Dr Heidegger's Experiment by Nathaniel Hawthorne (Detailed commentary and analysis)

Detailed commentary and analysis by Claire's Notes of Dr Heidegger's Experiment by Nathanial Hawthorne
Stories of Ourselves: Cambridge iGCSE

The elderly Dr Heidegger invites four acquaintances to his strange study to participate in an 'experiment'. He has acquired water from the mythical 'Fountain of Youth' and thinks they are the ideal subjects to test its magical properties.
He's not wrong - a formerly successful businessman who is now little more than a beggar, a disgraced and corrupt politician who is now just a 'has-been', a good-for-nothing bachelor who has wasted his life, his health and his money on drink and women, and a faded beauty who now lives more or less in hiding because she got caught up in scandals with a number of men when she was young.
You would think that they would jump at the chance to live their lives over differently, taking advantage of the wisdom they have painfully acquired over the years. Oh, and one more thing, the three men almost killed each other fighting over the attentions of the lady all those years ago. What could possibly go wrong?

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Please note that any literature analysis is highly subjective and may disagree with analysis by another person. All interpretations are valid if they can be justified by reference to the text. This interpretation is my own: it is not exhaustive and there are alternatives!

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