Questions And Answers On 'The Birthmark'
Group 1 Questions
"The Birthmark"
1. Using inferences from the story, establish its likely geographical setting and historical time. Afterwards, review the story for at least a couple of convincing clues and hints that suggest the story will end tragically, i.e. that Aylmer will fail and/or Georgiana will die. The narrator tells us that it takes place “in the latter part of the last century”, meaning around the late 1700s. We know this because the story was written in the 1840s so prior to that would be the late 1700s. It talks about Europe when Aylmer’s youth is described. How all of Europe societies were roused with admiration by his discoveries. One big mistake is Aylmer tried to control nature with science. His failing attempts to do so led to Georgiana’s death. His obsession really did get the best of him. Georgiana only wanted his happiness and the fact that she saw him constantly upset about this birthmark that really never bothered her but now she hates. This was a downward spiral for them both. He ultimately ruins what he once had which was really close to perfection but he couldn’t realize it. It is clear to see here in this passage; the momentary circumstance was too strong for him; he failed to look beyond the shadowy scope of time, and, living once for all in eternity, to find the perfect future in the present. …show more content…
Without, these flaws were no longer human. This was ultimately the case with Georgiana when she finally got rid of her birthmark a part of her that made her human. This was taken away and she ends up dying. Another good message that I got from this story is that science does have limitations. Despite all Aylmer tries he can’t discover everything about nature and makes many mistakes. He has had many failures in the past and now he has this failure with Georgiana. We can see clearly that nature creates and man can only change or try to fix
"The Birthmark"
1. Using inferences from the story, establish its likely geographical setting and historical time. Afterwards, review the story for at least a couple of convincing clues and hints that suggest the story will end tragically, i.e. that Aylmer will fail and/or Georgiana will die. The narrator tells us that it takes place “in the latter part of the last century”, meaning around the late 1700s. We know this because the story was written in the 1840s so prior to that would be the late 1700s. It talks about Europe when Aylmer’s youth is described. How all of Europe societies were roused with admiration by his discoveries. One big mistake is Aylmer tried to control nature with science. His failing attempts to do so led to Georgiana’s death. His obsession really did get the best of him. Georgiana only wanted his happiness and the fact that she saw him constantly upset about this birthmark that really never bothered her but now she hates. This was a downward spiral for them both. He ultimately ruins what he once had which was really close to perfection but he couldn’t realize it. It is clear to see here in this passage; the momentary circumstance was too strong for him; he failed to look beyond the shadowy scope of time, and, living once for all in eternity, to find the perfect future in the present. …show more content…
Without, these flaws were no longer human. This was ultimately the case with Georgiana when she finally got rid of her birthmark a part of her that made her human. This was taken away and she ends up dying. Another good message that I got from this story is that science does have limitations. Despite all Aylmer tries he can’t discover everything about nature and makes many mistakes. He has had many failures in the past and now he has this failure with Georgiana. We can see clearly that nature creates and man can only change or try to fix