The story centers around a prominent scientist and his wife, who has a birthmark on her left cheek. After Alymer says he does not like it, she reluctantly decides to let him try to get rid of it. After creating a concoction to remove it, she dies.
The language of the story is extremely outdated. The story is set right around the time of the discovery of electricity, and the words used do well reflect that time period. Reading that type of language was not as interesting to me as modern-day English, which I can relate to much better.
After reading the story, it seems like Hawthorne could have made the story half as long, while still having the same meaning. He uses a tone and eloquence that really sets him apart from other authors, but makes it hard to relate to in this modern era.
It is dissapointing to see that Alymer is more concerned with outer beauty more than inner beauty. It is interesting to note that before the couple was married, Alymer never spoke of the birthmark. Although his wife is extremely beautiful, he cannot stand to put up with it for the rest of their marrried life. A major theme of the story is human obsession with perfection.
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