Hawthorne portrayed this conflict with the removal of a birthmark. Georgianna likes everything about herself. Alymer constantly badgers her until the point that she breaks. She cannot take the pain that her husband has forced upon her. In this short story Hawthorne cleverly uses rhetorical devices such as satire, irony and foreshadowing.
Satire is present at the end of the story.
Alymer was so concerned about perfection to know that his wife really loved him. Many scientists make the mistake of trying to perfect something, when it cannot be perfected. The whole story seems to be ironic. Man seeks to perfect things but instead kills it. Foreshadowing is scattered all throughout the story.