Rappaccini's Daughter Fall From Grace
Analytical Essay: Rappaccini's Daughter In the literal sense, Nathaniel
Hawthorn's Rappaccini's Daughter is the story about the rivalry between two
scientists that ultimately causes the destruction of an innocent young woman.
However, when the story is examined on a symbolic level, the reader sees that
Rappaccini's Daughter is an allegorical reenactment of the original fall from
innocence and purity in the Garden of Eden. Rappaccini's garden sets the stage
of this allegory, while the characters of the story each represent the important
figures from the Genesis account. Through the literary devices of poetic and
descriptive diction, Nathaniel Hawthorne conveys the symbolism of these
characters, as well as the setting. The story takes place in mid-nineteenth
century in Padua, Italy and revolves around two major settings; the mansion of
an old Paduan family, and Rappaccini's lush garden. The mansion is described as,
high and gloomy…the palace of a Paduan noble… desolate and ill-furnished… This
description establishes a dark mood throughout the story. Hawthorne writes, One
of the ancestors of this family…had been pictured by Dante as a partaker of the
immortal agonies of his Inferno… The allusion of Dante refers to The Divine
Comedy and the Inferno describes the souls in Hell. Furthermore, Baglioni
converses with Giovanni in this mansion chamber and tries to manipulate him in
his attempt to destroy Rappaccini. In a sense, the dark and gloomy mansion
symbolizes the domain of evil. The second major setting is the garden. The
author uses poetic diction to describe Rappaccini's garden. Hawthorne writes,
There was one shrub in particular…that bore a profusion of purple blossoms, each
of which had the luster and richness of a gem…seemed enough to illuminate the
garden, even had there been no sunshine…some crept serpentlike along the ground
or climbed on high…
In this passage, the author depicts the liveliness and
beauty of the garden in an almost fantasy-like way, a fantasy too good to be
true and destined to end tragically. Hawthorne directly compares this beautiful
garden to Eden when he writes, Was this garden, then the Eden of the present
world? Thus, Rappaccini's garden symbolizes the setting of the initial fall of
man. In Rappaccini's Daughter, the original sinners, Adam and Eve, are
represented by Giovanni Guasconti and Beatrice Rappaccini. Giovanni symbolizes
Adam in the sense that he is shallow and insincere. When Giovanni first sees
Beatrice, he is love struck. Hawthorne uses poetic diction when he writes, …the
impression which the fair stranger made upon him was as if here were another
flower…as beautiful as they, more beautiful than the richest of them. This
passage describes Giovanni's feelings towards the beautiful Beatrice. However,
later we see that Giovanni's love was actually lust when the student discovers
that he has been infected by Beatrice. The author writes, Giovanni's rage broke
forth from his sullen gloom like a lightning flash out of a dark cloud.
'Accursed one!' cried he, with venomous scorn and anger Giovanni becomes enraged
and blames Beatrice of this accidental infection. Similarly, Adam blames Eve of
their disobedience when he is confronted by God. Adam does not show compassion
towards his wife but instead, like Giovanni, lashes out with anger against Eve.
Hawthorne's critical and unsympathetic tones toward Giovanni are evident when he
uses descriptive diction to explain him. Hawthorne writes, …his spirit was
incapable of sustaining itself at the height to which the early enthusiasm of
passion had exalted it; he fell down groveling among earthly doubts, and defiled
there with the pure whiteness of Beatrice's image. In this passage, Hawthorne
shows that Giovanni's love was actually lust and his tone toward Giovanni is
critical. In contrast, Hawthorne portrays sympathetic and reverent tones towards
Beatrice.
