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Windy Cushman
Dr. Martinez
English 102
3/8/2011
“Rappaccini's Daughter”: Poisonous Natures Cause an Untimely Death
The evil you see and fear in others is in actuality the evil that you cannot admit in
yourself (Stallman). To this day, the interpretation of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s story,
“Rappaccini’s Daughter,” has no general agreement by critics. The story takes place in the
1800’s, at the rise of gothic literature, in Padua, Italy. He writes a morbid tale of a beautiful
woman who is poisonous and isolated in a beautiful, but venomous garden. Hawthorne was a
man who, like his characters, lived in isolation and faced many poisonous natures of his own
while longing for an established writing career. Opposing critics like, Carol Bensick, assert that
the story was written during, and was also about the Syphilis epidemic in Paris (qtd. in
Stallman). On a closer look, critic Richard Brenzo stated, “Hawthorne was revealing how the
poisonous natures of Giovanni, Baglioni and Doctor Rappaccini represented their own fears,
obsessions, ambitions, and unhealthy desires, [which led to Beatrice’s death]” (qtd. in Stallman).
In other words, Hawthorne demonstrates how the poisonous nature’s of his characters lead to an
untimely death.
A prime example is how Giovanni’s poisonous nature greatly took part in Beatrice’s
death. Giovanni’s egotistical and curious nature had him desiring Beatrice at any cost. Even
though he watched beautiful creatures fall dead at the smell of Beatrice’s sweet, poisonous
aroma he desired to be in her presence. He never spoke of loving Beatrice; he only spoke of
longing for her sexually. He was clearly obsessed with Beatrice and feared he may suffer the
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same demise as the beautiful creatures she encountered. While he learned he would not face the
same demise as the creatures, he would instead suffer the same demise as her, to be poisonous
and isolated. He was livid and selfish wondering what would come of his own future. He
blatantly told her, “Thou hast done it! Thou hast blasted me! Thou hast filled my veins with
poison! Thou hast made me as hateful, as ugly, as loathsome, and deadly a creature as thyself…”
(Hawthorne 402) In other words, he blamed Beatrice for his horrible fate. Now that he shared the
same fate, all his ambitions for the future were lost. He could not handle the fact that he was no
longer in control of his fate; he confidently sentenced her to death with an antidote. Even after
her father admitted this was all part of his experiment and he was responsible for everything, he
never tried to stop Beatrice from consuming her death. Ultimately, Giovanni’s internal poisons
led to the untimely death of Beatrice.
Along with Giovanni, Professor Baglioni played a great role in taking the innocent life of
Beatrice. Baglioni was obsessed with his career and would keep his job at any cost. He feared
Beatrice was an intellectual girl who wished to take his seat as an academic leader (qtd. in
Stallman). The thought of a woman being his superior makes him ill with anxiety. His unhealthy
desire to rid of Beatrice would put an end to his worries. Along with his concerns for job security
he would love nothing more than to take a stab at his long time rival Dr. Rappaccini. It was
Baglioni who constructed and passed the antidote off to Giovanni with instructions for Beatrice’s
death. As she fell to her death Baglioni watched from the window and in a voice of triumph
yelled, “Rappaccini! Rappaccini! Is this the upshot of your experiment?”(Hawthorne 403).
Baglioni was obviously gloating about his triumph over his rival and his newly secured career.
His ambition to keep his job and out-do his colleague were the only things on his mind. This
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shows the nature of Baglioni and how his fears, obsessions, ambitions, and unhealthy desires
played a great role in Beatrice’s death.
In compliance with Baglioni and Giovanni, Beatrice’s father, Dr. Rappaccini, helped
instigate her death. Rappaccini was obsessed with science and was known to love science more
than mankind (Hawthorne 389). From the time Beatrice was born he kept her secluded and made
her a part of one of his morbid experiments. He was a Botanist who thrived on creating
poisonous plants. Beatrice was around the plants so much that she actually took on the
characteristics of them. The touch of her hand and the breath she exhaled were deadly. This was
all part of Rappaccini’s master plan. He was ambitious for power and control. Growing his
daughter as one of his deadly plants and isolating her gave him a sense of power and control. She
realizes, she too, was another one of his selfish experiments and will no longer be a part of his
demented scheme (Hawthorne 403). As she held the antidote to her lips she asked her father,
“My father, wherefore didst thou inflict this miserable doom upon thy child?” Rappaccini replied
selfishly, “Miserable! What mean you, foolish girl. Dost thou deem it misery to be endowed with
marvelous gifts against which no power nor strength could avail an enemy –misery, to be able to
quell the mightiest with a breath…” (403) Beatrice is asking her father why he would want to
make his own daughter’s life miserable. Rappaccini was offended. He felt he gave her the best
power in the world and she did not appreciate it. Rappaccini was projecting his own selfish
desires onto Beatrice and then blamed her, not himself, when she refused to go along with his
scheme (qtd. in Stallman). The man that gave her life, isolated her life, and in the end was at
fault for her death.
Although many will agree with my interpretation of Hawthorne’s story we must take into
account other perspectives. On a realistic note, Critic Carol Bensick and others would agree
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“Rappaccini’s Daughter” was an interpretation on the syphilis epidemic plaguing Paris at the
time of Hawthorne’s writings. She thought poison in the tale was not to be regarded as evil.
Rather, it needs to be treated as fact and not as a moral or metaphysical symbol (qtd. in
Stallman). She believes Rappaccini had the disease and passed it to his daughter at birth and she
is now immune to it. Now that Beatrice is plagued with syphilis she must be isolated from the
population. Carol and others believe Giovanni is an unconscious carrier of the disease and is an
innocent victim (qtd. in Stallman). In Carol’s book, La Nouvelle Beatrice: Renaissance and
Romance in "Rappaccini's Daughter," she states, “ Asking Giovanni to accept Beatrice's poison
is asking him to accept sex, disease, and the ultimate natural fact of death” (qtd. in Stallman). In
other words, Carol is saying Beatrice’s poison is not caused from a plant, but from syphilis and
being with her would cause Giovanni’s death. Opposing critics like Carol try to link
“Rappaccini’s Daughter” with realistic events happening in the world around Hawthorne at that
time.
Although opposing critics link Hawthorne’s story with factual events, we must take a
deeper look into Hawthorne and his characters. We should take into account Hawthorne’s life
and how it affected his writing. Also, we need to look at the opposing view and how one of the
main characters is left out. It leaves out the fine detail and natures Hawthorne produces in his
characters, specifically Baglioni. It’s a fact that syphilis in this time period was a sure death. It
makes no sense for Baglioni to construct an antidote to kill Beatrice knowing she is already
infected with a death sentence. Baglioni kills Beatrice because he is envious of Rappachini and
has an unhealthy desire to out-do him. He is also insecure of losing his job to Beatrice and is
ambitious by any means to keep it. Hawthorne was in an isolated state at one point in his life and
could relate to his characters natures. According to The Encyclopedia of World Biography,
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“Hawthorne spent the years 1825 to 1837 in his mother's Salem household. Later he looked back
upon these years as a period of dreamlike isolation and solitude, spent in a haunted room. During
these "solitary years" he learned to write tales and sketches that are still unique” (“Nathaniel
Biography”). While in isolation he faced internal poisons leading to many of his unique stories
today including, “Rappaccini’s Daughter.” Hawthorne faced his own poisons in the nature of
wanting to become a well established writer. In “Rappaccini’s Daughter” Hawthorne was
symbolizing something he went through in life rather than something that was happening around
him, like syphilis.
In the end, the controversy over Rappaccini’s Daughter will continue to sweep the minds
of Hawthorne’s audience. Although syphilis was an epidemic of his time, we should not forget
Hawthorne’s struggles in life and how close they are to the poisons that embody his characters.
We must look at the fact that Hawthorne himself, like Beatrice, lived in isolation for an
extended amount of time. Many authors write symbolic tales of events that happen in their own
life. His isolation and inner poisons eventually led to his success in writing and gave us many
unique stories. He would not be known today without his own ambitions, obsessions, and
desires. Hawthorne was relating to his characters and portraying how Giovanni, Baglioni, and
Rappaccini’s unhealthy inner demons led to Beatrice’s death.
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Works Cited
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. “Rappaccini's Daughter.” Legacies. 5th ed. Lyn Uhl. 386-403. Print.
“Nathaniel Hawthorne Biography - Life, Family, Childhood, Children, Name, History, Wife,
Mother, Son.” Encyclopedia of World Biography. Web. 15 Mar. 2011.
Stallman, Laura. “Criticism of “Rappaccini's Daughter”” Virginia Commonwealth University.
1995. Web. 09 Mar. 2011.