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Essay on Rappaccini's Daughter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Essay on Rappaccini's Daughter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Theme of rappiccini daughter by nathaniel hawthorne
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Solitude/Isolation in “Rappaccini’s Daughter” and Hawthorne’s Life
In the Nathaniel Hawthorne tale, “Rappaccini’s Daughter,” we see and feel the solitude/isolation of the scientific-minded surgeon, Dr. Rappaccini, likewise that of his daughter, Beatrice, and finally that of the main character, Giovanni. Is this solitude not a reflection of the very life of the author?
According to A.N. Kaul in his Introduction to Hawthorne – A Collection of Critical Essays, the themes of isolation and alienation were ones which Hawthorne was “deeply preoccupied with” in his writings (2). Hawthorne’s personal isolation from people from 1825 to 1837 was probably due to his lifelong shyness among people. This reluctance to freely socialize may have been a result of a foot injury: “an injury to his foot at the age of nine reduced his physical activity for almost two years” (Martin 16). Wagenknecht says in Nathaniel Hawthorne – The Man, His Tales and Romances that this accident “reduced him for over two years to a state of invalidism that probably contributed toward developing his taste for reading” (2). Or Nathaniel Hawthorne’s shyness was perhaps due to the death of his father when he was but four years old. Regarding the impact of this death upon Hawthorne, Edmund Fuller and B. Jo Kinnick in “Stories Derived from New England Living,” say:
When the news came of his father’s death, Hawthorne’s mother withdrew into her upstairs bedroom, coming out only rarely during the remaining forty years of her life. The boy and his two sisters lived in almost complete isolation from her and from each other (29).
The Norton Anthology: American Literature states that as a college student at Bowdoin College “shyness caused him to try to evade the obligatory public declamations” (547). It continues:
Hawthorne’s years between 1825 and 1837 have fascinated his biographers and critics. Hawthorne himself took pains to propagate the notion that he had lived as a hermit who left his upstairs room only for nighttime walks and hardly communicated even with his mother and sisters (547).
Henry James, a contemporary of Nathaniel Hawthorne, who knew him socially, had lots to say about Hawthorne’s isolation and shyness in his book Hawthorne:
. . . this region to be of a "weird and woodsy" character; and Hawthorne, later in life, spoke of it to a friend as the place where "I first got my cursed habits of solitude.
attempting to make Giovanni immune to the poison of the plant, so they could be
The Psychology Dictionary defines loneliness as “a sometimes long lasting feeling having no alternative to turn to in times of distress and depression. Generally classes as a period of heightened cognitive discomfort and uneasiness from being oneself“ (Psychology Dictionary1). Nathaniel Hawthorne’s works such as “Rappaccini's Daughter,”“Ethan Brand,” and “Young Goodman Brown” have characters, that embody the definition of loneliness. It is clear these short stories have lonely characters that have hit rock bottom. Not only are the characters in these stories lonely, but they are insane as well. In each of short stories, Hawthorne shows that the state of being lonely causes the characters to become insane.
Stallman, Laura. Survey of Criticism of 'Rappaccini's Daughter' by Nathaniel Hawthorne {with class response and discussion}. 29 Many 2000 <http://www.vcu.edu/engweb/eng372/rappcrit.htm>.
“Nathaniel Hawthorne – Biography.” The European Graduate School. The European Graduate School, n.d. Web. 17 Feb. 2014
Nathaniel Hawthorne was born in the year 1804 in the heart of Salem, Massachusetts, where to Salem witch trials were conducted. Hawthorne was born in an unforgiving time period, where life revolved around religion and family. Hawthorne’s father died of Yellow Fever in the year 1808. Nathaniel grew up fatherless, which had a lasting effect on who he later became to be. Education at the time was centered on reading and writing, with a heavy religious influence. “The education of the next generation was important to further "purify" the church and perfect social living” (Kizer). However, since his father passed away, there was no other man to instill the Puritan beliefs into young Nathaniel. Hawthorne later on was able to see the culture through a different lens than the people surrounding him, which made him slightly opposed to the Puritan way of life. He became intellectually rebellious; not thinking in the same way that his peers or family was.
In the story, Two Kinds by Amy Tan, the most predominant object would be the piano. The mother has it set in her head that her daughter, Jing-Mei can and will become a child prodigy. The mother hires a teacher that lives in their apartment building. Jing-Mei constantly feels like she is a disappointment to her mother. Her mother had very distinct goals for Jing-Mei and this is way she always felt that she was disappointing her.
one's who stand alone with no one to look to for love or support. "For
... her own person and wanting only to be accepted for who she is and not who she could be. Even though the argument was never discussed it still haunted Jing-mei. That is why Jing-mei was surprised when her mother offered her the piano for her thirtieth birthday, she took it as a sign of forgiveness.
How far reaching is the bond between father and daughter? To most, that bond serves to protect the child until she is able to protect herself, and then for her to be independent. For Dr. Giacomo Rappaccini and his daughter Beatrice, that bond was to be twisted and ultimately fatal for Beatrice. Beatrice, by her father's plan was never to be free and independent but rather isolated from the life of the world and dependent on the poison from her father.
Jing-Mei tries to live up to her mother’s expectations but feels that her mother expects more from her than she can deliver. She doesn’t understand why her mother is always trying to change her and won’t accept her for who she is. She feels pressure from her family when she is compared to her cousin Waverly and all her accomplishments. Soon the conflict grows to resentment as her mother tests her daily on academics, eventually causing Jing-Mei to give up while her mother struggles to get her attention and cooperation. Her mother avoids arguing with her daughter early in the story, continuing to encourage her to strive for fame. Her mother’s next assignment for her daughter is piano lessons. This goes along pretty well until her mother forces her to participate in a talent show. The daughter’s failure on her performance at the talent show causes embarrassment to her mother. Conflict is evident when two days later, after the talent show, she reminds her daughter that it’s time for piano practice and the daughter refuses to obey her mother. The conflict that the daughter feels boils over in an outburst of anger and resentment towards her mother for trying to make her something that she is not. Harsh words are spoken causing the mother to retreat and not speak of this event ever
Nathaniel Hawthorne's Rappaccini's Daughter is perhaps the most complex and difficult of all Hawthornes short stories, but also the greatest. Nathaniel Hawthorne as a poet, has been characterized as a man of low emotional pressure who adopted throughout his entire life the role of an observer. He was always able to record what he felt with remarkable words but he lacked force and energy. Hawthorne's personal problem was his sense of isolation. He thought of isolation as the root of all evil. Therefore, he made evil the theme of many of his stories. Hawthorne's sense of the true human included intellectual freedom, passion and tenderness (Kaul 26).
attempts to improve his writing and his day-to-day existence. Yet, in the 1940’s he turned his main interest from sociology and biology to individual ethics. Steinbeck was honored in 1962 with the Nobel Prize in Literature. He regarded East of Eden as the accumulation of his career. Steinbeck died of heart disease in New York on November 20, 1968.
III. Comparable aspects of Hawthorne's characterization in The Scarlet Letter and The House of the Seven Gables
Two boys stare at an unfamiliar girl sitting by herself and whisper, “She must be new,” to each other. They walk over to her, wanting to know about her, and ask her where she is from. The human tendency of wanting to know about the unknown is an idea writers such as Nathaniel Hawthorne use in their works. Hawthorne uses the style of Romanticism, which was most prominent during the early nineteenth century and includes specific traits such as devotion to nature, feelings of passion, and the lure of the exotic. It also emphasizes traits including the idea of solitary life rather than life in society, the reliance on the imagination, and the appreciation of spontaneity. “Rappaccini’s Daughter” by Hawthorne is about Doctor Rappaccini's garden and daughter Beatrice who live in Italy. A man named Giovanni living near the garden falls in love with Beatrice, but Beatrice is infused with poison and unintentionally kills living things that touch or go near her. “Rappaccini’s Daughter” by Nathaniel Hawthorne is a work of Romanticism because it includes Giovanni’s lure to the exotic, solitary life as a theme, and appreciation of nature in descriptions.
HIV and AIDS are viruses that are very common in today’s society and an issue that has been very popular since the 1980’s. Millions of lives could be saved if the proper steps are taken to educate the less fortunate so they can learn about how to prevent these viruses from being transmitted to one another. It is also important to educate the youth of our society so they know the risks and consequences that could occur if they are not safe while preforming acts that are not part of the norm. When the proper steps are taken to educate, and treat those with HIV and AIDS it can prevent millions of people from dying from these horrible diseases.