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Definition of Tone
The tone of a piece of writing is its general character or attitude, which might be cheerful or depressive, sarcastic or sincere, comical or mournful, praising or critical, and so on. For instance... read full definition
The tone of a piece of writing is its general character or attitude, which might be cheerful or depressive, sarcastic or sincere, comical or mournful, praising or critical... read full definition
The tone of a piece of writing is its general character or attitude, which might be cheerful or depressive, sarcastic or sincere, comical... read full definition
Tone
Explanation and Analysis:
"The Birthmark" cultivates a moralizing tone by evolving from lofty formality to a dark and somber final paragraph. In the beginning, the narrator introduces Aylmer in simple yet grand terms:
In the latter part of the last century there lived a man of science, an eminent proficient in every branch of natural philosophy, who not long before our story opens had made experience of a spiritual affinity more attractive than any chemical one. He had left his laboratory to the care of an assistant, cleared his fine countenance from the furnace smoke, washed the stain of acids from his fingers, and persuaded a beautiful woman to become his wife.
Aylmer's name remains a mystery for the first few sentences; as readers learn more about his identity he morphs from a nebulous character in some faraway tale into the protagonist of this one. The story sharpens further into focus as readers learn of his obsession with the birthmark. In the end, however, the narrator zooms out once again; he seems less concerned with the characters themselves and more interested in teaching readers a lesson. His didacticism crescendoes after Georgiana's death:
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 [...] 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.
Readers do not witness much of Aylmer's reaction to his wife's death; rather, the narrator considers the most useful part of the tale to be complete and takes over the narrative with his own words of judgement. His diction skews negative as he uses phrases like "gross fatality" and "shadowy scope of time," and this paragraph solidifies the inevitable dread of the preceding pages. Interestingly, the omniscient narrator seems to play God as he controls the story's tone and emphasis, even though the purpose of his story is to warn against the way in which Aylmer tries to play God in his laboratory.
Related Themes:
