LITR 4328 American Renaissance / Model Assignments

Sample Student Research Project 2016: Essay

Clark Omo

17 November 2016

The Pessimistic Experiment

I first encountered this short story during my studies in grade school of American Literature. As an author, Nathaniel Hawthorne is an intriguing study. Though he is a member of the American Renaissance, and perhaps the later part of the American Romantic period, his style differs greatly from other Romantic authors. He does not approach the basic attributes of humanity, such as desire, passion, motivation, and others, in the same ways as other authors more emblematic of the Romantic style do, particularly the Transcendentalists. Like Poe, Hawthorne paints a dark picture of humanity’s condition, and he does not shy away from portraying its more vain and despicable natures. He demonstrates this in perhaps his most well-known novel, The Scarlet Letter, but another story that exemplifies Hawthorne’s dark themes is “Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment”. The elements characteristic of the American Gothic permeate this story from beginning to end, along with other aspects of the Romantic style. Though not as much a musician as Poe or a grand epic writer as Melville, Hawthorne’s stories get to the center of the issue. This approach not only cements Hawthorne in the Gothic pantheon, but also distinguishes him from his fellow authors and contemporaries in many substantial ways.

The first characteristic of this story to be examined is Hawthorne’s use of the usual Gothic language. The first example of this language is the revealing of Dr. Heidegger’s room. The story goes “It was a dim, old-fashioned chamber, festooned with cobwebs, and besprinkled with antique dust.” (201). This is the usual use of the Gothic theme. The room is clearly old, covered in cobwebs, and laden with dust so aged it is “antique”. Hawthorne utilizes the Gothic conventions well here. The atmosphere is clearly set. This old room, neglected and ill-kept, creates an eerie sensation that generates a feeling of subtle secrecy. That which is old is best at keeping secrets, for what was known can be forgotten and then stored within the deepest recesses of time. That is what this room contains. The narrator goes on to describe the room’s contents: “Around the walls stood several oaken bookcases, the lower shelves of which were filled with rows of gigantic folios and black-letter quartos,” (201). Thus, the mysterious library has been constructed. Not only is the room ancient enough to hold secrets, but it contains books that are large and imposing enough to possess them as well. The room also contains a “bronze bust of Hippocrates, with which, according to some authorities, Dr. Heidegger was accustomed to hold consultations…” (201). A lifeless statue of an ancient historical figure is another excellent use of the Gothic. One cannot help but feel this statue has as much knowledge of the secrets this room holds as the books. And, of course, Dr. Heidegger speaks to it, which sends a note resonating with isolation and mild dementia through the reader’s mind. Furthermore, the room also contains a “a small round table, as black as ebony.” (202). The centerpiece of the room must be black “as ebony”. Black has a multitude of connotations and symbolisms associated with it, but here, when mixed with ancient and mysterious feel of the room, the color serves to heighten the air of dark secrecy. Black is a dark color, so it can hold and obscure many things. The Gothic themes continue through the description of the water in the glass. As the day goes on, a “mild and moonlike splendor gleamed from within the vase, and rested alike on the four guests” (207). Here, nature itself has infiltrated the mysterious air of the setting. The moon, the light of the night, bestows its splendor upon the water from the Fountain of Youth, and thus upon the four guests. Why a moonlike splendor? As mentioned before, the moon is the light of the night. Unlike the sun, which is bright and clear, the moon is eerie and usually surrounded by darkness on all sides. As said before, darkness is mysterious for covering secrets. Such is true with the moon. And the moon infuses its mystery into the vase, and therefore the water, as well.

Beyond the clearly gothic Language, there also exists the use of Transcendental themes and motifs as well. One of the best examples is when the four guests first begin their experience with the water from the Fountain of Youth. The water was “impregnated with an effervescent gas, for little bubbles were continually ascending from the depths of the glasses, and bursting in silver spray at the surface.” (204). The reader seems to follow these bubbles in the water as they rise and then burst. And when they burst, they burst with “silvery spray” (204). This is an excellent point of description, one that seems to carry the reader to another place, beautifully and tastefully. The effects this water has on the surrounding audience, Killigrew, Wycherly, Medbourne, and Gascoigne, also demonstrates the Transcendentalist effect: “As the liquor diffused a pleasant perfume, the old people doubted not that it possessed cordial and comfortable properties…” (204). Simply after catching the aroma of the liquid, the four old ones immediately feel its affects. The story goes on to say that though the old ones are “utter skeptics” to the liquid’s power, they nonetheless “were inclined to swallow it at once.” (204).  Hawthorne uses the Transcendentalist methods here to create an atmosphere of ascendant pleasure. The liquid possesses an ability to even turn the skeptic to an instant believer, simply through pleasing the sense of smell.

Perhaps another use of the Transcendentalist motifs is the description of Doctor Heidegger himself as he watches the four friends revel in their reacquired youth. The doctor’s “venerable figure” is sitting in a “high-backed, elaborately carved, oaken armchair with a gray dignity of aspect that might have well befitted that very Father Time”. This is a very Transcendentalist set of language. Doctor Heidegger has become a kind of piece of myth while sitting in his chair, watching his four friends celebrate being young again. By equating Dr. Heidegger with “Father Time”, the doctor obtains a position of great wisdom. He has transcended his surroundings, perhaps even the reality, and thus has become a kind of holy and ancient fatherly figure, perhaps closer to God and even Nature than anything around him.

Now that the elements of Gothic and Transcendentalist Romanticism in “Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment” have been examined, another aspect of this story deserves attention. The pessimism evident in the story. Unlike the great Transcendentalists Emerson and Whitman who tend to glorify man’s nature and his connection to nature, the pessimism of Hawthorne tends to attack these themes and morals, and instead portrays the darker, more sinister parts of human nature. Such is the case of “Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment”. The first way in which the story tackles this theme is in the description of the four guests.

The four guests, Mr. Medbourne, Colonel Killigrew, Mr. Gascoigne, and the Widow Wycherly, all have one thing in common: they have all fallen from grace. As the narrator describes them, they are “all melancholy old creatures, who had been unfortunate in life, and whose greatest misfortune it was that they were not long ago in their graves.” (201). Mr. Medbourne at one point had been a “prosperous merchant, but lost his all by a frantic speculation, and was now little better than a mendicant.”  (201). Colonel Killigrew had “wasted his best years, and his health and substance, in the pursuit of sinful pleasures which had given birth to a brood of pains, such as the gout, and divers other torments of soul and body.” (201). Mr. Gascoigne was “a ruined politician, a man of evil fame…till time had buried him from the knowledge of the present generation…” (201). And the Widow Wycherly was “a great beauty in her day; but for a long while past, she had lived in deep seclusion, on account of certain scandalous stories which had prejudiced the gentry of the town against her.” (201). These characters at one point or another had gained a certain amount of fame or success, but they have also faded either into obscurity or been buried by failure. This is not a Transcendentalist theme whatsoever. If anything, this is in exact contrast to the common themes utilized by Transcendentalists, such as man gaining a higher understanding and inner glory by connecting with his environment. There is no glory here in this setting. Though Hawthorne has used some aspects of the Transcendentalist style, he does not let them dominate his narrative. Furthermore, each of these characters demonstrates the pessimism for human nature and perfection so espoused by Transcendentalists and Romanticists alike. As Fairbanks says in his essay, “For Hawthorne…the source of evil was the human heart, and the human heart was a ‘foul cavern’” (976). Hawthorne believed that humanity itself was innately and inherently flawed. This is an idea that is astutely opposed to the founding ideologies of mainstream Romantics. While Romanticism depends upon the inner goodness of the human spirit to triumph over those who have decided to go astray, the pessimism that pervades “Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment” serves as a direct counter to that ideal. Instead of portraying humans as innately righteous and their every effort as a method of trying to break free of the constraints placed upon them by their societies, Hawthorne has decided to portray these four “venerable friends”, a use of the word that Scanlon notes is ironic (254), as what they are: vain, fickle, and arrogant. For, after they all imbibe the waters of the Fountain of the Youth and “Age, with its miserable train of cares, and sorrows, and diseases, was remembered only as the trouble of a dream from which they had joyously awoke.” (207), the venerable friends immediately transition back to their old ways.

After the “the exhilarating gush of youth life shot through their veins” and they have cried “We are young! We are young!” (207), the four so-called friends revert to treachery and vanity again. As the narrator noted at the beginning of the story, Killigrew, Gascoigne, and Medbourne were all lovers at one point of the Widow Wycherly (201). As this clear foreshadowing indicates, the three men, once they’ve seen her reacquired beauty, begin to fight over her.  Widow Wycherly first goes to Doctor Heidegger and says “Doctor, you dear old soul, get up and dance with me!” (207). Doctor Heidegger replies, “Pray excuse me, I am old and rheumatic, and my dancing days were over long ago.” (207). The others quickly decide to take advantage of the situation. “Dance with me, Clara!” cries Killigrew. (2070. “No, no, I will be her partner!” goes Mr. Gascoigne (207).  “She promised me her hand, fifty years ago!” (208) goes Mr. Medbourne. Soon, the three men “gathered round her. One caught bot her hands in his passionate grasp—another threw his arm about her waist—the third buried his hand among the glossy curls that clustered beneath the widow’s cap.” To the observer, this situation could be described as utterly comical. Here are these men and a woman, who have lost so much of their lives to misfortune and malpractice, given a chance to do right and better themselves again, only to break into a lover’s struggle as soon as they are young again. Hawthorne’s pessimism here is extremely apparent. As can be discerned from this scene, Hawthorne has a rather dismal view of human nature. When given a chance to do the right thing, to correct a wrong, or to do things better, according to Hawthorne, people will not do so. Like bees to honey, they will repeat the same wrongs and squander their newfound chance at redemption. Gascoigne, Medbourne, Killigrew, and Wycherly are no different. As soon as the opportunity presents itself, they throw themselves into a fit of passion. Widow Wycherly, who most would think would be at her wit’s end in such a situation, is instead “blushing, panting, struggling, chiding, laughing…she strove to disengage herself, yet still remained in their triple embrace.” (208). Wycherly, if she truly felt threatened by these three men groping her, would not remain in their “triple embrace” while “laughing”. She would be fighting with all her strength to release herself. Instead, as indicated by this passage, she seems to be enjoying these three men fighting over her. Indeed, the Widow Wycherly “neither granted nor quite withheld her favors” from these three men that hold her. So, the Widow too is stricken with the same vanity and arrogance that plagues her friends. She, in fact, is in quite a state of power compared to her friends. She is goading them and tempting them by giving them nothing and, at the same time, giving them something. Again, this proves Hawthorne’s message even more. Humans will revert to their old ways when given the chance to experience them in fuller and more gratifying magnitude when given the chance.

However, Doctor Heidegger serves as an example of what man can be. As Cooke makes clear “Dr. Heidegger points out to the four derelicts that, with the experiences of a lifetime to guide them, it would be a sin and shame if they did not become models of virtue and wisdom.” (144). And, as Hawthorne has illustrated, they are lax when it comes to following his advice. Heidegger does not even lament when the water has spilled upon the floor: “…the Water of Youth is all lavished on the ground. Well—I bemoan it not; for if the fountain gushed at my very doorstep, I would not stoop to bate my lips in it…Such is the lesson ye have taught me!” (209). Heidegger here has served as the counter to his friend’s desires. Unlike them, he is satisfied with not partaking in this revelry. Though Hawthorne has indeed infused this story with a pessimistic overtone, his inclusion of Heidegger leaves a resounding note that reminds the reader that, although a good deal of humanity may be beyond hope, there is still hope nonetheless.

Hawthorne truly is master of his craft. In this single story, “Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment”, he has managed to blend the Gothic with the Transcendental, and altogether manage to present a counter to Transcendental and Romantic themes by providing a stunningly down to earth portrayal of the vileness and fickleness human nature. “Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment,” though under the plethora of other works by Hawthorne, is another clear example of how Hawthorne’s style strikes true when it comes to giving the truth rather than presenting an exaggerated and overly-glorious look at the reality around us.

Works Cited

Cooke, Alice Lovelace. “Some Evidences of Hawthorne’s Indebtedness to Swift.” Studies in English, no.18, 1938, pp. 140-162. JSTOR. http://www.jstor.org/stable/20779502. Accessed 14 Nov. 2016.

Hawthorne, Nathaniel. “Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment.” Fundamentals of Literature. edited by Rebecca Moore, BJU Press, 2002, pp. 201-209.

Fairbanks, Henry G. “Sin, Free Will, and ‘Pessimism’ in Hawthorne.” PMLA, vol. 71, no. 5, 1956, pp. 975-989. JSTOR. http://www.jstor.org/stable/460522. Accessed 15 Nov. 2016.

Scanlon, Lawrence E. “That Very Singular Man, Dr. Heidegger.” Nineteenth Century Fiction, vol. 17, no. 3, 1962, pp. 253-263. JSTOR. http://www.jstor.org/stable/2932423. Accessed 14 Nov. 2016.

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