Rappaccini's Daughter by Nathaniel Hawthorne [PDF]
by InfoBooks
Nathaniel Hawthorne crafted one of his most unsettling allegories in this 1844 tale of science, poison, and doomed love set in a mysterious Italian garden.
Behind the beauty of Beatrice and her exotic flowers lies a chilling question about what happens when a father values knowledge more than his own child's humanity.
Giovanni Guasconti arrives in Padua as a hopeful young student, only to find himself trapped between fascination and horror when he falls for a woman whose very touch is deadly. Hawthorne weaves themes of trust, manipulation, and moral corruption into a story that feels as relevant now as it did nearly two centuries ago.
Rappaccini's Daughter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
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Information: Rappaccini's Daughter
- Author: Nathaniel Hawthorne
- Publication Date: 1844
- Main Characters:
- Giovanni Guasconti: A young, impressionable medical student from Naples who falls in love with Beatrice. His shifting trust and suspicion drive much of the story's tension.
- Beatrice Rappaccini: The beautiful, warm-hearted daughter of Dr. Rappaccini. Raised among poisonous plants, she has become toxic to others despite her gentle nature.
- Dr. Giacomo Rappaccini: A cold, calculating scientist who experiments on his own daughter, prioritizing knowledge and control over her well-being.
- Professor Pietro Baglioni: A medicine professor and professional rival of Rappaccini. He warns Giovanni about Rappaccini's methods and provides the antidote that ultimately proves fatal.
- Brief Summary: A young student named Giovanni Guasconti moves to Padua and rents a room overlooking a strange, lush garden belonging to Dr. Rappaccini. He becomes fascinated by the doctor's daughter Beatrice, who tends the poisonous plants without harm. As Giovanni grows closer to Beatrice, he learns she has become poisonous herself due to her father's experiments. A rival professor offers Giovanni an antidote, but when Beatrice drinks it to prove her pure intentions, it kills her.
- Thematic Analysis: The story wrestles with the ethics of science when divorced from compassion, using Rappaccini's garden as a symbol for knowledge pursued without moral boundaries. Hawthorne also examines how love and trust can be manipulated, and how appearances often mask deeper, more dangerous realities. The tension between head and heart runs through every relationship in the narrative.
- Historical Context: Published in December 1844 in The United States Magazine and Democratic Review, the story appeared during a period of rapid scientific advancement that both excited and unsettled the American public. Hawthorne, deeply influenced by Puritan moral frameworks and European Romantic literature, used the Italian setting to explore anxieties about playing God. It was later collected in Mosses from an Old Manse (1846), solidifying Hawthorne's reputation as a master of dark allegory.