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Nathaniel Hawthorne was a 19th-century New England writer best known for writing The Scarlet Letter. Many of his works reflect his somewhat Puritan background and are highly moralistic. Hawthorne often holds certain moral values up as exemplary and, at the same time, points out that the guy is failing miserably in attaining them.

In fact, he is frequently cited as a key player in the "Dark Romanticism" genre, where man's failures and flaws have been examined and criticized. See "Genre" for more on this topic.

"The Birthmark," printed in March of 1843 at a literary journal named The Pioneer, is one of Hawthorne's more famous short stories. It tells the story of a scientist who is obsessed with the removal of his wife's birthmark, believing it a sign of her human imperfection. The story raises some interesting questions about what it means to be human, the human body vs. the spirit, how much science can tell us about the world, how much of character we could transform through science, and perhaps more importantly, whether we should even try to "play God" in this manner.

It's likely that "The Birthmark" was considerably affected by Hawthorne's times. From the mid-1800s, science's star was rising and, most interestingly, seeping into the subject of philosophy. A school of thought named Positivism sprang upward, which pretty much mimicked the scientific method and said the only way we could learn things was through scientific experimentation and careful observation. Out with lofty meta-physics; in conjunction with physical observation. Hawthorne's main personality Aylmer, in one reading of "The Birthmark," epitomizes this point of view. Whether or not Hawthorne totally rejects Positivism is subject to debate, however, he is certainly questioning the validity of such a restricted approach to gaining knowledge about our planet.

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