THE BIRTHMARK
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Discussion questions:
1. Does the story come across as all together too melodramatic? Is the plot believable? Do the characters, as portrayed, ring true, or are they types?
2. Which factors could explain Georgiana's willingness to undergo the operation?
3. Is the temptation to destroy 'the good' in pursuit of 'the perfect' typical of idealists? Of melancholics? How is this temptation counteracted in everyday life?
4. "The volume, rich with achievements that had won renown for its author, was yet as melancholy a record as ever mortal hand had penned. It was the sad confession and continual exemplification of the shortcomings of the composite man, the spirit burdened with clay and working in matter, and of the despair that assails the higher nature at finding itself so miserably thwarted by the earthly part."
Are idealists inclined to envy the angels their spirits? How does this envy develop in religion?
5. "Thus ever does the gross fatality of earth exult in its invariable triumph over the immortal essence which, in this dim sphere of half development, demands the completeness of a higher state. Yet, had Alymer reached a profounder wisdom, he need not thus have flung away the happiness which would have woven his mortal life of the selfsame texture with the celestial. 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."
What is the difference between the idealist and the ideologue? Are all ideologies fatally flawed? What are the inevitable consequences of pursuing ideologies?
6. Is perfection possible in literature? In art? What price does the artist pay for perfection, or even the pursuit of perfection? Is it worth it? Is compromise possible?
7. Does anyone else except me get really excited by Hawthorne's masterful use of punctuation? His commas are exquisite; his semi-colons beyond reproach! How important is punctuation to the expression of ideas? Does vers libre succeed? What about punctuation in our lives? Nature gives us some (the seasons), religion others (feasts) and culture still others (family dinners). What happens when we do away with punctuation?
Further questions
