Questions raised while reading “Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment” By Nathaniel Hawthorne

What state (of body and/or mind) are all of Dr. Heidegger’s friends in? Par. 1 They are all extremely old and sad and unfortunate. They all have character flaws that have reduced them or humiliated them. The narrator suggests they would all be better off dead.

Describe Dr. Heidegger’s study. It is creepy, gothic, sinister.

What is the effect when the narrator says, “If all stories were true [...]”? By writing this, Hawthorne brings in to question the truth of the entire story that the narrator is about to tell. It puts the whole story on very shaky grounds.

What happened to Dr. Heidegger’s Wife? The doctor accidentally killed her some 50 years before by giving her a bad medicine. He still honors her.

What is the most interesting part of Dr. Heidegger’s study according to the narrator? How does this feature reveal that we are not dealing with a realistic text, but instead a work of Romanticism? There is a book of magic that makes skeletons rattle, made a painting of Dr. Heidegger’s dead wife come to life and step out of the painting, and makes ghosts appear in mirrors. This clearly shows that we are not dealing with a realistic text, but instead are dealing with the power of the imagination and magic, evidence of Romanticism.

What does the detail discussed in the previous question reveal about the doctor’s past and perhaps about how his wife died? It suggests he has been involved in magic along with medicine for a long time, and it maybe even hints that he killed his wife by trying to use magic on her.

From what point of view is the story narrated? What does this do to the reader’s belief in the truth of the story? Most of the story seems narrated in the third person points of view. However, a few times, particularly in this paragraph, the narrator inserts him or herself by using “I” and talking about him or herself. At this point, it becomes first-person. Furthermore, the narrator tells us that the story may not be true. We are clearly dealing with an unreliable narrator and we must question everything told to us. Ultimately though, we must ask, does it matter how true it is?

What does the rose symbolize for Dr. Heidegger and what supernatural event occurs to it? Since the rose is about 50 years old, and we know his wife died about 50 years ago, the rose represents his lost love. The rose is brought back to life when the Dr. places it in the jar of water.

Why are the guests visiting the doctor? Dr. Heidegger called them there to experiment on them with water from the Fountain of Youth from Florida. He wants to see if they drink it will it make them young again.

What warning does Dr. Heidegger give his friends before they drink? What does this suggest the moral of the story might be? He tells them to use the wisdom that age has given them in order to use their youth more wisely.

Why do Dr. Heidegger’s friends laugh at him? They think that they have learned the lessons from their errors, and there is no way they would repeat them as they become young again.

How do the guests react when they drink the water? How are their reactions in keeping with their character traits? Their faces begin to look young and healthy again.