Rappaccinis Daughter - Ambiguous Essay -- Rappaccinis Daughter Essay

Rappaccinis fille- Ambiguous Hawthornes Rappaccinis daughter is a gothic romance and a thwarted, al close to-allegory with a plethora of dubious meanings. As Hawthorne identifies in the previous quote, this story is a blatant analog towards the story of archetype Sin. The issue, then, lies in the representation. Who is playing Adam and Eve? Who is daemon and who is God? At first glance it is easy to assume that the cardinal love birds, Giovanni and Beatrice, ar Adam and Eve while Beatrices filthy cloaked yield is Satan, and God is either an omniscient over interpretr, represented in nature, or off from the story all together. However, Hawthorne begins the endless possibilities of role assignments by suggesting that Beatrices father, the blasted scientist, Rapaccinni, could be Adam. It was strangely frightful to the young mans imagination, to see this air of insecurity in a person cultivating a garden, that most simple and innocent of human toils, and which had been alik e the joy and labor of the unfallen parents of the race. Was this garden, then, the paradise of the present world?---and this man, with such a perception of harm in what his own hands caused to grow, was he the Adam? (1232) Hawthornes Rappaccinis Daughter is a Gothic romance and a thwarted, almost-allegory with a plethora of ambiguous meanings. As Hawthorne identifies in the previous quote, this story is a blatant parallel towards the story of Original Sin. The issue, then, lies in the representation. Who is playing Adam and Eve? Who is Satan and who is God? At first glance it is easy to assume that the two love birds, Giovanni and Beatrice, are Adam and Eve while Beatrices black cloaked father is Satan, and God is either an omniscient ov... ...y evil font as Iago and to simultaneously be compared to a type of Christ. Rappaccinis Daughter contrasts nature to science. Rappaccini and Baglioni are scientists, Giovanni is studying it and Beatrice is a victim of it. Nature, in its r omantic form, does not exist in this tale. Rappaccinis garden is close as natural as walking into the plastic flower part of a craft store and commenting on the bold colors and noted blooms. It might look magnificent from the window of Giovannis abode, but it was crafted by man, not nature. Rappaccini takes nature a step further by make something as natural and pure as life, twisted and synthetic. Nature has go bad perverse and contorted by science. Works CitedHawthorne, Nathaniel. Rappaccinis Daughter, included in heath Anthology of American Literature Houghton Mifflin Co., New York, 1998.