Nathaniel Hawthorne’s work is unique. His writings are full of subtle imagination, analysis, and poetic wording. His short stories are known for their originality and for their ability to provoke the reader’s thoughts. Although a large portion of his stories are allegories, Hawthorne’s preference is to draw more heavily on symbolism (Pennell 13). His use of symbols adds depth to his stories and helps to reveal different aspects of his characters. In Rappaccini’s Daughter, Hawthorne uses symbolism to create a modern day tale of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. There are two settings for this story.
The first and main setting is an eye appealing garden next to Giovanni Guasconti’s room which is located in Padua, Italy. This garden is used in this story as a symbol for the Garden of Eden. The garden is described by Hawthorne in such a way that the reader can almost picture a garden that is alive with vibrant colors and an array of flowering plants and shrubs. There are a variety of types of plants and herbs growing in the garden. Some of the plants are vines, some are growing in decorative urns, and some have grown wild until they were wrapped around statues (2217).
The entire garden was “veiled and shrouded in a drapery of hanging foliage” (2217). The plants in the garden “seemed fierce, passionate, and even unnatural” to Giovanni (2225). Some of the plants in the garden “crept serpent-like along the ground” (2217). In the middle of the garden is a marble fountain. While it is in ruins, it is “sculptured with rare art” (2217). The fountain continues to flow and provide water for the plants of the garden. This fountain is comparable to the tree of life and the river that waters the Garden of Eden (Norford).
Giovanni associates this fountain as an “immortal spirit” (2217). The shrub with the purple flowers that is growing at the base of the fountain can be equated to the tree of knowledge of good and evil in the Garden of Eden (Norford 179). Within both gardens, the fall of man takes place. In Eden, it is the fall of Adam, while in this garden it is the fall of Giovanni. Further confirmation of this symbolism is shown within the story when Hawthorne asks “Was this garden, then, the Eden of the present world? ” (2218).
The second setting is the mansion next to the garden where Giovanni rented an apartment. It is described by Hawthorne as a “high and gloomy chamber of an old edifice which looked unworthy, desolate and ill-furnished” (2216). This mansion represents the darkness or evil. The main character, Beatrice, is a very complex being. She has a poisoned body but she has a pure heart buried deep within her (Pennell 61). She is an alluring and beautiful woman. She is similar to Eve, in that she is pure and innocent. However, there is still something very mysterious about her.
Beatrice was created for a man, her father, much like Eve was created for Adam (Norford 182). Beatrice lives entirely within the walls of the garden and is isolated from the outside world (Cooper). Eve lived within the Garden of Eden. Beatrice, who is longing for human contact (Pennell 61), lures Giovanni into the garden. While it may have been unintentional, Beatrice slowly poisons Giovanni with her breath and the scent that comes from the purple flower. She continued her relationship with Giovanni even though she knew the poison was fatal (Kloeckner 333).
Since Beatrice has lived her whole life in the garden, she may not be fully aware of the effect the plants will have on Giovanni (Norford 177). Perhaps she thinks that preventing him from touching her or the plant is protection enough (Norford 177). The purple flowering bush from which the poison comes, symbolizes the tree of knowledge. Eve persuades Adam to eat from the tree of knowledge thereby, in a sense, poisoning him by giving him the knowledge of what is good and what is evil (Norford 176). Eve tempts Adam to eat the apple and Beatrice tempts Giovanni to breathe her air.
Giovanni is a very proud man. His ego and lack of ability to see past Beatrice’s outer beauty are qualities that aid in his down fall. Adam had similar qualities that helped in his decline. Giovanni is drawn to Beatrice from the moment he sees her. He goes back and forth from being in awe of how perfect she is to being afraid of what he has seen her do (Cooper). Even though he’s seen the signs of who Beatrice truly is, he ignores them. Whenever Giovanni starts to feel uneasy about Beatrice, she seems to almost hypnotize him into forgetting.
When he discovers that he’s been poisoned, Giovanni blames Beatrice calling her “accursed one” (2232). When God confronted Adam about his indiscretion, he blamed Eve. Giovanni lashes out with anger at the woman he feels caused his downfall. Adam has no compassion for Eve and like Giovanni, lashes out at her with anger. Giovanni’s inability to have faith in Beatrice is just another example of the fall of man (Kloeckner 333). Baglioni plays an important role in this story. He is the symbol of Satan the Devil.
While Rappaccini physically poison’s Giovanni, Baglioni gets into Giovanni’s head and poison’s his thoughts (Pennell 61). Throughout the story he is constantly telling Giovanni that Rappaccini is the evil one. He tells him that Rappaccini “would sacrifice human life, his own among the rest, or whatever else was dearest to him, for the sake of adding so much as a grain of mustard-seed to the great heap of his accumulated knowledge” (2220). He tells Giovanni that Rappaccini is experimenting on him. When he can not turn Giovanni against Rappaccini, he instead tries to turn him against Beatrice.
When his attempts fail, Baglioni tries to lure Giovanni into helping him to deliver a cure to Beatrice. This cure ultimately kills Beatrice. So Baglioni has lured Giovanni into helping him to carry out Beatrice’s death. This is reminiscent of the biblical story when Satan is trying to lure Adam into committing sin. When Baglioni sees that Beatrice has died, he taunts Rappaccini by asking “is this the upshot of your experiment” (2234), much like Satan taunted God when the garden had been destroyed. Dr. Rappaccini symbolizes God. He has in essence, played God.
He created a beautiful garden and he also created Beatrice. He made her poisonous so that she would be protected from the evil of the world outside the garden. When Beatrice was lonely and longing for companionship, he poisoned Giovanni so that he could be her companion. God created Eve as a mate for Adam so that he would not have to be alone. Rappaccini feels he has given Beatrice and Giovanni a marvelous gift. He is proud of the fact that he has given Beatrice and Giovanni the power to keep the outside world away (Kloeckner 335). Similarly, God gave Adam and Eve the wonderful gift of everlasting ife.
Throughout the story, Hawthorne shows a pronounced respect for Rappaccini’s intelligence. In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve lost their innocence and their purity when they did not listen to God. When they ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil they disobeyed God. This was a direct result of pride. In Rappaccini’s Daughter, innocence and purity are taken from Beatrice by the conflict between Dr. Rappaccini and his adversary Professor Baglioni. Innocence is lost for Giovanni through his involvement in Beatrice’s death (Pennell 61).
