The Birthmark | Setting
The narrator opens by placing the temporal setting in “the latter part of the last century,” which to his contemporary audience was the eighteenth. Various details, however, call attention to the nineteenth century’s fascination with the visual, indicated by the development of photography after 1839. For example, Aylmer creates the illusion of “optical phenomena” to distract Georgiana in her boudoir near his laboratory, and he also creates a daguerreotype of her, although unsuccessfully. In addition, the furnace, cabinet of chemical products, and the “electrical machine”...
[The entire page is 611 words long]
Join eNotes
The above is a free excerpt. Get total access to this content with the:
Summary and Analysis – Themes – Characters – And much more...
Join eNotes
Over 3,500 study guides, question and answer forums, literature criticism, reference content, and much more!
Navigate
Tell a friend about The Birthmark at eNotes.
