Jan 6, 2010

The Birthmark | Character Analysis

Critics variously view Aylmer as a “failed humanitarian,” a “callous scientist,” or a misogynist who fears the sexuality of Georgiana. No doubt he is all of these, which contributes to his power over his wife and his arrogant confidence in himself, in spite of repeated failures in his experiments. Indeed, there is something compulsive about the man in that although he considers his wife “otherwise so perfect, he [finds] her [birthmark] grow more and more intolerable every moment of their united lives.” Although some men might have found it charming, for him...