"Rappaccini's Daughter": Untold Truths
"Rappaccini's Daughter": Untold Truths Allegories, symbolism, fantasy, the theme of faith, the theme of science, the presence of humanity, and conceivably the unforgivable sin. Given all of these characteristics, a reader may very well perceive this story not only Nathaniel Hawthorne's greatest work, but his most problematic as well. The meaning of this classic tale has been disputed among the greatest of critics. The story has been interpreted as pro-Transcendental and anti-Transcendental (Stallman 1). Beatrice has been viewed as an angel and a lethal siren. Giovanni has been deemed a Puritan and an artistic figure. Baglioni has been seen as a weak Christ figure, and Rappaccini has been characterized as both God and Satan. To illuminate one of Hawthorne's short stories, an investigation of "Rappaccini's Daughter" will pin down the implications of well-known mythology and how Hawthorne uses such tales to illustrate women, not as the only reason for the fall of grace in the eyes of the God's, but as pure al!lies in humankind's ethereal undoing. First of all, the protagonist is Signor Giovanni Guasconti, a young man who has come to Padua, Italy to study at the university there. He was nonetheless transported from his
[T]he real Beatrice was a heavenly angel" (Hawthorne 637). Rappaccini played the role of Arebati when he nourished his daughter off the poison of the purple plant. He even accidentally killed his daughter when he touched her, and this truly made him realize the depth of his mistake. "But I, dearest Giovanni-I grew up and blossomed with the plant, and was nourished with its breath" (Hawthorne 637). Arebati was the sky and moon god and sometimes called "afa, 'father'" ("Arebati") who created the first human from clay. Here, Beatrice is compared to Medusa, the Gorgon. When any person would lay his or her eyes on Medusa, she would turn them to stone. Little hope is left for the cursed characters, and Hawthorne has shown though women may be fraudulent, they are redeemable. One of the next characters introduced to the reader in the story is Pietro Baglioni, who was the "professor of medicine in the University, a physician of eminent repute . Rappaccini can also be compared to Arebati. ------------------------------------------------------------------------**Bibliography**. He has become a Medusa-like person himself, and this is confirmed even more when he states " . Soon, uncanny events being to take place in Giovanni's life.
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Acceptance Essays
