Rappaccini’s Daughter

"Rappaccini’s Daughter" by Nathaniel Hawthorne is definitely not one of my favorite stories. The language for example was very confusing and hard to understand. This story is an allegory and I feel like the he was trying too hard to imitate not only the story of the beginning in Genesis but also the language. I don’t feel like it was the best method,. Although the method made me concentrate the extremely confusing nature of the text caused me to loose my train of thought and concentration and I found myself not even comprehending most of the story. I think that this was an overall good story but it was a challenging reading it. I know that it is only going to get harder, so I stuck with and came out with some general understanding. Even though I wasn’t very verbal in class the discussion cleared a lot of my confusion, so it did indeed help.

I had to question much of what I read. In the beginning when Giovanni was looking out of the window it is mentioned that he was at such a distance that everything was minute. But his detailed descriptions suggested otherwise. He described everything to a tee, as much as seeing a very small insect. From the distance he was at this would have been nearly impossible. I think he has an extravagant imagination or very good sight because much of what he described were characteristics of the other characters. I think it was also very interesting how he was referred to as both Giovanni and Gausconti. Why would both names be used? What was Hawthorne trying to suggest? Did Giovanni/Gausconti have two personalities? I’m still confused on this part. Giovanni, to me, comes across as a stalker. And poor naïve Beatrice is unaware that she is a part of her father’s experiment.

The relationship between Giovanni and Baglioni is very uneasy. Giovanno listens to Baglioni for information. Baglioni, on the other hand, uses Giovanni and is jealous of Rappaccini. Hawthorne uses the theme of allegory to an advantage and also twists the story. It is the story of the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve. But the characters are switched. Adam being the female, Beatrice and Eve being the male, Giovanni. For Giovanni is given the poison 1st offers it to Beatrice. The roles are switched in the original Garden of Eden story. This twist caused the reader to think. While using the idea he did not every use every component and mimic it in the story exactly.

The ending was very unpredictable. They did not die in each other’s arm, all romantically. The twist again makes me wonder why this story wasn’t ended about a page in a half early when Giovanni speaks of the kiss of hatred. It would have been almost the perfect ending and would have allowed the mind room to just wander. It would have been the tragic but romantic death of Romeo and Juliet.