Motifs
- Appearance v. reality. Giovanni Guasconti must decide whether to believe
what his senses tell him about Beatrice and her garden. Inward and outward
conflict as well: she?s poisonous to touch, and must therefore remain
untouched (chaste), but her spirit is pure, an angel, not a demon.
- Coldness of science, which destroys the heart; preference for intellect
over emotion and spirit, which destroys the soul.
- Fountain in Garden of Eden: gems, sueprnatural light, flower
- Poison (note that Beatrice allures creatures) as both evil and sexual
power; medieval legend has many stories of women infused with poison,
symbolic of their sexual allure and power to dominate men, a power that
men fear. Here, however, the poison is not inherent but added by her
father, who seeks his own domination of a world inhabited by people
immune to all disease yet fatal to all others.
- Arrogance of efforts to become a godlike being. Haviland writes:
Believing in the purity of Beatrice's soul, Giovanni ignores her corrupt
body and thus precipitates her doom and his own. Believing that his
daughter would rather be feared than loved, that absolute power subsumes
all desire, Rappaccini, like many other Hawthorne scientists, uses her
as the means to achieve his ideal: the invincible woman who would obey
him. (289)
Characters
- Giovanni: an innocent away from home for the first time, poor seeker
of knowledge both tempted by and frightened of the beauty and mystery
of the garden and the woman therein.
- Rappaccini: contrast with Giovanni (consider his arrogance and creativity,
his command of the natural world)
- Beatrice
- Perhaps she is innocent, as Giovanni says at one point, an angel,
spiritually pure though physically fatal. See how like a flower
she is. Drawn to her spiritual nature either from fear of sexuality
or for other reasons, Giovanni retreats when she does. Nonetheless,
he longs for a physical relationship, longs to touch her. Her touch
is deadly.
- Perhaps she is a temptress, after all, in spite of herself, calling
to Giovanni to lead her out of her isolation and rescue her even
though such rescue is death to him. Note that if Giovanni had not
administered the antidote but had stayed with her, they both would
have lived.
References
Alsen, Eberhard. "The Ambitious Experiment of Dr. Rappiccini."
American Literature ? (?): 430+.
Kloeckner, Alfred J. "The Flower and the Fountain: Hawthorne's Chief
Symbols in 'Rappaccini?s Daughter.'" American Literature 38
(1966): 323-336.
Nathaniel Hawthorne Notes
for educational purposes only
developed and copyright ©2001 by D. Reiss
modified and copyright ©19 February 2005 by D. Reiss |