Obsession In Rappaccini's Daughter

721 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Theme of rappiccini daughter by nathaniel hawthorne

“You can spend minutes, hours, days, weeks or even months over-analyzing a situation; trying to put the pieces together, justifying what could've, would've happened… or you can just leave the pieces on the floor and move on” (Tupac).Rappaccini the connoisseur of science and plants from the short story “Rappaccini’s Daughter” by Nathaniel Hawthorne , and Suzanne a shy religious girl from the short story “WWJD”by Will Weaver, are two characters that are never able to just drop their pieces on the floor and move on because of their obsessions. Many short stories share some of their literary terms, just like the two short stories just mentioned. Both of these characters have an obsession which is also a theme in both short stories and they share many …show more content…

Rappaccini's obsession with science is shown when Baglioni says, “ I who know the man well, can answer for its truth- that he cares infinitely more for science than for mankind. His patients are interesting to him only as subjects for some new experiment,” (Hawthorne 4). The quote is basically saying he cares more about science than anything else in the world . This proves his obsession is mainly science because he experiments on his patients, which he is suppose to be treating not using them for his own insanity. Suzanne’s obsession with religion is shown she says “But I try to live by one rule: WWJD. What would Jesus do?”, (Weaver 145). Suzanne is very religious and by saying she will live by that saying she is now basing all of her decision making and choices all on that one rule, but most religious people understand you can never be exactly like Jesus because it's impossible. But not for Suzanne because she’s psycho. The difference of these characters obsessions is relevant because it shows how a person's life can change from the thing someone is obsessed

Show More
Related

  • A Clean, Well-Lighted Place and The Jilting Of Granny Weatherall

    445 Words  | 1 Pages

    Near the end of both stories, the authors show us the desperate emptiness of a life near finished without the fruit of its labor, and the aggravation of the old restless mind that cannot find peace. Throughout the stories stark images of desperation show the lives of the two main characters at a point when they have realized the futility of life.

    Read More

  • Comparing 'Miss. Brill And The Destructors'

    1190 Words  | 3 Pages

    Throughout quarter three, our class has read four short stories, each one portraying human behaviors. I am comparing and contrasting two characters from “Miss. Brill” by Katherine Mansfield and “The Destructors” by Graham Greene. Miss. Brill and Old Misery or Mr. Thomas have many similarities and differences including the internal forces that affect them and the external forces that make them who they are.

    Read More

  • Obsession in A Hunger, The Penal Colony, and Metamorphosis

    897 Words  | 2 Pages

    In “A Hunger”, “The Penal Colony”, and Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka, Kafka succeeded in showing his individuals as obsessed with their profession; however their obsession caused their doom because society asks so much from an individual, only so much can be done. However, regardless of that, these individuals choose their work over themselves, and not even bad health or death can stop them. Because society places immures pressure on Kafka’s work obsessed character, they neglect their well-being and cause their own downfall.

    Read More

  • Comparing The Tell-Tale Heart And The Yellow Wallpaper

    811 Words  | 2 Pages

    Many times people tend to allow their thoughts to have an overtake in which it clouds what is actually happening. Some can revoke their right state of mind and make their own make-believe world with these thoughts. Authors, Charlotte Perkins Gilman and Edgar Allan Poe both demonstrate this perception in their short stories, “The Tell-Tale Heart,” and “The Yellow Wallpaper.” In The Tell-Tale Heart, the narrator murders the old man he lives with because he is disturbed by the man’s eyes. Similarly, in The Yellow Wallpaper, the narrator is dealing with depression, and feels that she is being watched by the wallpaper and starts to study it and decoding the meaning.

    Read More

  • The Yellow Wallpaper and A Doll’s House

    916 Words  | 2 Pages

    The central characters in both “The Yellow Wallpaper” and A Doll’s House are fully aware of their niche in society. In “The Yellow Wallpaper”, the narrator’s husband believes her illness to be a slight depression, and although she states "personally, I disagree with their ideas,” she knows she must acquiesce their requests anyway (Gilman 1). She says, “What is one to do?” (Gilman 1) The narrator continues to follow her husband’s ideals, although she knows them to be incorrect. She feels trapped in her relationship with her husband, as she has no free will and must stay in the nursery all day. She projects these feelings of entrapment onto the yellow wallpaper. She sees a complex and frustrating pattern, and hidden in the pattern are herself and othe...

    Read More

  • Poe’s Life… At the Tip of a Pen

    2200 Words  | 5 Pages

    The vision of the mind is easily portrayed through the art of literature, painting a picture with the stroke of words. The natural inspiration that influences the creation of these works is derived from the life and the experiences of the creator. For some, these tales become stories and those stories become novels, but for one man it meant so much more. The works of Edgar Allan Poe became his life; he expressed every feeling and every moment of his existence through ink and paper. Poe involved his entire life in his writing, leaving no element of the story untouched by his trademark of a past. His work became so unique and unorthodox, yet it did not lack the attention it deserved. The American critic, Curtis Hidden Page, suggested that “the essence of his work is logic, logic entirely divorced from reality, and seeming to arise superior to reality” (Quinn 31). The foundation of Poe’s stories seems simple enough, but beneath the surface remains unanswered questions and undiscovered truths, which have yet to be uncovered. The people and experiences throughout Edgar Allan Poe’s lifetime have influenced various themes including: insanity, revenge, death, and guilt which can be distinguished through a collection of his works.

    Read More

  • Love By Philip Rossetti Essay

    1806 Words  | 4 Pages

    Love plays an important role in most physical and emotional relationships. Love is a word that can prove difficult to define or even compare to other emotions. This is due to the diversity of meaning and the complexity of the emotion itself. Everyone has been in love at least once before and has gotten a taste of all the good and bad things that come with it. Christina Rossetti’s “Song” presents some of the good parts of love while Philip Larkin’s “Talking in Bed” shows us some of the bad parts of love. Larkin’s poem presents a failing relationship where communication has failed between a couple and things are getting more and more difficult. Rossetti’s poem presents a wholly different view on love; it is told from the viewpoint of someone talking to his or her lover about what said lover should do after the speaker dies. The love between them seems better, more powerful and good. The two poems also present wholly different attitudes towards “The End,” whether that is the end of life or the end of the relationship. Larkin presents the end as something dark and sad, difficult to cope with. Rossetti, on the other hand, talks about the end as just another beginning, a chance to start over in a new world. Finally, the two poems represent remembrance in different ways. Larkin’s presents memory as something extremely important while Rossetti implies that it does not matter whether we remember or not.

    Read More

  • Victor Frankenstein’s Obsession in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein

    1453 Words  | 3 Pages

    The most prevalent theme in Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein” is that of obsession. Throughout the novel there are constant reminders of the struggles that Victor Frankenstein and his monster have endured. Many of their problems are brought upon by themselves by an obsessive drive for knowledge, secrecy, fear, and ultimately revenge.

    Read More

  • A Psychoanalytic Interpretation of Rapunzel

    1098 Words  | 3 Pages

    The familiar story of Rapunzel, as told by the brothers Jacob Ludwig Carl and Wilhelm Carl Grimm, takes on new meaning with a psychoanalytic interpretation. It is a complex tale about desire, achievement, and loss. The trio of husband, wife, and witch function as the ego, id, and superego respectively to govern behavior regarding a beautiful object of desire, especially when a prince discovers this object.

    Read More

  • Comparing The Fall Of The House Of Usher And The Yellow Wallpaper

    414 Words  | 1 Pages

    Some say that love is madness and others say you will go mad without it. When regarding “The Fall of the House of Usher” and “The Yellow Wallpaper,” there is an evident connection between the use of the psychoanalytic theory to portray their motifs and themes of madness or insanity. Throughout each story there is a variety of literary elements such as diction, symbolism, and imagery to bestow the characterization which conveys their similar connections. Both stories are superb examples of how these literary elements are utilized in order to demonstrate a gothic atmosphere as well as their themes. The psychoanalytic theory is the theory of personality organization and the dynamics of personality development that guides psychoanalysis, a clinical

    Read More

  • What Themes Do Wall. E And Trash Explore?

    620 Words  | 2 Pages

    During this term, we watched Wall.e and read the novel Trash. They both contained numerous themes, both visible and unseen. These themes help us understand the true meaning behind the story and how we can understand it better. Sometimes, the themes from Trash will relate to the ideas from Wall.e, and this will show the similarities between the two.

    Read More

  • Analysis of Lust, by Susan Minot

    661 Words  | 2 Pages

    "They turn casually to look at you, distracted, and get a mild distracted surprise, you're gone. Their blank look tells you that the girl they were fucking is not there anymore. You seem to have disappeared.(pg.263)" In Minot's story Lust you are play by play given the sequential events of a fifteen year old girls sex life. As portrayed by her thoughts after sex in this passage the girl is overly casual about the act of sex and years ahead of her time in her awareness of her actions. Minot's unique way of revealing to the reader the wild excursions done by this young promiscuous adolescent proves that she devalues the sacred act of sex. Furthermore, the manner in which the author illustrates to the reader these acts symbolizes the likeness of a list. Whether it's a list of things to do on the weekend or perhaps items of groceries which need to be picked up, her lust for each one of the boys in the story is about as well thought out and meaningful as each item which has carelessly and spontaneously been thrown on to a sheet of paper as is done in making a list. This symbolistic writing style is used to show how meaningless these relationships were but the deeper meaning of why she acted the way she did is revealed throughout the story. Minot cleverly displayed these catalysts in between the listings of her relationships.

    Read More

  • Mental Illnesses In Girl, Interrupted

    1082 Words  | 3 Pages

    Girl, Interrupted (Mangold, 1999) is a movie which walks us through the conditions of various mental illnesses, their impacts on their victims and those around them, and effective treatment methods. The movie takes a more cognitive-behavioral perspective to explain various aspects and types of mental illnesses. Lisa Rowe is one of the characters in Girl, Interrupted, who is diagnosed with a particular type of mental condition. Lisa was diagnosed with Antisocial Personality Disorder. According to DSM-IV, this condition is a pattern of the violation of the rights of other people and disregarding them. Individuals with this type of mental illness, otherwise known as sociopaths, do not conform to the social norms regarding practicing lawful behaviors (Derefinko & Widiger, 2016). They undertake activities which warrant their arrest, like harming other people or property.

    Read More

  • Defining Distractions: Hysteria, Hindrance or Entertainment?

    734 Words  | 2 Pages

    In It All Adds Up: From the Dim Past to the Uncertain Future, Saul Bellow seems to believe that these distractions are bordering on mania. His main argument to cure this illness is for writers to transcend distraction

    Read More

  • Frankenstein and The Great Gatsby

    1168 Words  | 3 Pages

    Chasing dreams and aiming high in life are the inspiration for many, if not most people in the world. Unfortunately, chasing these dreams too aggressively may have devastating consequences. There is countless number of examples of situations where pursuing dreams too vigorously lead to the downfall of people’s lives. The two novels “Frankenstein” by Mary Shelley and “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald depict great examples of characters that sacrifice and become insatiable to acquire their dreams but the consequences are dreadful. They are both set at very different time frames and societies. Frankenstein is set in the 1800s and is considered a science fiction while The Great Gatsby is set during the summer of 1922 and is thought upon as a socially criticizing novel. One being a gothic novel and the other being a modernist novel, they may seem very different. Frankenstein uses the themes of the danger of knowledge, lies and deceit, compassion and forgiveness/revenge. The Great Gatsby’s themes are based on the American dream of 1922, upper class shallowness, and romanticism. Although these novels don’t seem to relate at all, some of the main themes are similar in both novels. These themes include emotion, romanticism, tragedy, and ambivalence. Different time frames, genres, settings, and ideas, but the idea of people making ruthless decisions is clear on both novels.

    Read More

More about Obsession In Rappaccini's Daughter

Open Document