Exploring the Ruin of Man in Rappaccinis Daughter Essay -- Rappaccini

Exploring the Ruin of Man in Rappaccinis girlfriend Who will salve man from his evil tendencies and his fallen state? Nathaniel Hawthorne in Rappaccinis Daughter delves into the personality of man and reveals that the evil imaginations and machinations of man may eventually lead to his ruin. Rappaccinis Daughter is a story set in the mid-nineteenth century in Padua, Italy, a country well known for its romantic stories and history. This period in time was marked by various scientific discoveries, especially in medicine. This thunder led to extensive debates on science and religion. There was the argument of whether or not to let things happen naturally or to interfere with the processes of nature. It begins with a student, Giovanni Guasconti, who comes to the University of Padua to pursue his studies (Hawthorne 45) but falls in love with Beatrice, the daughter of a very famous botanist Dr. Rappaccini who cultivates a poisonous garden. Despite the incident that Giovanni Guasconti had but a scanty supply of gold ducats in his pocket, he took lodgings in a high and gloomy chamber... fit to have been the rook of a Paduan noble (Hawthorne 45). This been the first time he was out of his ingrained sphere,... Giovanni was unused to Padua and missed Naples and the cheerful sunshine of Southern Italy (Hawthorne 46). Giovanni portrays the generation in search of knowledge. Beneath his window was a garden consisting of a conversion of plants which seemed to have been cultivated with exceeding care (Hawthorne 46). Strategically located in the center of the garden was the ruin of a marble fountain...whose water move to gush and sparkle into the sunbeams as cheerful as ever (Hawthorne 46) precisely as Beatrices sp... ... The myth of the Garden Nathaniel Hawthornes Rappaccinis Daughter. Studies in the Literary Imagination II, 1969, (pp. 3-12) Evans, Oliver apologue and Incest in Rappaccinis Daughter 19th Century Fiction Vol. 19, 1964, (pp. 185-195) Genesis The Bi ble Hawthorne, Nathaniel The augury of Seven Gables (1851) http//eldred.ne.mediaone.net/nh/sg10.html September 1998, (December 1998) Hawthorne, Nathaniel The Marble Faun (1859-60) http//eldred.ne.mediaone.net/nh/mf19.html September 1998 (December 1998) Hawthorne, Nathaniel Rappaccinis Daughter American nearsighted Stories (1820 to the present). Jones, Madison Short Story Criticism Vol. 3 1989 (pp. 191-193) Kloeckner, Alfred The flower and the outset Hawthornes chief symbols in Rappaccinis Daughter American Literature Vol. 38, 1966-67 (pp323 -331)