Religion like in much of history plays a major role in Nathanial Hawthorne's stories. Hawthorne in many cases in his past was involved with religion including his ancestors being Puritans which is what caused Hawthorne to write about religion in the manner he did. He used religion as a tool to write his stories such as Young Goodman Brown and The Birthmark.
In The Birthmark Hawthorne uses Dr. Aylmer to represent a God figure in the story. Dr. Aylmer is married to a beautiful woman who is perfect except for a birthmark on her cheek which Dr. Aylmer describes as an "earthly imperfection."(204).So Dr. Aylmer decided to change his wife and make her perfect. "As the last crimson tint of the birthmark-the sole token of human imperfection-faded from her cheek, the parting breath of now perfect woman passed into the atmosphere."(219-220). Unlike God himself Dr. Aylmer isn't perfect in the way he executes his experiments and ends up killing his wife. Using Dr. Aylmer as a Godlike figure......

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Title: Religion In Hawthornes Stories
Approximate Word Count: 701
Approximate Pages: 3 (250 words per double-spaced page)

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