I n Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story “The Birth-Mark”, a chemist called Aylmer marries a young woman, Georgiana, whose sole imperfection is a red blemish on her left cheek. He considers it a “fatal flaw”; she pleads with him to use his skills to remove it. Stumbling on his journal, however, Georgiana is astonished to find it is a catalogue of scientific mishaps. Might his loathing of her birthmark stem from his professional disappointment? At length Aylmer concocts a potion that has the desired effect—and promptly kills her.
纳撒尼尔·霍桑（Nathaniel Hawthorne）的短篇小说“ The Birth-Mark”，一名名为Aylmer的化学家嫁给了一个年轻女子Georgiana，她的唯一缺陷是她左脸颊上的红色瑕疵。他认为这是“致命的缺陷”。她恳求他利用他的技能去除它。然而，在他的日记上绊脚石，乔治亚娜（Georgiana）惊讶地发现这是科学不事的目录。他对胎记的厌恶可能源于他的职业失望吗？最终，艾尔默（Aylmer）炮制了一种具有预期作用的药水，并迅速杀死了她。
