The Internal Intentions of a Mad Scientist

 

Kailey Franklin 

Cindy Spangler 

EH 3365 

17 September 2024 

The Internal Intentions of a Mad Scientist

Aylmer is a domineering character because of the actions he takes and the role he seeks to attain. Although Nathaniel Hawthorne describes Aylmer as the spiritual nature of man, the mad scientist still falls into the same carnality every man struggles to either win against or completely accept. Hawthorne builds the dimensions of his character well in The Birthmark by demonstrating that Aylmer is spiritual in a way that makes him despise earthly imperfections and aspire to the state of a god, ignoring his own carnal failures.   

Aylmer seeks to rid Georgianna of her small crimson birthmark not only because it physically repulses him, but because he gains power from dominating over anything naturalistic. For example, Aylmer says, “Believe me, Georgiana, I even rejoice in this single imperfection, since it will be a rapture to remove it” (51). Born as a sinful carnal man, Aylmer places himself above this level when uses this remark to elevate himself above sin, going as far as to say that he can remove even the smallest of imperfections. Furthermore, he never shows remorse for the hatred of her birthmark and appears to revel in the fact that imperfection is leaving his wife. He kisses it away, “Yet once, by a strange and unaccountable impulse, he pressed it to his lips. His spirit recoiled, however, in the very act” (56). This act reveals that Aylmer cannot settle with having a slightly physically imperfect wife despite having a perfect, humble spirit. No, Georgiana needed to mix with his scientific career to be of any worth to him.  

Aylmer often forgets or looks over his own failures, highlighting the way he sees himself internally. In particular, “Soon, however, he forgot these mortifying failures. In the intervals of study and chemical experiment he came to her flushed and exhausted, but seemed invigorated by her presence, and spoke in glowing language of the resources of his art” (52). Georgiana worships her husband, feeding into his ego which leads to him glossing over his failures. His wife, his completely devoted servant, serves him to the point of death. This extreme devotion serves as a catalyst which leads her husband to delve more into the imagined conception of his elevated spirituality. Moreover, his wife fully understands that her human nature will never be able to satisfy her husband’s desire, certainly not for longer than half an instant. Her spirit cries, “[A]nd with her whole spirit she prayed that, for a single moment, she might satisfy his highest and deepest conception. Longer than the one moment she knew well it could not be, for his spirit was ever on the march, ever ascending, and each instant required something that was beyond the scope of the instant before” (55). Aylmer’s spirit longs for an object that carnal science can never achieve. He hopes to achieve perfection by experimenting on his wife, but the birthmark is the only imperfection keeping Georgiana bound to her mortal body. Truly, a perfect mortal is the one object that man cannot and will never have the capacity to create.  

Just like many scientists, Aylmer forgets his carnal spirit and seeks to achieve the role of a god by logical means. However, the scientific method does not lead men to banishing imperfections, therefore, creating perfect mortals. The mad scientist forgets his role within the world, and tries to fulfill his god-complex. However, Aylmer is never meant to elevate himself to that level without realizing the very basis of his flawed intentions.