Nathaniel Hawthorne --

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Nathaniel Hawthorne --

• Rappaccinis Daughter

Leslie LinEva HsuYulix ChenMelanie Chen
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Nathaniel Hawthorne

• Birth Date July 14th, 1804
• Birth Place Salem, Massachusetts
• Family Background A descendant of Puritan
  immigrants one ancestor a judge in the Salem
  witchcraft trials.

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Nathaniel Hawthorne

• The classmates of Nathaniel Hawthorne at Baldwin
  College later on became important literary and
  political figures of the time, including
• Writer Horatio Bridge,
• Future Senator Jonathan Ciley and Henry Wadsworth
  Longfellow
• Future President Franklin Pierce.

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The Most Important Work of Hawthorne

• The Scarlet Letter represents the height of
  Hawthorne's literary genius dense with terse
  descriptions. It remains relevant for its
  philosophical and psychological depth, and
  continues to be read as a classic tale on a
  universal theme.

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Summary of Rappaccinis Daughter

• Giovanni, the main character of the story, had
  noticed the odd deportment of Dr. Rappaccini and
  his beautiful daughter, Beatrice.
• He then discovered Beatrices secret,
  particularly her sweet fragrant breath, and
  visited her often after he had gained access to
  the garden.
• After some time, Giovanni had turned poisonous
  himself.
• He got some antidote from Prof. Baglioni to
  Beatrice, in order to save her, but that soon
  soon became the cause of her death.

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Theme

• Faith
• Breaking of chain of humanity
• Presence of morality
• Solitude and isolation

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The Death of Beatrice by D.G. Rosetti
Rappaccinis Daughter
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Symbolism

• Water in the fountain? spirit
• Purple shrub (Garden)? Beatrice's potential
  spiritual perfection paradoxical state
• Reference to the Bible, particularly the Genesis
• Different colors (purple, sunlight, black)

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Reference to the Bible

• Dr. Rappaccini garden Garden of Eden
• Mansion the domain of evil
• Giovanni Adam
• Beatrice Eve
• Rappaccini God or trying to be
• Baglioni Devil (snake)

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Characters

• Rappaccini evil and dominant, yet loving and
  protective
• Beatrice combination of good and evil, purity
  and corruption
• Giovanni the most ambivalent, sometimes
  obsessively love, sometimes selfishly hate
• Baglioni ambitious in triumphing his counterpart

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Works Cited

• Survey of Criticism of Rappaccini's
  Daughter,1995. http//www.vcu.edu/engweb/eng372/r
  appcrit.htm.
• Rappaccini's Daughter Fall From Grace, 2003.
  http//www.freeessays.cc/db/37/pms80.shtml.
• Rappaccinis Daughter and Its Relationship to
  the Bible, http//www.belmont.edu/Humanities/lite
  rature/rappaccini.htm.