Sign Up Now
Get instant access to over 1 million+ study documents
OR
Already registered? click here to login
By creating your account, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and student honor code.
RAPPACCINI'S DAUGHTER -- SCIENCE
"RAPPACCINI'S DAUGHTER"
In Nathaniel Hawthorne's 1844 fantasy tale "Rappaccini's Daughter," Dr. Giacomo Rappaccini is clearly obsessed with science, for Hawthorne states that he cares "infinitely more for science than for mankind" and would "sacrifice human life. . . For the sake of adding so much as a grain of mustard seed to the great heap of his accumulated knowledge." Dr. Rappaccini's obsession for the power that science brings to him has also affected his daughter Beatrice whose body has been slowly poisoned from her birth. As a result, she is immune to these poisons but her touch is deadly to everyone she comes in contact with, such as Giovanni Guasconti, a young student that falls madly in love with Beatrice even after discovering that her touch and breath is fatal. The lives and fates of Dr. Rappaccini, Beatrice and Giovanni are therefore intricately linked to science and symbolize how human beings can be destroyed when science runs amok.
The first indication of Dr. Rappaccini's obsession for science over humanity appears when Giovanni is told by "old dame Lisabetta" that the garden beneath Giovanni's apartment window "is cultivated by the own hands of Signor Giacomo Rappaccini (who). . . distills these plants into medicines that are as potent as a charm." This description shows that Dr. Rappaccini is something like an alchemist of old that created magical potions or "charms" meant to heal diseases or make someone fall in love against his/her will, the familiar "love potion." But "old dame Lisabetta" does not know that Rappaccini's "medicines" are really deadly poisons which he has fed to his daughter since her birth.
2
The reader is then introduced to Dr. Rappaccini, "a tall, emaciated, sallow and sickly looking man. . . with gray hair, a thin gray beard...
. . marked with intellect and cultivation. . . " Hawthorne describes Rappaccini as a "scientific gardener," meaning that he has links to the sciences of botany and horticulture. But as a scientist and botanist, Rappaccini is fully aware of the inherent dangers in his garden, for he avoids "their actual touch (and) the direct inhaling of their odors," due to the poisonous nature of certain flowers, especially the flowers with "purple blossoms" and "the lustre and richness of a gem." He also protects himself by wearing gloves and a mask that covers his mouth and nostrils. Thus, science plays a very important role in the life of Dr. Rappaccini, particularly when it comes to Beatrice, the human "guinea pig" of his weird botanical experiments.
We are then introduced to Beatrice, a young and extraordinarily beautiful girl who possesses much "life, health and energy" as a result of her ingestion of the various poisons grown by her scientist/father in his deadly garden. It would seem that her entire life is completely dependent on the vapors and odors of the flowers grown and hybridized as "flowers of evil." For Beatrice, science has utterly taken control of her existence, so much so that in order to preserve her life and health she must inhale the noxious vapors of the flowers created by artificial means by her father. These flowers are obviously cherished by both Rappaccini and Beatrice, for the doctor refers to them as "our chief treasure," meaning that the flowers are a scientific wonder and that their lives revolve around their cultivation and protection. The flowers also provide "the breath of life" for Beatrice and act as a kind of preserver for her beauty and health.
3
At the beginning of "Rappaccini's Daughter," Giovanni appears to have no connection with science, but when he pays a visit to Pietro…
BIBLIOGRAPHY
"Rappaccini's Daughter -- Nathaniel Hawthorne." Internet. Accessed February 11, 2005.
http://www.shsu.edu/~eng_wpf/authors/Hawthorne/Rappaccini.htm.
Rappacinni's Daughter" by Nathaniel Hawthorne [...] what the story is about, along with some other interpretations of the meaning of the story. Many different interpretations of this story exist, however, the one that seems to make the most sense is the underlying story of the father and daughter, and how their relationship alters as Beatrice grows older. The father is so immersed in his scientific study that he has
The beauty of Rappaccini's garden vies with that of the paradisiacal beauty. The greatest difference between the two however is that Rappaccini's scientific quest for knowledge is barren and loveless. Nature, as created by God, is filled with the divine love of its creator and this particular quality cannot be copied by the hand of man. The story is pivoted on the love story between Beatrice, Rappaccini's daughter who
Hawthorne Author Nathaniel Hawthorne's literary works constantly reference ideas of the supernatural and the religious ideas of the Puritans who colonized the United States. Of particular interest to Hawthorne is how these two things work together in that time period. Many of Nathaniel Hawthorne's works take place in Colonial times, a good century before the author himself was born. His own ancestors were active participants in Puritan society, even serving as
Personal Responsibility: "Rappaccini's Daughter" versus "The Birthmark" Both Nathaniel Hawthorne's "Rappaccini's Daughter" and "The Birthmark" contain similar themes of the dangers of human pride, specifically male pride, and arrogance. In both stories, male figures in the name of science explicitly tamper with the fate of the women in their care. In the case of Rappaccini, the sorcerer-like figure slowly poisons his own daughter so she cannot come into contact with anyone
" Mather 22) Hawthorne clearly stepped away from the Puritan ethic by consistently alluding to the existence of the earthly supernatural. Though this was a fear of the Puritans, clearly it was associated with Satan and possession of the living. In Hawthorne's works the supernatural was associated with less grand sources, such as those seen in Young Goodman Brown. (Hoeltje 39-40) Hawthorne allows his characters to explore concepts that would have been
Nathaniel Hawthorne's beliefs concerning ethics, morality, and guilt as made evident in one of these stories. Consider how beliefs affect characterization, setting, plotting, and theme. In the story of Rappaccini's daughter, the narrator becomes infatuated with a young woman whose life literally has become poisoned, because of her father's influence. Unlike a conventional Christian system of morality, as is typical of most of the author's other tales, the girl is