FREE ESSAY ON RAPPACCINI'S DAUGHTER FALL FROM GRACE

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. The author
uses poetic diction to describe the beautiful young woman. He writes, ...arrayed with as
much richness of taste as the most splendid of the flowers...bloom so deep and vivid that
one shade more would have been too much...redundant with life, health, and energy...
Beatrice is described as a part of nature and vivacious. She has been isolated from the
world and the world she lives in only consists of the garden. She has a child like
innocence and is very naive. She even states, I dreamed only to love thee and be with
thee a little time, and so let thee pass away, leaving but thine image in mine heart.
This passage shows the purity of her love for Giovanni. Thus, Beatrice symbolizes the
innocence of Eve and Giovanni symbolizes the pride and shallowness of Adam. 
In Rappiccini's Daughter, the major conflict is between the famous doctor of Italy,
Giacomo Rappaccini, and his rival, the professor of the university, Pietro Baglioni. This
conflict correlates to the conflict between the Grand Creator, God, and Satan the Devil
in the Garden of Eden. Rappaccini symbolizes God in the sense that he had created the
beautiful garden and is the father to Beatrice, the caretaker. Rappaccini states, My
daughter, thou art no longer lonely in the world...my science and the sympathy between
thee and him have so wrought within his system that he now stands apart from common
men... In this passage, Rappaccini has provided his daughter with a partner as God
provided the lonely Adam with a companion. Another reason Rappaccini symbolizes God is
that he endowed Beatrice and Giovanni with a marvelous gift. In the same sense, God had
given the gift of everlasting life to Adam and Eve to subdue the earth. Hawthorne's tones
towards Rappaccini are somber yet reverent. Through descriptive diction, he writes,  His
figure soon emerged into view, and showed itself to be that of no common laborer, but a
tall, emaciated, sallow, and sickly looking man, dressed in a scholar's garb of
black...with gray hair, a thin, gray beard, and a face singularly marked with intellect
and cultivation... Hawthorne describes Rappaccini as a dark and gloomy figure but he
recognizes his intellect and shows reverence towards it. Similarly, Hawthorne is reverent
towards Baglioni but is unsympathetic to the jealous scientist. Pietro Baglioni
symbolizes Satan the Devil. Baglioni continually conveys an evil image of Rappaccini to
Giovanni. Baglioni states, 'He would sacrifice human life, his own among the rest, or
whatever else was dearest to him, for the sake of adding so much as a grain of mustard
seed to the great heap of his accumulated knowledge.' Similarly, Satan the Devil attempts
to lure Adam's companion into disobedience by stating, Ye shall not surely die: For God
doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be
as gods, knowing good and evil. In both accounts, they try to create the illusion that
Rappiccini/God is acting on his own interests. When Beatrice drinks the so called
antidote and perishes, Baglioni looks from the mansion window and calls out, 'Rappaccini!
Rappaccini! And is this the upshot of your experiment!' Baglioni, like the Devil, taunts
Rappaccini/God when his Eden has been destroyed. Thus, Rappaccini symbolizes God, while
the Devil is depicted by Baglioni.
Rappaccini's Daughter conveys the theme of loss of innocence and purity. In the Garden of
Eden, Adam and Eve lost their purity and innocence when they disobeyed God and ate the
fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. This disobedience was the result
of their pride and the desire to become like gods. In the story, the loss of innocence
and purity resulted when the perverse scientific rivalry between Rappaccini and Baglioni
took the life of the passionate and innocent Beatrice. Through the literary devices of
poetic and descriptive diction, Nathaniel Hawthorne depicted the symbolism of the
characters and the setting. Through the allegory of the Garden of Eden, the dangers of
the misuse of power are strongly portrayed.