The Birth Mark
Ratings1
Average rating3.5
15
Ratings1
Average rating3.5
"The Birth-Mark" is a short story by American author Nathaniel Hawthorne. The tale examines obsession with human perfection. It was first published in the March 1843 edition of The Pioneer and later appeared in Mosses from an Old Manse, a collection of Hawthorne's short stories published in 1846.
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Also contained in:
- [Celestial Railroad and Other Stories](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL455215W)
- [Complete Novels and Selected Tales of Nathaniel Hawthorne](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL15136484W)
- [Fictions](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL17733654W)
- [Future Perfect](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL3931584W)
- [Great American Short Stories](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL15062982W)
- [Great Short Works of Nathaniel Hawthorne](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL455617W)
- [Haunting Tales](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL15141669W)
- [Hawthorne's Short Stories](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL455582W)
- [Literature and Science in the Nineteenth Century](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL1925135W)
- [Little Masterpieces: Nathaniel Hawthorne](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL455239W)
- [Mosses from an Old Manse](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL455350W)
- [Mosses from an Old Manse: 1/2](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL455531W)
- [Nathaniel Hawthorne's Tales](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL16618230W)
- [Norton Anthology of Short Fiction](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL15163063W)
- [Portable Hawthorne](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL455376W)
- [Representative Selections](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL455540W)
- [Short Fiction: Classic and Contemporary: Second Edition](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL5367202W)
- [Selected Short Stories of Nathaniel Hawthorne](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL455554W)
- [Selected Tales and Sketches](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL455628W)
- [Selected Tales and Sketches](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL20642879W)
- [Selected Tales and Sketches: Third Edition](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL20642876W)
- [United States in Literature: All My Sons Edition](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL2735535W)
- [United States in Literature: The Glass Menagerie Edition](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL15395980W)
- [Wolf's Complete Book of Terror](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL3333967W)
Reviews with the most likes.
Summary: In this gothic short story by Nathaniel Hawthorne, a scientist named Alymer becomes obsessed with a birthmark, an “imperfection,” on his wife’s face. In his endeavor to use science to fix this blemish, he learns that scientific advancement may not be as wonderful as he imagined it to be.
