Nathaniel Hawthorne's “Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment” begins when Dr. Heidegger invites four friends to his eerie study to ask them for assistance in an experiment. Colonel Killigrew, Mr. Medbourne, Mr. Gascoigne, and Widow Wycherly, his four friends, have all committed serious mistakes in their youth leading them to their current state of despondency and despair. Showing his friends a withered rose which blooms after he soaks it in water allegedly from the mythical Fountain of Youth on it, he asks the four of them to drink the water so he can see the outcome. His once skeptical friends now become eager to try the water, and Dr. Heidegger warns them to not commit the mistakes they made in their past. After drinking the water, they show signs
They finally had the chance to live life again right but they chose to act like fools and fight each other and in the story, it states “Still keeping hold of the fair prize, they grappled fiercely at one another's throats”. All because they wanted a widow’s attention, it caused them to spill the magical water on the ground, making them turn old again. The spill of the magical water caused the 4 elderly friends to lose their chance to re-correct the way they lived when they were young and reckless. They were fools to waste a chance to redeem themselves, to not be reckless again, but no, they did the same thing, what a waste of life. This next story is called, “Thank You Ma'am”, the story is about a boy called Roger trying to steal an old lady’s purse and it doesn’t go as planned.
The narrator shares this story from his youth in the words of an educated man. His actions as a teen are in stark contrast to his phraseology as an adult. Early in the story, he viewed “nature” as sex, drugs and rock and roll (Boyle 112-113). However, as the story ends and the turmoil subsides, the narrator sees nature for the first time, through the eyes of a person matured by this traumatic experience. The “sun firing buds and opening blossoms” replaced the once revered beer and
The father does not like “the sound of the place, an unfamiliar nervous sound of the outboard motors [that] sometimes break the illusion and set the years moving.” He always talks about how “there were no years” and how everything was so constant. However, he is getting to the point where he is starting to know that his future is near. He starts to realize that when a thunderstorm comes. This brought the father “the revival of an old melodrama that [he] had seen long ago with childish awe.”He is no longer confused about who he is anymore, and he knows that he is getting old. As he starts to accept this, the lake which he saw was “infinitely precious and worth saving [is now] a curious darkening of the sky, and a lull in everything that had made life tick.” Although he realizes that it is what it is, he knows that this is something he will have to accept, and his son is the new generations who is going to hold the future. His son, whom he always got confused as himself, now sees his son for his child. When the son goes swimming, the father “languidly, and with no thought of [swimming]. . .saw [his son] winch slightly as he pulled up around his vitals the small, soggy, icy garment.” Seeing how his son is strong and independent gives him the “chill of death.” He finally realizes that he is no longer a child, he is an adult who is going to die. A new generation will take his place, and
Levittown project was taken up in the U.S. after the end of Second World War, with the aim of providing mass housing facilities to people in the wake of increasing urbanization and problems of accommodating large population in limited urban area (Friedman. 1995). The first of Levittown apartments were constructed on Long Island, New York and they symbolized the modern trends of urbanization and housing developments (Clapson. 2003). This paper shall study the impact of Levittown project on trends of further urbanization and analyze the aesthetics of design and development involved in it.
The Elixir ”Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment” is a short story written by Nathaniel Hawthorne. In this story Dr. Heidegger, “who is known to tell a thousand stories” (Hawthorne 1), gets four old and perhaps depressed friends to drink “elixir”. These people start to feel young and rejuvenated again. In the process of reading this story a question presents itself. This question is whether the elixir Dr.Heidegger is testing is actually real.
Reality. In The Scarlet Letter, Dimmesdale is described as, “Meek, childlike, and speaks like an angel.” But in reality, Dimmesdale is a sinner because he was the one who cheated with Hester and he is also the pastor of the church. In “Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment”, after the people drink the water of youth, they are reflected in a mirror. A quote that shows that is, “mirror is said to have reflected the figures of the three old, gray, withered grandsires, ridiculously contending for the skinny ugliness of a shrivelled grandam.” This quote proves that on the outside they appear young and beautiful but the mirror shows that in reality, they are not young and beautiful, they are old and shrivelled. In the end, Appearance VS. Reality is shown in both books by showing that Dimmesdale is a sinner not a saint and the people who look young are actually very
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne presents the reader with the harsh, life changing conflicts of three Puritan characters during the 17th century. Hester Prynne, Arthur Dimmesdale, and Robert Chillingworth must endure their different, yet surprisingly similar struggles as the novel progresses. Despite their similarities, Hawthorne shows these individuals deal with their conflicts differently, and in the end, only one prevails. Nathaniel Hawthorne’s intricately critical diction helps determine his didactic tone; during the course of The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne reveals that happiness can be harnessed through one’s perseverance.
The beginning of the story uses imagery to paint a bright world in the reader’s mind. Hawthorne writes, “Children, with bright faces, tript merrily beside their parents.” And “the Sabbath sunshine made them look prettier than on
Hawthorne's moods or prevailing feelings during certain scenes are revealed to the reader through nature.
Children, with bright faces, tripped merrily beside their parents, or mimicked a graver gait, in the conscious dignity of their Sunday clothes” (Hawthorne, 1) places the readers in a small village in the United States in the middle of the 1800’s with an action that lasts for several days.
Although there was a lot of romantic evidence in this short story, Hawthorne also showed the use of anti-romantic literature. Using evilness, Hawthorne 's writing helps lead readers into the anti-romantic era. We as readers, were told of a story in which a man tests his friends with water from the Fountain of Youth. The greediness of the “four venerable and melcahancy old creatures” makes the reader feel that evil is in every common man;in fact, greed has been proven to show darkness within a soul. Within the story it said, “Give us more of this wondrous water! Cried them eagerly. “We are younger--but we are still too old! Quick-- give us more!” Their want leads the
Hawthorne creates a delightfully dreary Gothic short story ¨Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment¨ through the use of a dilapidated family estate, heightened emotions from the characters Mr. Medbourne, Colonel Killigrew, and Mr. Gascoigne, as well as unexplained objects such as the painting of Dr Heidegger's lost love coming to life.
The short story Dr.Heidegger's Experiment, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, is an eye-opening example of the Romanticism literary movement. Emotions and reactions were essential, which shows a great reliance on emotion. Fuse that and an old, creepy, cobweb-filled room, horrible ethical decisions made by Dr.Heidegger, and you’ve got a spectacular romantic piece. Dr.Heidegger’s Experiment is seen most clearly through the psychological lens. Hawthorne, a writer of the romantic time period, plays out a dream for most older people in this short story. Eternal life from the Fountain of Youth. Dr.Heidegger's extremely unethical decision to test the waters’ effects on his three closest friends, The Widow, the Colonel, and Mr.Melbourne, can only be justified
When the four enter the Doctor’s house, they are introduced to the reader as,”They were all melancholy old creatures, who had been unfortunate in life, and whose greatest misfortune it was that they were not long ago in their graves.” Through this quote Hawthorne is pointing out they were all failures in life. They all wished they were dead, their lives so wasted and dreary. This shows their longing to change their past. They had been unfortunate in life, and the fact they wanted to take the elixir to be young again shows they want to fix that. The narrator also points out, “ And, before
In this essay, The short poem that I chose to research and write about it “The Sick Rose”, which is written by William Blake. Blake was an early and important English poet, he wrote in the romantic period. Blake was born on November 28, 1957 in London. Blake was the second child out of five. His parents names were James and Catherine Harmitage Blake. Blake was not in school as a young boy, but he did spend the time he had wandering throughout the city and countryside , this is where Blake started experiencing the visions that later inspired his illustrations. In 1789, Blake published Songs of Innocence, a collection of ambiguous and misleading simple poems.I say misleading because Blake technique allows his wording to be us to describe various situations. Blakes poems could mean one thing and at the same time mean the total opposite. Blake allows the readers to use their imagination, while reading the poem I tried connecting the unique chosen word phrases to my own life experiences. The experience I was able to connect it to is a life changing experience, a girl losing her purity. Blake uses metaphorical language so his audience, young or old, could relate to their human experiences.