Rappacinni's daughter

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.

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The reader is then introduced to Dr. Rappaccini, "a tall, emaciated, sallow and sickly looking man. . . with gray hair, a thin gray beard and a face. . . 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.

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At the beginning of "Rappaccini's Daughter," Giovanni appears to have no connection with science, but when he pays a visit to Pietro Baglioni, there are indications that Giovanni may be a medical student, due to Baglioni being a professor of medicine at a local university. At this meeting of student and mentor, we learn that Rappaccini "has as much science as any member of the faculty" at the university; however, Baglioni relates that he has "certain grave objections to (Rappaccini's) professional character" which shows that the professor knows a few things about Rappaccini's botanical experiments. Baglioni then tells Giovanni that Rappaccini's patients "are interesting to him only as subjects for some new experiment," one subject being Beatrice. Baglioni also tells Giovanni that Rappaccini is said to "have produced new varieties of poison, more horribly deleterious than Nature. . . " Thus, Rappaccini is truly a "mad scientist" who uses science as a means to control and manipulate Beatrice.

When Giovanni returns to his apartment, he looks out the window and sees Beatrice in the mysterious garden. Her attention is riveted to the strange "purple gems" and soon begins to inhale "their various perfumes as if she were one of those beings of old classic fable that lived upon sweet odors." Beatrice then "threw open her arms. . . And drew its branches into an intimate embrace" and says to herself, "Give me thy breath, sister." At this point, a small lizard appears among the flowers and several drops of moisture fall on its head which instantly causes it to "lay motionless in the sunshine," meaning that the purple flowers have killed it. Thus, Beatrice is akin to a monster created by mad science that kills everything it touches. Mythologically, she is much like Medusa, the snake-haired woman whose gaze can turn a

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person to stone. Her basic humanity itself has also been affected by science, for she is no longer a member of the human race but a strange creature created by botanical sorcery.

A little later, Giovanni encounters Baglioni on the street; soon after, he sees Dr. Rappaccini and Baglioni states ". . . this man of science is making a study of you. . . I will stake my life upon it, you are the subject of one of Rappaccini's experiments!" This statement places Giovanni in a very precarious situation, for Baglioni is absolutely right -- Giovanni will indeed end up as one of the doctor's strange experiments as a victim of Beatrice's poisonous nature. With this, Giovanni is now inseparable from science, for it has determined his fate and destiny.