with a mortal frame” (Hawthorne 354). Tracing the balance between perfection and dissatisfaction, readers of "The Birthmark" witness the slow demise of Georgiana and Aylmer and gain important insights into human nature. A significant moment about humanity's dissatisfaction comes when Georgiana reads the volume written by Aylmer. Despite the fact that the book was “full of achievements that had won fame for its author, [it was] as melancholy a record as any hand had ever written” (Hawthorne 350). The goals set by the scientist cannot be achieved. It is as if he sets out to achieve the unattainable due to an unconscious addiction to dissatisfaction. Before the novel's conclusion, he has almost achieved everything he set out to do; however, when he tries to free a mortal from her mortality, or at least the distinctive mark on her body that represents her mortality, he fails. In the end it matters very little whether he succeeds or not, because he will not be satisfied no matter what. Georgiana has the wisdom and foresight to realize that she can never satisfy Aylmer, which perhaps contributes to her willingness to undergo the experiment. In a soliloquy not spoken aloud to Aylmer, he confesses that he wishes to be everything he seeks in a woman, but that he can never succeed because his spirit is "always marching, always ascending, and every moment demands something that goes beyond." the scope of the previous instant”. (Hawthorne 344). What is most interesting is Georgiana's regard for Aylmer when she realizes that his idealism will never correlate with reality. He believes that people's spiritual nature is hindered by our earthly self, rather than enabled by it. Based on his destiny and that of his... medium of paper... rch has written great adventures in our journey, and that could mean our destiny too. While this lesson is powerful in itself, there is another more powerful and more deeply rooted in history: that of nature's ability to connect. Nature connects the elements that make up the earth, connects ecosystems and people with their environment. Most importantly, however, nature connects us with ourselves. Just as Georgiana died when the hand nature gave her was severed from her being, so too will we suffer if we stray too far from nature. In this moment in history, with climate change, pollution and an exponentially increasing population, Hawthorne's story is more relevant than ever. It reminds us that while science can serve us as a tool, it can neither bring us to perfection nor separate us from the nature to which we belong and of which we are a part.