Griffin Dynes

Kirschner
English II: Exam Essay
12/14/15
Role of Madness in Dark Romanticism and Naturalism

When reading over "Dr. Heidegger's Experiment" and "To Build a Fire", one work of
Dark Romanticism and the other of Naturalism, one can see a sense of madness in both. When
compared with each other, they both represent their topics and show a difference between the
two topics.

In "Dr. Heidegger's Experiment", a man discovers water from the Fountain of Youth and
tests its effects on four people. When the four are turned young from the "potion", the men begin
to turn mad from jealousy and greed of the "young" woman. This leads to the men knocking over
a table along with the solution. From the madness of the men came the destruction of something
good. This relates to its Dark Romantic theme by showing how the mind works through a
physical and mental change. In analyzing the next the next work of literature, one sees how
nature plays a role in the madness of the main character in "To Build a Fire".

In To Build a Fire, London writes a man with his dog as they try to survive in the
Yukon region during winter. Throughout the story, the reader sees in the mind of the main
character as he begins to slowly lose is mental stability. As the story progresses, the man begins
to go mad because of natures effects on him. This helps to strengthen the Naturalistic theme of
the short story. Through comparison of the two stories, one can see the differences between the
themes and how madness is shown in the topics.

While reading Hawthornes Dr. Heideggers Experiment, the reader sees the
psychological effects on the four people that the experiment is tested on. When the people are
turned physically young again, their mental state changes too. They become jealous and greedy
as if they were young again. This story shows that under certain situations, the mind will act in a
way than its natural state. One characteristic of Dark Romanticism is to find out how the mind
works. However, in To Build a Fire, the reader sees how the narrator is affected by nature. The
man constantly is thinking about the weather. He brings up how cold he is getting and about
getting to his destination alive. For Naturalism, an important characteristic is a focus on nature.
Throughout the short story, the man keeps his mind on the weather and survival, which helps to
classify To Build a Fire as naturalism.

From comparing these two works of literature, one can see the difference between Dark
Romanticism and Naturalism, and how madness plays a role in these stories. One can notice that

Dark Romanticism studies the works of the mind, whereas Naturalism shows the effects nature
has on people. From this essay, the reader can see how these works show madness in the two
different themes.