I'm not quite sure why people say they hate Boston. Boston has great cuisine and great places for a crazy fun vibe. But not even that its a small, hip city with a challenge; it doesn't give you something to do, you need to find it yourself. 

I'm a curious creature and one night my roommate and I were walking down Newbury with a empty stomach trying to find a different restaurant to try. (since we had probably eaten at every place in and around the area) We walked down this cute staircase and found what seemed to be a hidden jewel called Tapeo.

This little restaurant is a Tapas Bar with actual real Spanish waitstaff that know what they're talking about when it comes to imported beers from Barcelona, homemade Sangria, great European cuisine and just honest, warm Mediterranean hospitality. For sure a much needed warmth with this terrible weather we've been having. 

But the entire purpose of this rant is to say that I really dont understand why people complain Boston... but that's why we all have our own opinions. 

http://www.tapeo.com/

The Birthmark

Diving straight into the story i believe that the scientist, Aylmer could possibly be a direct reflection of Hawthorne himself. Here's why; Hawthorne is known to have been greatly affected by his grandfather's actions towards the twenty some-odd women he condemned to death due to false allocations of "witch craft." There's a feeling of guilt and definite obsession over these actions that his grandfather did; something Hawthorne never had any part of or control for that matter. 

One may argue that Aylmer might have felt that it was his duty as a scientist, perfectionist and Georgiana's husband to rid her of this imperfection. But even more so than just a duty, Aylmer wanted to create, and give Georgiana a 'rebirth' from her mortal, imperfect body to an 'immortal' vessel that would be the most perfect and beautiful thing on Earth. The true, concrete connection between the two are their obsession over the unattainable or even more so the uncontrollable. 

I don't personally know about Hawthorne but nature decides that because Aylmer is trying too hard to create a beautiful thing when nature had already given the world Georgiana's beauty; that nature would also take her beauty and Georgiana away from the world and from her obsessive husband.