Ethan Brand -- What Is a Limekiln?

Bartram is a lime-burner who works a limekiln, just as Ethan Brand once had. So, what's a limekiln? Here's a little info:

A lime kiln is a type of furnace that burns marble, limestone, or another material to produce lime, a solid made up of calcium oxide (CaO). If it is free of impurities, it is white and is called pure lime or quicklime. When mixed with water, lime turns into a powder, calcium hydroxide—Ca(OH). Lime is used in the production of cement, paper, glass, whitewash, and agricultural preparations that reduce the acidity of soil.

More photos of limekilns...

The Birthmark -- Dramatized in Three minutes

Here is a brief and amusing dramatization of Hawthorne's "The Birth-Mark." Doesn't the actress look just a wee bit familiar?

Rappaccini's Daughter -- The Original Femme Fatale

Though we won't be studying this short story in class, I still recommend reading it. Here's a brief summary of "Rappaccini's Daughter":

The story is set in Padua in a distant, but unspecified past. From his quarters, Giovanni, a young student of letters, observes Beatrice, the beautiful daughter of Dr. Rappaccini, a scientist working in isolation. Beatrice is confined to the lush and locked gardens in which experiments involving poisonous plants take place. Having fallen in love, Giovanni ignores the warning of his mentor, Professor Baglioni, that Rappaccini is up to no good, and he and his work should be shunned. Eventually, Giovanni sneaks into the forbidden garden to meet his lover, and begins to suffer the consequences of the encounter with the plants - and with Beatrice, who dwells among them and has been rendered both immune to their effects and poisonous to others.

Read the entire story...

Crucible Fashion -- Puritanism Meets 1950's

Here are some fashion sketches of costumes designed for the 2006 production of The Crucible at Indiana University. Here's the explanation:

Kathryn Garlick’s costumes work with the silhouettes of the period of the Salem witch trials, but they are not specifically of the period itself. The silhouette of the New England dresses, for instance, show up in fashion designs of the 1950's and other eras. The men’s clothing, too, varies and does not reflect any one period, while still suggesting the tone and style of the dress in 1690. The design attempts both to reflect the period of the play, while helping to move the characters and their actions beyond the specific historical moment. Like the scenic design and like the play itself, the costumes try to support the idea that the theatrical experience may work as metaphor, that the experience of The Crucible may tell multiple stories simultaneously, as poetry performed.

Click here to view all the character fashion plates. Your judgment?