Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment No one is fond of growing up; in fact, everyone wants to stay forever young. In the short story “Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment” written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, a character named Dr. Heidegger designed an experiment in which four old friends were to drink water from the fountain of youth to see what the outcome would be. Throughout the short story, Hawthorne expresses an allegory stating that one cannot alter the past. In order to convince the four friends to take part in the experiment, Dr. Heidegger performed an example in which he placed an old, dried up rose into a vase filled with water from the fountain of youth. In no time, the “crushed and dried pedals stirred …as if the flower were reviving from a death-like slumber; …and there was the rose of half a century, looking …scarcely full-blown” (158). The rose had been revived into what seemed a healthy and radiant flower. After some time passed, however, the rose “continued to shrivel up, till it became as dry and fragile as when the doctor had first thrown it into the vase” (172). The rose was back to normal; old and delicate. Convinced, the four friends drank the water and had been restored to when they were young, beautiful, rich, and healthy. However, no longer after they had celebrated being young again, they returned back to their original aged selves, like the rose. One of the friends who participated in the experiment is a gentle woman named Widow Wycherly who tells us she was a “great beauty in her day”; however she had a few scandalous tendencies, therefore giving her a bad reputation. Widow Wycherly represents young beauty and pride; she symbolizes how everyone wants to remain young and beautiful. When given a second chance in her older years, however, Widow Wycherly does the same mistake she had done before. She flirted and danced and blushed with the other three rejuvenated