English/Literature

How does Alymer in "The Birthmark" show the conflict between science and religion in Hawthorne's era?

• Do you think Georgiana knew she was going to die after reading Aylmer’s portfolio of experiments?  Or did she truly have faith in her husband to remove "the hand"?
• How does the setting of “Young Goodman Brown” function symbolically?
• Hawthorne throws a wrench in the end of “Young Goodman Brown” by implying it could have been a dream. Do you think he was dreaming, or was it real? Does this matter? Why or why not?
• In “The Minister’s Black Veil,” how does the veil affect the townspeople’s perception of him? How does it affect his fiancée?
• Would it make a difference is Hooper himself told the story in first person? What might we learn?
  

• “Young Goodman Brown”
  • Background: Salem witch trials
• “The Birthmark”
  • Background: the Enlightenment struggle between science and faith
• “The Minister’s Black Veil”
  • Background: American Gothic