Nathaniel Hawthorne's two stories, "The Birthmark" and "The Scarlet Letter", have very similar themes and plots. The two stories were written in the 1800's when Europeans, that practised the Puritan religion, started to move to America. The two stories share similar themes of sin and desire with underlying Puritan values. <Tab/>Aylmer, the devoted scientist in "The Birthmark", marries a beautiful woman with a single physical flaw, a birthmark on her …showed first 75 words of 767 total…

…showed last 75 words of 767 total…to raise their children are well documented. Women now have some more freedoms to make choices that affect their lives and their bodies but the struggle to have equal opportunities in all aspects of their lives is still a long way from complete. Works Cited <Tab/> <Tab/>Hawthorne, Nathaniel. "The Bithmark." Norton Anthropology of American Literature. Eds. W.H. New and W.E. Messenger, Scarborough: Prentice-Hall, 1989. 639-650.