Rappaccini's+Daughter

Rappaccii’s Daughter

//DISCLAIMER -- SOME OF THIS IS MY WORK; SOME IS NOT. I HAVE TRIED TO GIVE CREDIT -- I DID NOT USE QUOTATION MARKS NOR DO ANYTHING THAT I HAVE TOLD YOU TO DO. THIS IS FOR YOUR STUDY.//

//[|A good site of one explanation of the allegory. Remember, there are many interpretations.]//

Beatrice – Dante’s guide through paradiso Giovanni’s own relative – character used by Dante “Eden of the present world” Beatrice chooses to die once she realizes she is poisoned Beatrice = Rappacini’s love of scienc Product of ambition of three men

Dr. Rappaccini –(according to Baglioni)_ uncaring scientist willing to give his daughter as sacrifice to science (according to himself) endowed her with marvelous gifts – never have an ememy – kill the mightiest with a breath – terrible as she was beautiful – as opposed to weak who was expsed to all eveil and capable of none. He thought it was perfect when she had Giovanni to travel through the world poisoned as she was

Was he dedicated father or mad scientist? If he truly loved her, was he intelligent? How could he understand what she would need?

Baglioni – old rules Giovanni – overtaken with curiosity, love and vanity. His interest in her – Rappacinni’s love of science

ALL MEN WANT ONE THING – BUT WHEN THEY PURSUE IT, THEY FORGET THE TRUE FOUNDATION OF WHAT THEY PURSUE

Giovanni is cruel to B. – love is filled with doubt and distrust – reveals him to be shallow and selfish Rappacinni says he loves and wants to protect her, doesn’t pay attention to what she wants and needs

B wants to uphold “good medicine” puts suspicions in Gs mind and gives him the vial that kills Beatrice

A lesson for man – what happens when they go on a quest for science and attempt to usurp the function of God

__ Roy Male __'s traditional Christian interpretation of "Rappaccini's Daughter" in **//Hawthorne's Tragic Vision//** is perhaps the most popular reading of the tale. He finds the moral of the story to be that if man is to develop full human potential, he must accept either the woman or the dual promise she represents: tragic involvement with sin but also the consequent possibility of redemption (54). Symbolically, the plants in the garden mimic God's creation in an "evil mockery of beauty." The water in the fountain symbolizes the spirit, immortal and unaffected by the changes that have shattered its earthly basin. The fountain combines the material and the spiritual. The purple shrub is the guide marker to the action of the story. Like the fountain, it is an ambiguous mixture of both matter and spirit. Magnificent yet poisonous, it symbolizes Beatrice's potential spiritual perfection and mirrors her paradoxical state since the Fall. It suggests that the true subject of the story is the dual nature of humanity. The four protagonists embody in various ways the dualism of good and evil. The villains--Rappaccini and Baglioni--each represent a polar opposite of evil which seeks to dominate over good. Rappaccini's guilt of intellectual pride results in his being out of harmony with nature. Baglioni, a materialistic skeptic, strives to bring everything "within the realm of ordinary nature." Beatrice is the very embodiment of the central Christian paradox; she is angelic yet corrupt, beautiful but damned. Giovanni, a pilgrim of sorts, undergoes the critical experience of his Christian life. He is being instructed and tested and has the opportunity to win a high and holy faith through Beatrice. Whether or not he has the ability to attain and maintain hold of religious faith against the challenge of materialistic skepticism is the real question of the story. Unfortunately he fails due to his reliance upon his senses as the ultimate criterion of truth. Hawthorne shows in the tale that the inner world of human experience is a complex and ambiguous mixture of good and evil. The evil takes shape in Rappaccini's intellectual pride and Baglioni's gross materialism. Giovanni can not come to terms with the fact that Beatrice offers both sin and eventual redemption. []

Birthmark and Rapp D. – women have no control over their lives – only their deaths.

As R appears, he is described as having a demeanor of walking among savage beasts, spirits or shakes which could wreak havoc on Him. In reality the evil is R - His ultimate sin is pride – the father of all sins – defies God and nature – enhances his reputation, turning garden into evil – corrupts his body – turns his daughter to poison

Lisbetta is part of the plot to ensnare G – informs him of the secret door – in spite of his doubts, he goes willinginly into the garden and is therefore filled with poison – He turns his anger on B. . "Accursed one!" cried he, with venomous scorn and anger. "And finding thy solitude wearisome, thou hast severed me, likewise, from all the warmth of life, and enticed me into thy region of unspeakable horror . . . Thou hast filled my veins with poison! Thou hast made me as hateful, as ugly, as loathsome and deadly a creature as thyself—a world's wonder of hideous monstrosity! Now—if our breath be happily as fatal to ourselves as to all others—let us join our lips in one kiss of unutterable hatred, and so die!" ..

The real poison is the poison within his heart, Beatrice then assures Giovanni that she never intended to harm him. “I dreamed only to love thee,” she says, “and be with thee a little time, and so to let thee pass away, leaving but thine image in mine heart. . . But my father!—he has united us in this fearful sympathy.” ....... When Giovanni reveals Baglioni's phial as an antidote for the contaminants in their bodies, she says, “Give it to me! . . . I will drink but do thou await the result.” Her response indicates that she suspects foul play but is willing to test the antidote on herself.

Whether Giovanni's love for Beatrice is as strong as her love for him—or whether he even experiences love rather than infatuation—is unlikely. After all, he curses her in the belief that she willingly contaminated him, a development revealing that he lacks faith in her. His outrage suggests that his is a “fair weather” passion. When things go right, he will love her. When things go wrong, he will withhold his love. Beatrice apparently senses that his love is insincere. When she is dying, she tells him, “ Farewell, Giovanni! Thy words of hatred are like lead within my heart—but they, too, will fall away as I ascend. Oh, was there not, from the first, more poison in thy nature than in mine?"

And what of Professor Baglioni? Is he corrupt? The evidence suggests that he is. He provides a phial of liquid that he says will restore Beatrice to normalcy. Instead, it kills her within minutes. One may argue that his purpose in providing the poison was to protect Giovanni, the son of his good friend in Naples. But other evidence suggests that his motive was a mixture of revenge and ambition. Remember, he has been competing with Rappaccini for recognition as the best physician in Italy, as he implies when he tells Giovanni, “The truth is, our worshipful Doctor Rappaccini has as much science as any member of the faculty—with perhaps one single exception. . . .” The “single exception” is of course Baglioni—or so Baglioni appears to think.

It is clear, then, that Baglioni and Rappaccini despise each other. To get the better of Rappaccini, Baglioni plans to poison Beatrice. He muses to himself: “This daughter of his! It shall be looked to. Perchance, most learned Rappaccini, I may foil you where you little dream of it!" ....... After Beatrice dies, Baglioni peers down from the window and, as the narrator says, “called loudly, in a tone of triumph mixed with horror, to the thunder-stricken man of science: "Rappaccini! Rappaccini! And is this the upshot of your experiment?"

COMPARE THE MOTIVES OF THESE THREE MEN.

COMPARE THE LOVE OF AYLMER WITH THE LOVE OF RAPPACCINI

COMPARE GEORGIANA AND BEATRICE

VICTIMS? WILLING ?

BEATRICE = PURITY and goodness – her father has corrupted her body, but her soul remains pure “untainted water” “She who makes people happy”

__ marble fountain __ : Symbol of physical corruption and purity of soul. In this respect, it is like Beatrice. Consider the description of the fountain:

T]here was the ruin of a marble fountain in the centre, sculptured with rare art, but so wofully [woefully] shattered that it was impossible to trace the original design from the chaos of remaining fragments. The water, however, continued to gush and sparkle into the sunbeams as cheerfully as ever. A little gurgling sound ascended to the young man's window, and made him feel as if a fountain were an immortal spirit, that sung its song unceasingly.

__ purple __ : Possibly a symbol representing experimentation requiring the mixture of one thing with another. (Purple is a "hybrid" color that results from blending blue and red.) Purple may also represent human beings, who are mixtures of good and bad.

Does science have a right to jeopardize the life of one human being in order to improve or save the lives of many human beings?