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Rappichini’s Daughter by Nathanial Hawthorne contains many themes that revolve around science and religion. It is safe to say that these two subjects do not go hand in hand. However, Hawthorne skillfully uses science as a vehicle for creating something similar to a new religion, and a story that is very similar to the story of Creation. Hawthorne even projects his own voice in the story through the character Baglioni, who is aware of Rappichini’s plan, and exposes Rappichini’s abuse of science.
Hawthorne makes many allusions to religion in the story. He says that the production of plants was no longer of God’s making. Beatrice later says that her spirit is God’s creature, after calling for the Holy Virgin and prayer. Lastly, when Giovanni first sees the garden, he compares it to the Garden of Eden and he wonders if he himself is Adam. There are also references to other works of religious fiction, such as, Devine Comedy by Dante and Paradise Lost by Milton
Rappichini’s Daughter can be interpreted as a retelling of the Creation story. Since this is the case, Giovanni could be Adam, and the garden would be the Garden of Eden. Hawthorne flips the script though, and tells the story of Adam overcoming temptation. Hawthorne also plays with the story, making the devil the creator and God the one trying to thwart the devil’s plans. He also takes the apple out of the equation completely and makes Eve the temptation.
In the case of this story, Beatrice would be Eve. Beatrice along with every plant in the garden was the creation of Rappichini. He plays the role of creator and the devil, because everything in the garden, including Beatrice is poison, and can kill. This contrasts God’s Garden of Eden, because that garden is one that giv...
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...ni, and Rappichini accomplishes his goal.
Baglioni plays the part of the honest scientist, while Rappichini is the opposite. He isn’t afraid of making sacrifices for the progression of science. However, Rappichini is letting his curiosity get the best of him. He is no longer doing for progress science, but he is doing to say he can do it, and he can essentially play God.
Baglioni has his own motives as well though, and does not make them known to Giovanni. Rappichini and Baglioni are rivals, unlike God and the devil in the original Creation story. The devil may want to get revenge on God, but God would be willing to forgive the devil because God is benevolent. Baglioni, however, is not benevolent and he wants the upper hand on Rappichini.
The vial that Baglioni gives is supposed to cure Beatrice of the poison. At least this is what Baglioni tells Giovanni.
First it is necessary to examine how nature is identified with sin against the Puritan way of life. The first example of this is found in the first chapter regarding the rosebush at the prison door. This rosebush is located "on one side of the portal, and rooted almost at the threshold"(36) of the prison. The prison naturally is the place where people that have sinned against the puritan way of life remain. Then Hawthorne suggests that the roses of the rose-bush "might be imagined to offer their fragrance and fragile beauty to the prisoner as he went in, and to the condemned criminal as he came forth to his doom, in token that the deep heart of Nature could pity and be kind to him"(36). This clearly states that Nature is kind to prisoners and criminals that pass through the prison doors. Hawthorne strengthens this point by suggesting two possible reasons for the rosebush's genesis. The first is that "it had merely survived out of the stern old wilderness..."(36), while the second reason is that "there is fair authority for believing [the rose-bush] had sprung up under the footsteps of the sainted Ann Hutchinson..."(36). By Hawthorne's wording it appears as if he is emphasizing the second reason because he suggests there is "fai...
In “Rappaccini's Daughter,” Dr.Rappaccini is visibly the most insane character. He is described as, “But as for Rappaccini, it is said of him-and I know the man well, can answer for its truth that he cares infinitely more for science than mankind” (Hawthorne, “Rappaccini’s Daughter” 4). Dr. Rappaccini cares
Humanity is defined as the quality of being humane. This is something that people struggle with on a day to day basis. Hawthorne shows these struggles through his characters. Giovanni, the main character in “Rappaccini's Daughter”, shows this through being shallow in his love for Beatrice. Throughout their relationship, Giovanni faces the reality that there is something wrong with Beatrice. He begins to have suspicions that she is poisonous like the flowers in the garden, and this begins to taint the love he has for her: “At such times, he was startled at the horrible suspicions that rose, monster-like, out of the caverns of his heart, and stared him in the face; his love grew thin and faint as the morning-mist; his doubts alone had substance” (1346). Ultimately, Giovanni is left to grieve the death of Beatrice because he did not trust Beatrice, and allows doubt to overcome him. Other literary critics have found this to be truth as well, such as the literary critique on “Rappaccini's Daughter”. Katherine Snipes, the author of Masterplots II: Short Story Series, Revised Edition, writes, “Giovanni falls from grace not entirely through the machinations of a satanic scientist. ...He falls not because of Beatrice's evil nature, but because of his own shallow capac...
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?
In "Rappaccini’s Daughter", Rappaccini is the scientist and father of Beatrice. He is devoted to his scientific studies and to his daughter’s well-being. Rappaccini is the creator of plants with poisonous extracts thus only Beatrice can attend to. Her father had altered her touch and made it deadly to protect her from the evils in the world. She is forced by her father to live in his world without any human contact, instead she can only embrace her "sister" plant in Rappaccini’s garden. Beatrice’s sister plant is the only one that she can handle and embrace without it dying in her hands. As Hawthorne shows her closeness to her pl...
“The idea that philosophy and science can be combined to give us the best possible knowledge about the world and how to act within it is an old one, encapsulated by the classic concept of scientia, a Latin word that means knowledge” (Pigliucci 6). In the book Cat’s Cradle the main topic of debate is clearly science versus religion. In many ways, these two topics are very different, but in others, they are quite similar. Both science and religion have a common goal, to find truth in the world. The main character of Cat’s Cradle is a man named John. At the beginning of the book, John is a Christian who is doing research on Felix Hoenikker, the maker of the atomic bomb. His attempt to learn about the science behind the bomb leads him to a religion called Bokononism. In this book, Bokononism is not like other religions. It is more of a mindset that attempts to explain the world and why unexplainable things happen. John’s gradual transition from Christianity, a religion that focuses on getting into heaven, to Bokononism, a mindset that strives to explain the world and gain knowledge about it, is a perfect example of how religion or science by itself does not supply knowledge. Scientists and religions experts try to explain the world through different ways. Scientists try to explain life with true facts, and religious people believe that a supernatural force who assigns purpose to everyones lives. Even though they are different, both groups try to explain the world and give purpose to their lives.
Dr. Rappaccini is obsessed with science and what the manipulation of nature can do for people. He is overprotective of Beatrice and thinks that he can provide the solution to all of her problems. Knowing the evils of the world as a young man, Rappaccini decides to take control over Beatrice's life and make sure no one can ever hurt his beloved daughter. By filling Beatrice up with poison, Rappaccini succeeds in keeping Beatrice from any evil; but at what price? Beatrice is free from any evil touching her, but she is also isolated from any good that may come to her.
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).
In the beginning of the novel, Victor or man, is the antagonist and nature is the protagonist. Victor’s overwhelming hubris makes him strive to achieve his goal by any means necessary. Victor becomes so blinded by his passion for his goal that he fails to see the evil in what he is achieving. Nature, on the other hand, is the obvious protagonist, because Nature has not done anything. The role of antagonist and protagonist changes throughout the rest of the novel, but nevertheless, Victor is the antagonist because of the theme man cannot augment nature without destroying the very thing he is attempting to perfect.
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.
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. " Rappaccini's Daughter." Nathaniel Hawthorne's Tales. Ed. James McIntosh. New York: W. W. Norton and Company, 1987.
Milton starts the story of Adam and Eve by reiterating the biblical story and emphasizing that the first woman was created from the rib of the first man. The basic creation of the first woman instantly establishes the infamous ideology that women are inferior to men. Eve’s entire being and self was wholly dependent on Adam. “Return, fair Eve;Whom fliest thou? Whom thou fliest, of him thou art,/ His flesh, his bone, to give thee being I lent Out of my side to thee, nearest my heart,/Substantial life, to have thee by my side Henceforth an individual solace dear:/ Part of my soul I seek thee, and thee claim my other half.’” (IV 480-484). This quote describes the literal formation of Eve and shows how she is a subsidiary of Adam. In contrast to Adam who was created by God, Eve was created not only by Adam but for Adam. Due to this fact, Eve also feels indebted to Adam as she is only alive because of him. This adds to the already present hierarchy in the poem where Adam is clearly above Eve.
Milton, John. ‘Paradise Lost.’ 1674. Norton Anthology of English Literature. 7th ed. 2 vols. New York: Norton, 2000, 1: 1817-2044.
The Scarlet Letter is a blend of realism, symbolism, and allegory. Nathaniel Hawthorne uses historical settings for this fictional novel and even gives historical background information for the inspiration of the story of Hester Prynne in the introduction of The Scarlet Letter, ‘The Custom-House’. The psychological exploration of the characters and the author’s use of realistic dialogue only add to the realism of the novel. The most obvious symbol of the novel is the actual scarlet letter ‘A’ that Hester wears on her chest every day, but Hawthorne also uses Hester’s daughter Pearl and their surroundings as symbols as well. Allegory is present as well in The Scarlet Letter and is created through the character types of several characters in the novel.
The epic poem Paradise Lost by John Milton was written during a time of religious revolution in England. The subject matter of this epic poem, in the words of Milton, is "[o]f man's first disobedience" (line 1). In this blank verse, Milton refers to the story in Genesis where Eve tempts Adam to eat the "forbidden fruit." In the first five lines of the poem he describes the beginning of mortality, suffering, and man's restoration, as "the fruit [o]f that forbidden tree, whose mortal taste [b]rought death into the world, and all our woe, [w]ith loss of Eden, till one greater Man [r]estore us, and regain the blissful seat" (lines 1-5). "[D]eath" is human mortality, and "all our woe" is man's suffering (line 3). When he says "till one greater Man [r]estore us," Milton is referring to Christ, and how He came to regain man's seat in heaven. In the beginning, in the Garden of Eden, man, Adam, lived immortally in paradise with his wife, Eve. When they were corrupted by Satan, and ate from the "forbidden fruit," all was lost, introducing evil into the world. Milton's goal in writing Paradise Lost was to "justify God's ways to men" (line 26). He hoped to explain God's mysterious plan for humankind. Since John Milton purposely set out to write an epic, he used all of the elements which were expected such an undertaking.