FREE ESSAY ON RAPPACCINIS DAUGHTER

RAPPACCINIS DAUGHTER

In Rappaccini's Daughter, Nathaniel Hawthorne examines the combination of good and evil
in
people through the relationships of the story's main characters. The lovely and yet
poisonous Beatrice, the
daughter of the scientist Rappaccini, is the central figure of the story, while her
neighbor Giovanni becomes the observer, participant, and interpreter of the strange
events that transpire within the garden next door. It is Giovanni's inability to
understand these events that eventually leads to Beatrice's death. Giovanni sees things
that are either all good or all bad. While he is quick to judge Beatrice, he is unable to
examine his own motives and thoughts. During the story, Hawthorne gives the reader many
clues of Giovanni's selfish and fickle nature. In the end, Beatrice dies because of
Giovanni and his own poisonous nature. The moral of the story is that every persons
character is both good and evil in nature. Nathaniel Hawthorne uses Giovanni and Beatrice
to explore the impossibility of totally separating good and evil from the human
character. 
At the beginning of the story, a young man named Giovanni Guasconti is introduced to the
readers as a typical homesick student from Southern Italy. He is at once attracted to the
beautiful garden next door belonging to the mysterious scientist, Dr. Rappaccini. Not
only is he fascinated by the scientist and his garden, but he is instantly enchanted by
Rappaccini's beautiful daughter, Beatrice. The second time Giovanni sees Beatrice from
his window overlooking the garden, he notices several unusual things. First, he believes
that he sees a lizard die suddenly at Beatrice's feet. Then a swarm of insects appear to
die from her breath, and finally, the flowers that he gives to her seem to wither from
her touch. However, Hawthorne is careful to never fully confirm what Giovanni sees.
Hawthorne frequently uses words like imagine, seemed, or appeared to  to cast a doubt
upon the validity of what Giovanni thinks he sees. Even Giovanni himself rationalizes the
situation and convinces himself that what he thought he saw did not happen. This is
because in Giovanni's mind, it is impossible to separate the physical from the spiritual.
For him, if Beatrice's body is poisonous, then so is her spirit. Giovanni is unable to
see the possibilities for good and bad to be simultaneously within someone. This problem
is at the heart of this story and is what ultimately causes Beatrice's death. Since
Giovanni allows himself to disbelieve what he had seen earlier in the garden, he is able
to fall for Beatrice. Giovanni is drawn to Beatrice not because of the glamor of science,
but an interest in the unknown. He knows that all is not right in Rappaccini's garden and
he is fascinated with the mystery. As Giovanni and Beatrice get to know each other, they
develop a strong bond. However, for Giovanni this is not true love. Hawthorne provides
the reader with clues that question the integrity of Giovanni. For example, Hawthorne
writes, Guasconti had not a deep heart or at all events, its depths are not sounded
now-but he had a quick fancy, and an ardent southern temperament, which rose every
instant to higher fever-pitch (Hawthorne 614). Not only is Giovanni passionate in his
lust for Beatrice, but he also idealizes her as an angel. While he finds her to be
maiden-like, he also considers her worthy to be worshipped (Hawthorne 619). Occasionally,
Giovanni's doubts come forth, And at such times, he was startled at the horrible
suspicions that rose, monster-like, out of the caverns of his heart, and stared him in
the face; his love grew thin and faint as the morning-mist; his doubts alone had
substance (Hawthorne 620). But always, Giovanni is able to squash these doubts and he
convinces himself of Beatrice's purity. He is able to do this because otherwise he could
not be with her. Giovanni does not see the possibility that there can be both good and
evil within someone. For him, he thinks that someone is either all good or all bad. Even
after Dr. Baglioni's revelation about Beatrice, Giovanni tries not to see the
possibilities of Beatrice being poisonous. It is only when he realizes that now he too is
poisonous that he truly allows himself to believe. Because of this, he becomes insanely
angry, as if he is the only one wronged, and ventures forth to confront Beatrice. The
woman that he before worshipped, he now calls Accursed one! (Hawthorne 624). Now, he is
repulsed by Beatrice and loathes her. Giovanni hurts Beatrice deeply with his accusations
and stinging words. However, through Baglioni's antidote he sees a possible way to cure
them both. Beatrice takes the potion, urging Giovanni to wait and see what happens to
her. At this point Beatrice dies because the poison in her body is too strong and the
antidote causes her death. As she dies she says to 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 (Hawthorne 626). Giovanni is a normal,
but selfish student who is drawn into the Rappaccinis' lives. He is unable to separate
Beatrice's good and sweet spirit from her poisonous body. He does not comprehend the
possibility of an intermixture of good and evil within people. Once he finds out that she
is indeed poisonous, he hates her. However, it is Giovanni in the end that is poisonous
with his cruel words and the potion that he gives to Beatrice. In fact, although
inadvertently, it is Giovanni who kills Beatrice by trying to change her nature with his
antidote. 
The short story's title, Rappaccini's Daughter immediately tells the reader that the
focus of the story is upon Beatrice even though she is not introduced to the reader for a
couple pages. The first introduction to Beatrice teaches the reader that she is very
beautiful and she is the caretaker to the poisonous plants in her father's garden. As
Giovanni learns, she knows little of the outside world for she has been raised almost
exclusively within the garden. She appears to Giovanni, as well as to the reader, to be a
gentle and innocent young woman. She even admits to Giovanni that the poisonous flowers
in her father's garden shock and offend her, when they meet her eye (Hawthorne 617). She
honestly tells Giovanni about her poisonous nature when he confronts her; however, she
seems to be truly unaware of her presence's poisonous affect on Giovanni. She is also
astonished by Giovanni's hurtful confrontation. Beatrice tells Giovanni, though my body
be nourished with poison, my spirit is God's creature, and craves love as its daily food
(Hawthorne 625). If she is evil, it is only because she was made that way. Her heart is
pure. So in the end, the beautiful and innocent Beatrice is betrayed by the man she
loved, Giovanni. For Giovanni betrays Beatrice because he thought she was evil, and truly
Beatrice is the one who demonstrates to have true love. Beatrice proves to be very human,
but with a poisonous body and a loving soul. 
At the beginning of the story, Giovanni is a normal person. However, he is inadvertently
tempted by the beauty and sweetness of Beatrice and becomes poisonous. His own dark side
is awakened by the encounter with the Rappaccinis and no one is left unscathed. Like all
people, he is not completely good or bad, but a combination of the two. Some people are
mostly good, some are mostly bad, but no one is only good or evil.