Dr Heidegger's Experiment Analysis

An Analysis of “Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment”
Many people may reckon that a story must have one theme, and one theme alone, but that erroneous assumption holds no value or truth. People think in different ways and have different experiences when they read a story. An example of this is Nathaniel Hawthorne 's short story “Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment”. In “Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment,” it tells the tale of a doctor in his later years and how he performs an experiment on his long term friends. The theme of the story can be interpreted in multiple ways and there is no definite meaning to the story. Different people can interpret the meaning of the story in different ways. In the story, there are themes such as second chances, …show more content…
Dr.Heidegger 's friends’ believe that after they drank the water from the fountain of youth that they would be young again for a while and grow old naturally. Their hopes were taken away from them when they are suddenly returned back into their old and wrinkly selves. As they were returning to their former selves “They stood still and shivered; for it seemed as if gray Time were calling them back from their sunny youth”. It saddened them that they only had a simple while to feel rejuvenated from their old desires. They are deceived by the false hope of the simple drink and go in search for more of the water from the fountain of youth, at the actual fountain of youth.
A Discovery theme can also be seen in the story. There are multiple discoveries in the story, such as when they discover that the fountain of youth water only lasts for a little while, as well as when Dr.Heidegger 's friends discover that the fountain of youth water actually exists and works. The fountain of youth can be a discovery in and of itself because many people believed it was a myth, especially Dr.Heidegger 's friends’. When Dr.Heidegger 's friends were told that the fountain of youth existed, they didn’t believe a word of it and believed Dr.Heidegger was talking a bunch of …show more content…
They finally get to escape when they are returned to their younger selves with the water from the fountain of youth and are ecstatic with the change. When that is taken from them, they go in search of the escape, which is the actual fountain of youth. The fading beauty theme can be seen in the story, and Dr. Heidegger 's friends are a huge example. They were young, beautiful and happy when they were younger, but with age, their beauty and happiness disappeared. After Dr.Heidegger gave them the water to drink “There was a healthful suffusion on their cheeks, instead of the ashen hue that had made them look so corpse-like” Their celebration is cut short when their beauty fades away and they are returned to their wrinkled selves