"Disorders in Hawthorne's The Birthmark."

In Nathaniel Hawthorne's story "The Birthmark" you find a couple fairly prevalent disorders. Although psychology was as of yet not existence, Hawthorne describes them quite well. Alymer suffered from an obsessive-compulsive personality disorder, while his actions caused Georgiana to develop a body dysmorphic disorder. Both of which attributed to the eventual demise of Georgiana. Alymer is an older scientist who marries a beautiful woman much younger then himself. Even though Alymer finds his young bride …

…looks perfect without any blemish upon her face. Works Cited 1)Hawthorne, Nathaniel. "The Birthmark." Sixth Edition The Compact Bedford Introduction to Literature. Michael Meyers Ed. Boston/New York: Bedford/St. Martin 1996 p.306-16 2)Body Image and Body Dysmorphic Disorder.2002. 7 Dec. 2003 http://www.athealth.com/Consumer/disorders/BDDInterview.html . 3)Medicine Net Medical Dictionary. 2003. 7 Dec. 2003 http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=21263 . 4)Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, European Description. 1992. 1 Dec. 2003 http://www.mentalhealth.com/icd/p22-an05.html .