Dr Heidegger's Experiment Gothic Elements

400 Words1 Page

If you go into a library, you are bound to find books upon books filled with creepy hallways, strange creatures, and weird paranormal beings. Gothic elements like these have been and will be a very important part to literature for many years to come. Throughout the journey of gothic American Literature, well known writers such as Edgar Allan Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne have brought these gothic elements into their stories and poems to add a more creepy effect to it. One example of an American gothic story is “Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment” by Nathaniel Hawthorne as seen through tortured characters, recurring symbolism, and a bleak setting.

One of the common characteristics used in gothic literature is used by Hawthorne in his story “Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment” is tortured characters. In this story, Dr. Heidegger hasn’t fully coped with the fact the his bride to be had died, shown through this quote: “...being affected with some slight disorders, she had swallowed one of her lovers …show more content…

Heidegger’s Experiment” is recurring symbolism. Throughout the story Dr. Heidegger refills his friends glasses with the “liquor of youth”, as seen in these quotes: “Dr. Heidegger had been filling the four champagne glasses with the water of the Fountain Of Youth”, “Again he filled their glasses with the liquor of youth”, “see! I have already filled the glasses.”. These quote show that the fountain of youth is recurring throughout the story. Finally, bleak setting is another characteristic seen in Hawthorne's story “Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment”. Towards the beginning of the story the study is explained in detail as seen through this quote: “It was a dim, old-fashioned chamber, festooned with cobwebs, and besprinkled with antique dust. Around the walls stood several oaken bookcases… In the obscurest corner of the room stood a tall and narrow oaken closet, with its door ajar, within which doubtfully appeared a

Show More
Related

  • Comparing Poe’s Fall of the House of Usher and Taylor’s Venus, Cupid, Folly and Time

    1084 Words  | 3 Pages

    Gothic texts are typically characterized by a horrifying and haunting mood, in a world of isolation and despair. Most stories also include some type of supernatural events and/or superstitious aspects. Specifically, vampires, villains, heroes and heroines, and mysterious architecture are standard in a gothic text. Depending upon the author, a gothic text can also take on violent and grotesque attributes. As an overall outlook, “gothic literature is an outlet for the ancient fears of humanity in an age of reason” (Sacred-Texts). Following closely to this type of literature, Edgar Allan Poe uses a gloomy setting, isolation, and supernatural occurrences throughout “The Fall of the House of Usher”.

    Read More

  • The Devil And Tom Walker Gothic Elements

    1058 Words  | 3 Pages

    Gothic literature, such as The Night Circus, “The Devil and Tom Walker”, “Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment”, and “Masque of the Red Death”, are known for incorporating gothic elements such as the supernatural, death, and fascination with the past.

    Read More

  • The Gothic Tradition in Stoker's Dracula and Wilde's Picture of Dorian Gray

    2369 Words  | 5 Pages

    Gothic writing is a style of literature that relies upon the evocation of moods, feelings and imagery for impact. This style of writing was developed during an age of great scientific discovery – such literature marked a reaction against the prevailing ‘Age of Enlightenment’. Many Gothic authors opposed the new-found faith and enthusiasm placed in these discoveries, believing that they restricted freedom of imagination. Consequently, Gothic writers inhabited areas where no answers are provided – exploiting people’s fears and offering answers that are in stark contrast to the otherwise scientific explanations.

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast The Yellow Wallpaper And Young Goodman Brown

    725 Words  | 2 Pages

    Many people on this earth will commit a sin, they find they wish they had not, and 1 in every 5 Americans suffer from a mental illness. In a story named “Young Goodman Brown” by the author Nathaniel Hawthorne, the people in his story have all sinned and meet with the Devil. Then in another story named “The Yellow Wallpaper” by the author Charlotte Perkins Gilman the main character is suffering from a mental illness while her husband, a psychiatrist, tries to help her, but in doing so only makes her condition worse. Throughout both literary texts of “The Yellow Wallpaper” and “Young Goodman Brown,” the authors show numerous entries of Gothic Literature. And although “Young Goodman Brown” and the “Yellow Wallpaper” share similar Gothic elements, the two stories are very much different.

    Read More

  • Dr. Heidegger's Experiment: The Fountain Of Greed

    503 Words  | 2 Pages

    There are countless symbols in “Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment”. The doctor wanted to show the guests how the water was real. “The crushed and dark petals stirred, and assumed a deepening tinge of crimson, as if the flower

    Read More

  • Elements Of Gothic Romanticism In Young Goodman Brown And Dr. Heidegger's Experiment

    742 Words  | 2 Pages

    Through out the elements of Gothic Romanticism, the greatest involves the supernatural and mysterious events. This leaves the reader wondering whether such scenes actually did in fact occur or if the scene was a delusion created by the character’s subconscious desires and fears. Thus such uncertainty leads to the development of mystery and doubt within the reader. Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown” and “Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment” utilize a common aspect of involving the impact of a single illusion or dream has upon the characters overall outlook; in “Young Goodman Brown” he develops this theme through the forest scene with the townspeople and how this leads to Brown’s utter loss in faith, while in “Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment”, he is able to create an air of uncertainty due to the fact that he portrays the narrator as false and leaves the reader to wonder if the whole magic of the Fountain of Youth really does exist.

    Read More

  • Examples Of Barbarity In Frankenstein

    833 Words  | 2 Pages

    Written in 1818, the latter stages of the Gothic literature movement, at face value this novel embodies all the key characteristics of the Gothic genre. It features the supernatural, ghosts and an atmosphere of horror and mystery. However a closer reading of the novel presents a multifaceted tale that explores

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast The Cask Of Amontillado And Tell Tale Heart

    796 Words  | 2 Pages

    Reading Edgar Allen Poe’s works such as “The Cask of Amontillado” and “Tell-Tale Heart” are both written around 1840’s and written in the gothic style. Poe displays his horror short stories, in which the reader can differentiate his signature style. Although many of Poe’s significant works may have a similar theme, the reader can distinguish the themes through the characters in “The Cask of Amontillado” and “Tell-Tale Heart.”

    Read More

  • Gothic Elements

    961 Words  | 2 Pages

    To set the tone in the story the author had to describe the surroundings of the characters. For example the author states, "with the first glimpse of the building, a sense of insufferable gloom pervaded my spirit." when giving a detailed response of how he feels about the house. This helps show that the author himself feels depressed when in sight of the building and gives the reader a thought of how the house looks. Other textual evidence in the passage also shows a feeling of suspense like the quote, "There was an iciness, a sinking, a sickening of the heart - an unredeemed dreariness of thought which no goading of the imagination could torture into aught of the sublime. " which is how the author feels when he thinks about the house. The author cannot bear to imagine the house because he has a dark and negative imagination with different fears he thinks can come to life because of how unsettling the house makes him feel. While suspense is a direct indication of a depressed and dark tone, some other Gothic elements can be used indirectly to describe negative values in the story.

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast The Fall Of The House Of Usher And House Taken Over

    702 Words  | 2 Pages

    Word by word, gothic literature is bound to be an immaculate read. Examining this genre for what it is could be essential to understanding it. “Gothic” is relating to the extinct East Germanic language, people of which known as the Goths. “Literature” is defined as a written work, usually with lasting “artistic merit.” Together, gothic literature combines the use of horror, death, and sometimes romance. Edgar Allan Poe, often honored with being called the king of horror and gothic poetry, published “The Fall of House Usher” in September of 1839. This story, along with many other works produced by Poe, is a classic in gothic literature. In paragraph nine in this story, one of our main characters by the name of Roderick Usher,

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast Young Goodman Brown And The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow

    1171 Words  | 3 Pages

    Each author sets a gothic tone first and foremost by the techniques used to describe setting and characters. Irving and Hawthorne set their stories in ghostly mysterious forests. Each author uses phenomenal to truly connect the reader with the stories. Hawthorne’s use of similes to tie in what the forest was like gives a sense of letting the readers feel like they are there with young goodman Brown, “ . . . surrounded by four blazing pines, their tops aflame, their stems

    Read More

  • Literary Devices of Gothic Literature

    1438 Words  | 3 Pages

    Gothic literature was developed during the eighteenth and nineteenth century of the Gothic era when war and controversy was too common. It received its name after the Gothic architecture that was becoming a popular trend in the construction of buildings. As the buildings of daunting castles and labyrinths began, so did the beginning foundation of Gothic literature. The construction of these buildings will later become an obsession with Gothic authors. For about 300 years before the Renaissance period, the construction of these castles and labyrinths continued, not only in England, but also in Gothic stories (Landau 2014). Many wars and controversies, such as the Industrial Revolution and Revolutionary War, were happening at this time, causing the Gothic literature to thrive (“Gothic Literature” 2011). People were looking for an escape from the real world and the thrill that Gothic literature offered was exactly what they needed. Gothic literature focuses on the horrors and the dark sides to the human brain, such as in Mary Shelley’s book Frankenstein. Gothic literature today, as well as in the past, has been able to separate itself apart from other types of literature with its unique literary devices used to create fear and terror within the reader.

    Read More

  • Elements Of Romanticism In Bartleby The Scrivener

    1145 Words  | 3 Pages

    Of the Romantic Movement, two of the most well-known Gothic literature writers were Nathaniel Hawthorne and Herman Melville. Gothic writers mainly wrote about themes that showed that they did not believe that people were ‘good’ by nature and the stories they wrote focused on the evils and flaws of mankind. These two authors presented their respective stories “Bartleby the Scrivener” and “The Minister’s Black Veil” as novels that explore the lives and behaviors of other human characters. Although the stories have different perspectives and settings, they both reveal more about how the other human characters are and what dark or unusual traits and motives they have.

    Read More

  • The Gothic Theme of Edgar Allen Poe's Work

    1372 Words  | 3 Pages

    Edgar Allen Poe was an English short-story writer whose work reflects the traditional Gothic conventions of the time that subverted the ambivalence of the grotesque and arabesque. Through thematic conventions of the Gothic genre, literary devices and his own auteur, Edgar Allan Poe’s texts are considered sublime examples of Gothic fiction. The Gothic genre within Poe’s work such as The Tell-Tale Heart, The Black Cat, and The Raven, arouse the pervasive nature of the dark side of individualism and the resulting encroachment of insanity. Gothic tales are dominated by fear and terror and explore the themes of death and decay. The Gothic crosses boundaries into the realm of the unknown, arousing extremes of emotion through the catalyst of disassociation and subversion of presence. Gothic literature utilises themes of the supernatural to create a brooding setting and an atmosphere of fear.

    Read More

  • Analysis of Edgar Allan Poe´s Literature

    897 Words  | 2 Pages

    Edgar Allan Poe has a unique writing style that uses several different elements of literary structure. He uses intrigue vocabulary, repetition, and imagery to better capture the reader’s attention and place them in the story. Edgar Allan Poe’s style is dark, and his is mysterious style of writing appeals to emotion and drama. What might be Poe’s greatest fictitious stories are gothic tend to have the same recurring theme of either death, lost love, or both. His choice of word draws the reader in to engage them to understand the author’s message more clearly. Authors who have a vague short lexicon tend to not engage the reader as much.

    Read More

More about Dr Heidegger's Experiment Gothic Elements

Open Document