"Dr. Heidegger's Experiment:" Story Analysis

Biography

Nathaniel Hawthorne was born on July 4, 1804, in Salem, Massachusetts. Hawthorne's childhood left him overly shy and bookish, which molded his life as a writer. Then he started writing short stories, and then began to write novels. The "Scarlet Letter" is his best-known novel. Hawthorne passed away on May 19, 1864, in Plymouth, New Hampshire.

The Summary of the Story

Dr. Heidegger invited four of his old friends for an experiment in his house. He offered them water from the "Fountain of Youth", but first he offered them as a condition not to repeat the mistakes they had made when they were youth; one of those mistakes was when they fought for the loved of Widow Wycherly. However, when these people drank the water and became young again, they were fighting once more for the interest of the Widow Wycherly. So Dr. Heidegger taught that these people did not learn anything from their mistakes, and while they were young again they would not be happy.

Conflict

• Dr. Heidegger wanted to make an experiment with some water from the “Fountain of Youth” on his four old friends, in order to analyze the reaction and behavior of them.

Raisin Action

• Dr. Heidegger invited four of his old friends who lived very sad and unfortunate lives to help him with the experiment.
•  Dr. Heidegger took a rose that was guarded by fifty years ago, he poured a liquid that looks as “water” into the rose and it turned red and fresh.
• Dr. Heidegger offered the Fountain of Youth to the guests and they drank, they became young again.

Climax

• The vase fell to the ground and smashed into a thousand pieces. The precious water from the Fountain of Youth flowed slowly across the floor.

Resolution

• Just as the rose got dry and brown again, the guests became old as before, without having learned anything from the mistakes they made in their youth.

Characters

Main Character

1. Dr. Heidegger

He was a gentleman .He was a strange, old, loyal, realistic, solitary, intelligent, honest. He was a dedicated, heartbreaking and a pacific person.

Secondary characters

2. Mr. Medbourne

He was an old man, with white beard. He was rich. He was greedy, insatiable and lost his fortune, and then he had to beg for money. He was a sad,desorganized, poor, and violent man.

3. Mr. Gascon

He was an old man. He was a famous politician but he was dishonest .He stole some money then he lived in shame. He was a sad, violent, and poor man.

4. Coronel Killigrew

He was an old man. He was once a great soldier. He was a gluttonous person, his health did not care and he was sick all the time for that reason he was unhealthy. He was a sad, disordered,miserable, and aggressive man.

5. Widow Wycherly

She is an old woman. In her youth was very beautiful, but very conceited and presumed.  She was not beautiful now. She was a sad,incredulous, and a miserable person.

Moral Of The Story

The moral of the story is that we must learn from our mistakes by taking the positive in each one of them, to improve our daily lives and appreciate the real beautiful things of this world, not only think in our outer beauty also supply our heart with good values, those help us grow as a human and they never get old.

I liked the story because the doctor taught his friends that they never learned from their mistakes in their youth .They were part of the artificial society in which we live today, that only teaches us that we should only worry about our outer beauty. Also he showed them that they must be responsible for their actions, and if they wanted to improve in life they must change their way of thinking and acting.