Dr. Heidegger's Experiment, By Nathaniel Hawthorne

Nathaniel Hawthorne was an early 19th century American novelist, “Dark Romantic,” and short story writer. He is mostly famous for his novel The Scarlet Letter in 1850 along with various other short stories including, Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment. Many people believe that Hawthorne’s many works followed along the lines of a Dark Romanticism or anti-romanticism, but others have different opinions in which they believe he was a romantic writer. The short story, Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment, is about an elderly doctor who gives his 4 old friends a vase full of water from the Fountain of Youth and has hopes that they will make his friends “young again.” This story has many different ways and examples of how it could be either romantic or anti-romantic.
The more common characteristics included things like intense emotions, nature, and rebellion. The “father” of British Romanticism was William Wordswroth and he often discussed how these works were mostly about their powerful feelings, which leads to the main characteristic, which was emotion. Writers like, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Walter Scott, and Samuel Taylor Coleridge got in touch with their true feelings through their stories. The Romantics loved nature and that is why it is a huge part of their writing. These writers went to nature for guidance, they truly believed that nature can cure anything. Nature gave them wisdom and happiness. They enjoyed every aspect in nature, like mountains, trees, flowers, and birds. Today, people rarely enjoy nature like these Romantics did many years