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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from Twice Told Tales by Nathaniel Hawthorne: No garb but that of the grave could have befitted such a
deathlike aspect; the eyes, indeed, had the wild gleam of a
sepulchral lamp; all else was fixed in the stern calmness which
old men wear in the coffin. The corpse stood motionless, but
addressed the widow in accents that seemed to melt into the clang
of the bell, which fell heavily on the air while he spoke.
"Come, my bride!" said those pale lips, "the hearse is ready. The
sexton stands waiting for us at the door of the tomb. Let us be
married; and then to our coffins!"
How shall the widow's horror be represented? It gave her the
ghastliness of a dead man's bride. Her youthful friends stood
Twice Told Tales |
