Rappaccini's Daughter Vs. The Fall of Man

"Rappaccini's Daughter" is a story about the human struggle to overcome the evil

side of human nature. Each character shows their good and evil side, and in some way

tries to battle the evil nature inside himself or herself. Thus, in this story, Hawthorne tries

to recreate the story of Adam and Eve, only with many more complications.

The intermixture of good and evil within people can be examined 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 is unable to see the

Rappaccini to Giovanni. Baglioni states, "He would sacrifice human life, his own among

true subject of the story is the dual nature of humanity.

appealing, like the tree of knowledge, it is fatal and causes Beatrice to become poisonous

towards the beautiful Beatrice. However, later we see that Giovanni's love of Beatrice was

to manipulate him in his attempt to destroy Rappaccini. In a sense, the dark and gloomy

antidote and perishes, Baglioni looks from the mansion window and calls out,

sallow, and sickly looking man, dressed in a scholar's garb of black...with gray hair, a thin,

illuminate the garden, even had there been no sunshine...some crept serpentlike along the

Two main objects in the garden are repeatedly brought attention to. The first is

deep and vivid that one shade more would have been too much...redundant with life,

people, places and life, with him. Beatrice, isolated by her lethal breath that killed any

has a childlike innocence and is very naive. She even states, "I dreamed only to love thee

Some common words found in the essay are:
Adam Eve, Giovanni Beatrice, Rappaccini Beatrice, Hawthorne Giovanni's, Eden Giovanni, God Genesis, Eden Rappaccini, Similarly Devil, Beatrice Giovanni's, Beatrice Giovanni, garden eden, adam eve, beatrice giovanni, plant purple flowers, rappaccini giovanni, rappaccini's daughter, giovanni beatrice, hawthorne writes, dark gloomy, rappaccini symbolizes, rappaccini symbolizes god, dual nature humanity, descriptive diction,
Approximate Word count = 1986
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)