Analysis and Plot Summary of "Rappaccini's Daughter" by Nathaniel Hawthorne (Pages 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 )

Other essays and articles in the Literature Archives related to this topic include : Nathaniel Hawthorne : An Overview of the Author and Thematic Analysis of Works •  Full Summary and Analysis of "The Minister's Black Veil" by Nathaniel Hawthorne  •   Analysis and Plot Summary of "Young Goodman Brown" by Nathaniel Hawthorne    •      Full Plot Summary and Analysis of "The Birthmark" by Nathaniel Hawthorne   •   Allegory in The House of the Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne  •    The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne : The Effects of Sin on the Mind, Body, and Soul  •   Puritan Influences on Modern American Culture and Thought

The setting of “Rappaccini’s Daughter” by Nathaniel Hawthorne is one of the most important elements of the story, in part because it sets the tone of “Rappaccini’s Daughter” and invokes particular feelings for the reader. The two most important aspects of the setting of “Rappaccini’s Daughter” are the fact that house itself at the beginning of the story is shown to have historical roots in the arcane as it was supposedly the location where one of Dante’s characters from Inferno lived. The supernatural in “Rappaccini’s Daughter” by Nathaniel Hawthorne is thus established by this initial setting and even further emphasized when the garden in “Rappaccini’s Daughter” like that in Eden below the house is shown to have supernatural connections as well as it is not the product of uninhibited nature but rather of man’s tinkering.

Another theme in "Rappaccini's Daughter" that is persistent is the dangerous intersection between nature and man. More specifically, man as representative of science and the pursuit of knowledge. Instead of perfecting nature or making it better somehow, like the main character in another story by Nathaniel Hawthorne, "The Birthmark" named Aylmer, Rappaccini depicts mankind gone crazy and science as something that produces undesirable outcomes, especially when being practiced on the natural world. The science practiced by Rappacini in Hawthorne's "Rappaccini's Daughter" is a bastardization of the science that is respected by professors such as Baglioni, who sees the harm done by this poisonous kind of practice but cannot stop it without destroying, by proxy, its creations, for better or worse.

As a writer, especially in other works, Nathaniel Hawthorne has a unique way of presenting women as characters. Generally, with the exception of the strong female character of Hester in the novel by Hawthorne,  "The Scarlet Letter" which is far longer and more involved in terms of plot than is "Rappaccini's Daughter" the women in the works of Hawthorne are more foils for men than they are viable and complex characters. They are often, as is the case in short stories such as "Young Goodman Brown" for instance, wide-eyed innocent wives with dangerous sexuality or sin that lurks just below the surface although never in full view or they are simply downright evil. There is little room to maneuver these two persistent character types in the works of Nathaniel Hawthorne but it is worth noting that if one were to perform a character analysis of Beatrice in "Rappaccini's Daughter" it would become clear that she is both evil and the perfect representation of the ideal woman or feminine creature. Her evil, however, is not something that she's had a choice in but rather she is the victim of man's desire to manipulate nature. In many ways then she fits the bill of another common archetype among the women of Nathaniel Hawthorne, the ultimate victim.

If you are looking for a succinct thesis statement on "Rappaccini's Daughter" that does not delve too far into issues of gender or even, for that matter, speculation on the intention or habits of the author, a safe opportunity for analysis on "Rappaccini's Daughter" would be to examine the way symbols are used in the story. Like other works by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the presence of religious and biblical symbolism is almost too overt to ignore. A good starting point in terms of this analysis of "Rappaccini's Daughter" is to consider biblical places such as the garden of Eden, for instance. For more on this, return to the summary of "Rappaccini's Daughter" as there are several references listed throughout it that allude to some of these elements of the story.

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