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Satire
Definition of Setting
Setting is where and when a story or scene takes place. The where can be a real place like the city of New York, or it can be an imagined... read full definition
Setting is where and when a story or scene takes place. The where can be a real place like the city of New York, or... read full definition
Setting is where and when a story or scene takes place. The where can be a real place like the... read full definition
Key Examples in Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment
Setting
Explanation and Analysis:
Though the story is not set in any specific geographic location or period of time, it does take place, in its entirety, in the “study” of Dr. Heidegger, an eccentric figure whose intellectual pursuits seem to straddle the boundaries between science, philosophy, and the occult. Drawing from the conventional stock imagery of gothic literature, Hawthorne’s depiction of this setting is integral to establishing the mysterious, fantastical mood of the story.
It was a dim, old-fashioned chamber, festooned with cobwebs, and besprinkled with antique dust. Around the walls stood several oaken bookcases, the lower shelves of which were filled with rows of gigantic folios and black-letter quartos, and the upper with little parchment-covered duodecimos [...] In the obscurest corner of the room stood a tall and narrow oaken closet, with its door ajar, within which doubtfully appeared a skeleton. Between two of the bookcases hung a looking-glass, presenting its high and dusty plate within a tarnished gilt frame.
Related Themes:
