point of view that Aylmer did not refle...