"The Birth-Mark" is a romantic short story written by Nathaniel Hawthorne that examines obsession with human perfection. It was first published in the March, 1843 edition of The Pioneer. It later appeared in Mosses from an Old Manse, a collection of short stories by Hawthorne published in 1846.
Georgiana, the beautiful woman in the story has a single hand-shaped birthmark on her cheek. Men are invariably attracted to Georgiana, and many find the birthmark attractive. However, her husband Aylmer, a scientist, begins to detest the birthmark more intensely with each passing day.
