Rappaccini’s Daughter
By Nathaniel Hawthorne
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Characters
Dr. Giacomo Rappaccini (pronunciation: JAHK uh mo Rahp uh CHEE ne): Renowned
but sinister Padua physician who cultivates highly poisonous plants in his garden with the
help of his daughter. He then attempts to extract medical cures from the poisons.
Giovanni Guasconti (pronunciation: Joh VAHN e Gwa SKOHN te): Handsome
Neapolitan student enrolled in the medical curriculum at the University of Padua. He
lives in an apartment overlooking Rappaccini's garden and makes the acquaintance of the
doctor's daughter, whose beauty and mysterious powers fascinate him.
Beatrice Rappaccini: Daughter of Dr. Rappaccini. Over the years, her father has
exposed her to toxins in his plants and flowers as part of his experimentation. As a result,
she becomes poisonous like the flowers, capable of killing an insect or an animal merely
by breathing on it. However, she herself is immune to the effects of the toxins. She lives a
life of isolation in the doctor's house and garden.
Dr. Pietro Baglioni (pronunciation: PYET ro Bal YOHN e): Professor of medicine at the
University of Padua to whom Giovanni Guasconti reports with a letter of introduction
from his father, a friend of the professor. Baglioni and Dr. Rappaccini are professional
rivals and bitter enemies, one striving to outdo the other in medical achievements.
Old Lisabetta (pronunciation: Leez uh BET uh): Housekeeper in the mansion where
Giovanni Guasconti rents an apartment. She shows Giovanni through corridors that lead
to a secret entrance to Dr. Rappaccini's garden.
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Analysis
"Rappaccini's Daughter" is typical of Hawthorne's works:
1. It involves ambiguity, especially with Pietro Baglioni, who establishes himself as
a friend of Giovanni, yet murders Beatrice in an effort to defeat his bitter
scientific rival. Speaking of bitter scientific rivals, Rappaccini nurtures his
daughter with a poisonous shrub, and in an attempt at mercy, allows Giovanni to
become immune to the poison, creating for the two their own paradisaical
existence (which undoubtedly would have turned into a living hell for both of
them--stuck in the same garden with each other for eternity. I love my wife, but
come on already, she'd have me castrated within six months).
2. It involves supernatural elements. A mad scientist turns his incredibly hot
daughter into a poisonous freak of nature, resembling a plant more than a human.
3. It exposes the dangers of technology and science. Although the concept of a really
hot chick/plant thing is preposterous, the realization that individuals who care
more about science or bogus science more than human liberty is frightening.
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Symbols
Understanding these "Rappaccini's Daughter" symbols will enhance your understanding
of the story.
1. The deteriorating statue in the center of the garden symbolizes corruption. Its
location represents the center of human goodness and feeling, the heart. The
presence of the statue in the middle of the garden symbolizes the corrupting
influence man and science has had on nature.
2. The poisonous plant from which Beatrice imbibes life symbolizes the corrupting
force of nature on humans.
3. The garden itself is referred to as the Garden of Eden, yet paradoxically contains
only poisonous plants and a poisonous Eve. Instead of God reigning in the garden
there's the satanic Rappaccini.
4. Rappaccini and his black garb symbolizes the devil.
5. Beatrice symbolizes feminine beauty, a beauty worth dying for.
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Themes
1. Love vs. Lust - It doesn't take a teenager to figure out why Giovanni is attracted
to Beatrice. Why else would a young man obsess over a girl with whom he's
never spoken, kills living things with her breath, and has a mad scientist father
who cares less for human life than he does his science experiments. Giovanni isn't
the first or last young man to catch a disease after associating with a poisonous
woman.
2. Individual vs. Society - American Romantics, Hawthorne being a prominent one,
celebrated the individual. The question Hawthorne addresses is does science have
the right to sacrifice an individual for the betterment of society? Hawthorne
recognizes the dangers of giving humans--be they scientists or not--power they
are not intended to have.
3. The Dangers of Science - Hawthorne demonstrates what happens when science
attempts to solve societal problems by sacrificing individuals. Neither Baglioni
nor Rappaccini have their subjects' best interest in mind when they use them as
part of their experiments.
4. Nature vs. Nurture - The poisonous shrubs in Rappaccini's garden are created
from a mixture of good and bad herbs, symbolic of the good and bad that exists in
all (note: the flowers are purple, a hybrid color). Her father's decision to nurture
her with poison make her posionous.