"Dr. Heidegger's Experiment"
| Summary & Commentary on "Dr. Heidegger's Experiment" |
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| Summary | An eccentric aging physician, Dr. Heidegger, calls
together his old friends and contemporaries to test his
waters of the "fountain of youth." As the
doctor himself sits by to enjoy the show, each of his
four aged friends eagerly quaffs more and more of the
magic potion, each draught further carrying them
backwards into their shared youth. Having grown young,
smooth-skinned and agile again, the three men begin to
fight for the favors of the fourth compatriot now
restored to her former beauty. In the heat of the fracas, they begin to grow tired and within minutes the effect of the "waters" has worn off. The participants in the brief respite from old age are devastated by the transience of the experience. Despite Heidegger's warning that he has learned to appreciate the advantage of age by watching the four of them make themselves fools, they learned no such lesson and resolve to make a pilgrimage to Florida to seek the Fountain. |
| Commentary | Unlike Hawthorne's other stories about wicked
scientists, who operate in isolation and whose
experiments result in the death of one who is ignorant of
the power of the science (see "The Birthmark"
and "Rappaccini's
Daughter" ), this little vignette is airy. No
one dies; the scientist's intent seems to be benign and
the experimental effects are reversible. However, there is just a hint of the sinister in the setting, in the author's description of the doctor's study, and in the host's decision not to partake of the magic liquid with his friends. The moral of the little story is evasive, perhaps adding to the vaguely troubling effect it has on the reader who is familiar with the general tone of Hawthorne |
