The concept of beauty is one aspect of “The Birth-Mark” that pertains to current day issues. Aylmer’s rash judgement of Georgiana’s tiny mark upon her cheek and Georgiana’s resulting obsession directly relate to the primarily male-influenced opinions of themselves that women today possess. These critical points in the story significantly correlate with the 20th century struggle of the concept of beauty in women. Though some people found beauty in Georgiana’s birthmark, Aylmer looked at the small hand-shaped spot as a horrid imperfection which he could not overcome. Aylmer represents the judgmental and/or ignorant males of the 20th century population whose opinions have a lasting effect on the self-confidence and consciouses of women. At one point, the narrator states, “Masculine observers...contented themselves with wishing [the birthmark] away, that the world might possess one living specimen of ideal loveliness, without the semblance of a flaw” (646). Those who see things like birthmarks as imperfections cannot see past them; instead, they make it clear that such flaws take away from the loveliness of the person. This is a struggle which is seen all too often in the modern world. Georgiana, a symbol for the women affected by these types of men, responds dramatically to Aylmer’s disgust. She “soon learned to shudder at his gaze. It needed but a glance, with the peculiar expression that his face often wore, to turn the roses of her cheek to a deathlike paleness” (647).