Nathaniel Hawthorne’s narrative mode of expression has long been made distinct through his involvement apropos of Dark Romanticism and his inventive implementation of profoundly moralistic and partially pessimistic psychological observations regarding human behaviour; therefore it should be unsurprising that, in “Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment,” Hawthorne chose to explore the significance of assuming responsibility for one’s self. “Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment” primarily surrounds an enigmatic, aged doctor congregating four of his decrepit friends to determine whether, when permitted a second chance atjuvenescence, his guests would repeat their mistakes. And they did.Relinquishing responsibility of their thoughts, words, and actions in response to temptations is wont of the unapologetic Colonel …show more content…
Killigrew, Mr. Medbourne, Mr. Gascoigne, and the Widow Wycherly. What with them being foils to Heidegger’s character, the disparity between their attitudes further emphasizes the negative effects of dismissing the inevitable burden of self-responsibility. The conversely related characters are complementary in that they create a deeper layer of insight into the ways they take responsibility over their actions and the effects of doing so and not doing so. Colonel Killigrew’s, Mr.
Medbourne’s, Mr. Gascoigne’s, and the Widow Wycherly’s prime days of vitality were perished due to their reckless expenditure of their prosperity (youth, money, power, beauty), leaving them in a pitiable condition as the elderly. Each character surrenders himself/herself to a certain temptation; the widow was once beautiful, but “certain scandalous stories (...) had prejudiced the gentry of the town against her”; the Colonel was a relentless pleasure-seeker, “wast[ing] his best years in the pursuit of sinful pleasures”; Mr. Gascoigne was a power-hungry “ruined politician, a man of evil fame,” but is now so old that he is obscure; and Mr. Medbourne was greedy, having been a successful businessman, he lost everything “by a frantic speculation.” Such feeble resistance against life’s temptations is evidence of an absence of responsibility and control over their actions. In fact, desire “had [the three men] once (...) on the point of cutting each other's throats for [the Widow Wycherly’s] sake.” Their desperation for more of the liquid after they initially had a glass ("’Give us more of this wondrous water!’ cried they, eagerly. ‘We are younger--but we
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The Old Miller’s perspective conveys the sense that he is both transfixed by what he sees, but he feel shamed for being unable to take his eyes off the lovers. Their acrobatic movements in the water make him feel his age in the fact that he realizes he can never again enjoy such pleasures. What he focuses on is their nudity and their coupling. This is captured in the image of “their bodies entwined, whirling round and round in the water.” Feeling “rooted to the spot” he notices “the limpid water glittering in the sun exaggerated and distorted their obscene movements.” The miller’s account makes the reader feel like a voyeur and imagine the old man with his face “reddened.” He is overcome by the beauty of the Little Seamstress “her naked belly and un...
Life experiences, upbringing and interactions with fellow individuals affect the person’s outlook on life in general as well as their perception of reality. Authors, poets and writers in possess a talent to describe these experiences through an art form they explicitly excel in. Hawthorne is a
Heidegger’s Experiment”, involves the narrator’s revelation of his deceptive nature, thus providing the reader with doubt; the whole scene of the old miserable people having become youthful again ends with questioning and doubt since there are several references to their antediluvian personage. Whether the four guest truly regained their lost youth is greatly debated since Hawthorne portrays his narrator as deceitful and untrustworthy, which leaves the tone of doubt and pondering over the truthfulness of the experiment. Yet if the water: “possessed merely a virtue more transient than that of wine”, implies the susceptibility of those who truly lack the knowledge and sense to decipher whether there does exist a cure to their youthful mistakes. Or whether the water was truly magical the doctor’s intent then would imply upon his desire to observe the impact of a second chase has upon his miserable acquaintances.
Lang, H.J.. “How Ambiguous Is Hawthorne.” In Hawthorne – A Collection of Critical Essays, edited by A.N. Kaul. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1966.
Williams, Stanley T. “Hawthorne’s Puritan Mind.” In Readings on Nathaniel Hawthorne, edited by Clarice Swisher. San Diego, CA: Greenhaven Press, 1996.
Heidegger’s Experiment,” Hawthorne regards scientists as individuals who show a remarkable interest in human behavioral patterns. For example, Dr. Heidegger proclaims, “I am desirous of your assistance in one of those little experiments with which I amuse myself here in my study” (160). Since this experiment is being conducted for his amusement, Heidegger is clearly interested in its results. Generally, the doctor wishes to know whether individuals change when given a second chance. He gives the four subjects water from the fountain of youth to see if their behavior changes given a second chance at juvenescence. However, they commit the same imprudent mistakes that they had in their youth. This confirms Heidegger’s notion that people do not change, and Hawthorne is able to depict scientists’ interest in the human mind. The mysterious doctor also states, “Think what a sin and shame it would be, if, with your peculiar advantages, you should not become patterns of virtue and wisdom to all the young people of the age” (“Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment” 162). Heidegger’s statements to the four subjects reveal his intentions and the overall nature of the experiment. The doctor is concerned with the behavior and recklessness of youth rather than the medicinal properties found in the water of youth. Essentially, the four subjects are being given an opportunity to return to their youth. They must not make the foolish mistakes that they each made earlier in their lives. Instead, the individuals should become sources of wisdom for younger generations. Hawthorne’s portrayal of Heidegger and his interest in the behaviors of his subjects demonstrates scientists’ love for experimentation. Hawthorne regards scientists as individuals who will carry out experiments to better understand human behavior. He clearly portrays this through Heidegger’s experiment in which the subjects’ behavior is analyzed to determine whether humans will change given a second
Stillinger, Jack, Deidre Lynch, Stephen Greenblatt, and M H. Abrams. The Norton Anthology of English Literature: Volume D. New York, N.Y: W.W. Norton & Co, 2006. Print.
Since ours is an age that has found irony, ambiguity, and paradox to be central not only in literature but in life, it is not surprising that Hawthorne has seemed to us one of the most modern of nineteenth century American writers. The bulk and general excellence of the great outburst of Hawthorne criticism of the past decade attest to his relevance for us (54).
In Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment, Nathaniel Hawthorne creates a fictional experiment that resists both God and natures intentions. Dr. Heidegger gathers a few old acquaintances who seem to be unhappy with their lives and they all wish to be young again. They also hope having their wisdom from over the years, will allow them not to make the same mistakes that resulted in their unhappiness. Since they were so desperate, they joined a unpromising experiment, which turned out to be an illusion. Once the old friends started hallucinating their youth, they began to act out as they would have a decade prior. As well as forgetting all of their insight, as the narrator explains, “The fresh gloss of the soul, so early lost, and without which the worlds successive scenes had been but a gallery of faded pictures, again threw its enchantment over all prospects”(6). Clearly god did not intend the experiment subjects to be given a second chance and painfully strips them of their young age once again, “The delirium which it created had effervesced away. Yes! they were old again. With a shuddering impulse, that showed her a woman still, the widow clasped her skinny hands before her face, and wished that the coffin-lid were over it, since it could be no longer beautiful”(8). The fatal outcome in this story was the hope the old people once had in science. Therefore proving science is incapable of defying God’s power.
Lang, H.J.. “How Ambiguous is Hawthorne?” In Hawthorne – A Collection of Critical Essays, edited by A.N. Kaul. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1966.
In Nathaniel Hawthorne?s Dr. Heidegger?s Experiment, Hawthorne uses the notion of initiation to express his lesson of guilt to the society by exploring the lives of his characters. In the story, Dr. Heidegger is making a vase of magical water that can bring people back to their youth. However, before he drinks it, he likes to observe the effects, both mental and physical, that the water will have. So he invites his friends, who are all guilty of making some mistakes in their past. When he of...
Lang, H.J. “How Ambiguous is Hawthorne?” In Hawthorne – A Collection of Critical Essays, edited by A.N. Kaul. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1966.
Although he should lose faith in himself as an effective human, husband, and master the absurdity of Hawthorne’s tale lies in the anomaly of Wakefield’s return home as if having been gone no longer than the week he intended to stay away. However, because Hawthorne judged not the actor but the actions, we still rally in the wonderment of knowing "each for himself, that none of us would perpetrate such a folly, yet feel as if some other might" (Hawthorne 76).
Through Hester and the symbol of the scarlet letter, Hawthorne reveals how sin can be utilized to change a person for the better, in allowing for responsibility, forgiveness, and a renewed sense of pride. In a Puritan society that strongly condemns adultery one would expect Hester to leave society and never to return again, but that does not happen. Instead, Hester says, “Here…had been the scene of her guilt, and here should be the scene of her earthly punishment; and so, perchance, the torture of her daily shame would at length purge her soul, and work out another purity than that which she had lost; more saint-like, because the result of martyrdom.” Hes...
The narrator wrestles with conflicting feelings of responsibility to the old man and feelings of ridding his life of the man's "Evil Eye" (34). Although afflicted with overriding fear and derangement, the narrator still acts with quasi-allegiance toward the old man; however, his kindness may stem more from protecting himself from suspicion of watching the old man every night than from genuine compassion for the old man.