http://www.sparknotes.com/short-stories/the-birthmark/section1.rhtml
In this article they are depicting the foreshadowing that happened through out the story The Birthmark.
"Aylmer dreams of cutting off Georgiana’s birthmark and finding that the roots plunge down into her heart, which he decides to cut out; Georgiana faints the first time she sees the laboratory; the beautiful, fast-blooming flower Aylmer creates withers and turns black as soon as Georgiana touches it; a reflection of Georgiana in a metal plate reveals the shape of a hand, so Aylmer throws the plate into acid, destroying it. Over and over, we see that Aylmer’s experiments usually go awry and have destructive, unintended consequences."
By showing us multiple events of failure, and destructiveness we are able to foreshadow the consequences of what is to come of Georgiana. When first reading The Birthmark many would passover these clues, but like this article states, Nathaniel Hawthorne included many scenarios leading up to the death of Georgiana.
Looking back now, it does seem obviously that these events were clues to the death of Gloriana. Aylmer constantly burrowed himself into his laboratory, probably because others saw him as a failure. Since his only critic was himself, of course he saw himself as a great scientist. Georgiana's mind was even changed because Aylmer constantly cringed at her birthmark and made her self-conscious, so she grew to hate herself more than Aylmer did.
ReplyDelete