Many authors of the eighteenth century became more fascinated in writing stories that are meant to be creepy, dark, and even scare the reader, which led to the development of the Gothic genre of literature. Gothic literature has similar aspects throughout all the stories that are considered Gothic, such as the undead, dark and creepy settings, and crazy characters. In “Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment,” Nathaniel Hawthorne incorporates the Gothic elements of an unnatural relation between life and death, such as the dead patients dwelling in the mirror, the highly charged emotional states of the subjects after they drink the water, and the setting of a rundown estate that is the doctor’s creepy study.
The unnatural relation between life and death…show more content… Dr. Heidegger’s study is described as “a dim, old-fashioned chamber, festooned with cobwebs, and besprinkled with antique dust” and also filled with broken bookcases, which all make for a dark, gloomy setting (Hawthorne 1). None of the furniture or decorations of the study are clean and all look antique. The study is definitely not a very inviting place, as is common throughout the settings of all Gothic Literature. Hawthorne was “one of those authors who encouraged melancholic reveries appropriate to the dark setting” of “Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment” with all of the dark and disturbing aesthetics of the setting of the doctor’s study to set up a story that is dark and mysterious (Carso 12). The setting and the environment of the story has “supernatural and necromantic intrigue” with the mirror that has the souls of the dead looking out from it and the looming painting of the dead fiancè (Carso 18). There is also a skeleton looking out of an open door from within a tall and narrow oaken closet, watching over the room. Finally, there is a black leather book without any letters on the book and is supposedly a book of magic that the chambermaid found out when she tries to pick it up and parts of the room come
