Role of woman

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Romanticism is a movement in the history of ideas which came in late 18th century Western Europe. In “The Oval Portrait”, written by Edgar Allan Poe, a man sees a painting of a young girl in an old castle and tells about who the young girl is and what happens to her. Also, the story shows the conflict between the painter and his wife, the young girl and the symbol of the young girl. And, “Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment”, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, shows the human selfishness as the main characters, three old men and a woman, fight for the magic water, which makes them younger. In the both stories, “The Oval Portrait” and “Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment”, the main characters, the painter, three old men, and a woman shows the flaws of human nature, which is to focus only on what they believe is valuable and important, leading to the loss of what is actually most valuable.
“The Oval Portrait” illustrates the flaws of the human who only focuses on painting. The painter only focuses on his painting rather than his wife because he thinks painting is the most important thing in his life. He “takes glory in his work, which went on from hour to hour, and from day to day”(19). In the end of the story, he asks his wife to be a model for his painting. And, she cannot move, eat, and sleep, even though she is sick. However, the painter who does not know his wife is sick keeps drawing and “turns his eyes from canvas rarely”(19). His action only focusing on painting shows he is passionate and selfish because he does not care about how his wife loves him and hurts from him as he ignores her love for him. And, when he finishes his painting and says his wife in the painting looks alive, “she is dead”(19) in actual life. And, the author alludes that ...

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... However, as they mishandle the vase, they lose their chances to live new life by being younger. Therefore, Hawthorne also shows the human selfishness as the old men and a woman fight each other to have more water. And, their greeds finally take their last chance to be younger.
Both “The Oval Portrait” and “Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment” depict human selfishness which is concentrating on what they believe is important and precious. And, the selfishness leads humans to lose what is actually most valuable. For instance, the painter loses his wife as he focuses on his painting rather than illness of his wife. And, the three old men and a woman also loses the water which make them look younger because they fight to have more water than any others. In addition, those stories shows the feature of American Romantic Literature, which is talking about the flaws in the society.

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