Dr. Heideggers Experiment: Reality Or Illusion Essay -- essays resear

Dr. Heideggers Experiment Reality or Illusion     In Nathaniel Hawthornes short story Dr. Heideggers Experiment, one ofthe central ideas of the story revolves virtually the idea of reality versusillusion. Of course the overriding theme of the story dealt with the ethicaldilemma of changing old age into youth, still a major interpreter of how the story wasinterpreted involved a personal decision on how you took the story as literalor figurative. The perception that appealed to me the most was reading thetext as literal, and concluding the experiment as reality rather then a figmentof imagination caused by the intoxicating brew.     A couple of points that Hawthorne do led me to beli eve that the storywas indeed a true testament of the functions of the magical water. The first israther evident and straight forward because it happens before a single personeven raises glass close to their lips. I am of course referring to the fifty-five year o ld rose that was given to Dr. Heidegger on the eve of his wedding byhis bride to be. Heidegger places the rose in the water so there could beproof of the mysterious waters power, but in the same act of proving its powerto his guests Hawthorne proves to us the power of the water because when therose regains life nobody was drunk or had even attempted to drink the water."The crushed and dried petals stirred, and assumed a deepening tinge of crimson,as if the flower were r...