Helpful Passages

Ideas of Good and Evil

• Passages from "Young Goodman Brown" Relating to Ideas of Good and Evil
  • Excerpt from "Young Goodman Brown" related to Satan

Hawthorne often used a figure recognizable as the devil to suggest a confrontation with evil or, as in this case, a journey toward evil.

• Excerpt from "Young Goodman Brown" related to Satan

Hawthorne often used a figure recognizable as the devil to suggest a confrontation with evil or, as in this case, a journey toward evil. Here Goody Cloyse is pictured as a witch meeting up with Young Goodman Brown's companion, the devil himself.

• Full text of "Young Goodman Brown"

• Passages from "Dr. Heidegger's Experiment"
  At first a puzzling tale, "Dr. Heidegger's Experiment" appears to show us that age brings no wisdom, only fatigue. Heidgger's demonstration with the rose shows he already knows that the water will rejuvenate his friends. The experiment must be, then, an inquiry as to whether these four would employ the lessons they gained as they aged. They don't, despite his warning, and the doctor concludes that he wants no part of the water, presumably, to save him from a repetition of the mistakes he himself made when young. What are those mistakes? A careful reading of the description of his study offers some intriguing clues, and one sees that, while the doctor's four friends are certainly beset with serious faults, none is as dark as those of the doctor himself.
  • Excerpt from "Dr. Heidegger's Experiment"

In this complicated passage, the contents of Dr. Heidegger's study reveal his interests, past, and proclivities. As much sorcerer as physician, Heidegger is yet another of Hawthorne's characters whose intellectual pride leads them astray. That he dabbles in the dark arts makes his character questionable. It is, however, the suggestion, inherent in the story's title, about his relationship with his lover, Sylvia Ward, that demonstrates the true darkness of the old man's spirit.

Excerpt from "Dr. Heidegger's Experiment"

That Dr. Heidegger does not himself partake of the drink he offers his friends is one of the indicators that he separates himself from others, remaining aloof, a cool observer of experience rather than full participant in it. In this he reminds one of Hawthorne's other famous Doctor, Roger Chillingworth, of The Scarlet Letter who carefully scrutinizes the agony Arthur Dimmesdale's experiences as a result of Chillingworth's manipulations.

• Excerpt from "Dr. Heidegger's Experiment"

In this passage Dr. Heidegger scolds his friends for not having used the lessons they learned in aging to prevent them from being foolish once they regained their youth. While Heidegger's observations of the four are accurate, the passage leads the reader to wonder what shortcomings beset Heidgger when he was young.

• Excerpt from "Dr. Heidegger's Experiment"

Here the doctor warns his friends about the potential "sin and shame" they risk by drinking the rejuvenating water he offers them.

• Excerpt from "Dr. Heidegger's Experiment"

That Hawthorne provides such a detailed account of the youthful failures of Dr. Heidegger's four friends not only sets up our understanding of their return to these bad habits, but also prompts us to wonder what Dr. Heidegger's own failures might have been.

• Excerpt from "Dr. Heidegger's Experiment"

In this passage we see the subjects of Dr. Heidegger's experiment revert to their sinful ways. It is this reversion that teaches the doctor to scorn the water of the Fountain of Youth and leads the reader to the amusing, if discouraging idea, that we do not gain wisdom with our years.

Full text of "Dr. Heidegger's Experiment"