Nathaniel Hawthorne uses the symbol of the looking glass on the wall of Dr. Heidegger's study in "Dr Heidegger's Experiment" as a way to expand on a theme that the reality of life is failure. This looking glass resides "within a tarnished gilt frame" (213) attempting to disguise with beauty its true, yet unsightly power. Through the ages, the virtue of truth and honesty has been "tarnished" or lost luster through time, as well as the emphasis of learning from mistakes. Also, gilt, being covered in a thin layer of gold, is a homonym with the word guilt, remorse caused by feeling responsible for some offence. It is Dr. Heidegger's guilt for past mistakes that frames his actions throughout the story. This mirror, it is said, reflects the "spirits of all the doctor's deceased patients."(213)

This power to show only Dr. Heidegger's failures as a doctor by profession leads...