ead the passage from “Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment,” Part 2 by Nathaniel Hawthorne. As you read, think about how the setting, the characters, and the plot interact to influence the scene and its meaning.
They all gathered round her. One caught both her hands in his passionate grasp,—another threw his arm about her waist,—the third buried his hand among the glossy curls that clustered beneath the widow’s cap. Blushing, panting, struggling, chiding, laughing, her warm breath fanning each of their faces by turns, she strove to disengage herself, yet still remained in their triple embrace. Never was there a livelier picture of youthful rivalship, with bewitching beauty for the prize. Yet, by a strange deception, owing to the duskiness of the chamber, and the antique dresses which they still wore, the tall mirror is said to have reflected the figures of the three old, gray, withered grandsires, ridiculously contending for the skinny ugliness of a shriveled grandam.
How does the specific setting seen in the mirror hint at how the conflict will end?
Group of answer choices
The characters see themselves as beautiful in the mirror.
The characters behave as young and foolish people, but as their reflections reveal, they remain old.
The characters look old to each other and become much wiser while they are young.
The characters will remain young forever and never grow old.