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
Upon the exit of the lovely Beatrice at this point in the plot of “Rappaccini’s Daughter” by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Giovanni becomes obsessed with what he witnessed out in the garden and cannot take his mind off of the woman who was so much like the rare cultivated flowers below. This summary of “Rappaccini’s Daughter” does not go into detail about his various mental ramblings but needless to say, Giovanni is wandering the streets, quite oblivious to almost anything around him. Out of what seems like a need to adhere at least somewhat to his responsibilities, he stops to visit the professor to whom he brought a personal letter of introduction and who would be managing his studies, the Professor Signor Pietro Baglioni. Baglioni is a professor of good reputation and character but when Giovanni brings up the name of Doctor Rappaccini’s Baglioni sours and remarks in one of the important quotes from “Rappaccini’s Daughter” by Nathaniel Hawthorne that, “the treat is, our worshipful doctor Rappaccini has as much science as any member of the faculty– with perhaps one single exception—in Padua, or all of Italy. But there are certain grave objections to his professional character” (1318).
Baglioni goes on to tell young Giovanni that Doctor Rappaccini, “cares infinitely more for science than for mankind. His patients are interesting to him only as subjects for some new experiment. He would sacrifice human life, his own among the rest, or whatever else was dearest to him, for the sake of adding as much as a grain of mustard seed to the great heap of his the accumulated knowledge” (1318). To take a quick aside here before the analysis later it should be stated that this is a quote that almost exactly parallels the description of another man of science in the works of Nathaniel Hawthorne, this time in the short story “The Birthmark” where similar themes, as well as characters, also persist. But back to the plot of “Rappaccini’s Daughter” it is also important to note, that Baglioni tells Giovanni that the doctor is obsessed with poisons derived from plants in their laps when Giovanni tells him that he has glimpsed the doctor’s daughter Beatrice who is something of a legend among the citizens, especially the male citizens, of town.
With all of this running through his mind as well as the influence of the strong wind given to him by his professor friend, Giovanni goes back to strange mansion and again looks down upon the guard. Before too long he sees Beatrice and notices again how beautiful and ethereal she is. “Nor did he fail again to observe, or imagine, an analogy between the beautiful girl and the gorgeous shrub that hung its gem-like flowers over the fountain; a resemblance which Beatrice seem to have indulged a fantastic humor in heightening, both by the arrangement of her dress and the selection of its hues” (1319). Suddenly, the beautiful Beatrice flew open her arms, and began speaking to the purple blossomed plant, calling it “sister” before plucking one of the purple flowers. Suddenly, upon plucking this, Giovanni notices “a small orange-colored reptile of the lizard or chameleon species…and…a drop or two of moisture from the broken stem of the flower descended upon the lizard’s head. For an instant, the reptile contorted itself violently, and then lay motionless in the sunshine” (1320). Obviously, this is a very disturbing sight to Giovanni who wonders, “What is this being?—beautiful, shall I call her—or inexpressibly terrible?” (1320). His horror is confirmed when he sees an insect fly up to his window, back down to Beatrice, only to probably die upon coming into contact with her. This saddens the woman below and suddenly she catches Giovanni’s eye. Unsure what to do, Giovanni simply throws down a bouquet in his hand and tells her to wear at the flowers it contains. She accepts, takes the flowers, and they begin to die upon her touch.
After this incident, Giovanni avoids the window at all costs. While he is still unable to get the lovely Beatrice off his mind, he is nonetheless repulsed by what he is seeing. He takes many walks and even forgets about his academic studies for some time until he runs into the professor again, a man he was always in good spirits and was a good friend of Giovanni’s father. Giovanni tries to get away from him and suddenly he notices a man dressed all in black walking down the street and the two men note that is the doctor himself. The doctor looks meaningfully at Giovanni before moving on and Baglioni notes that this is important and that he has been seen by him. Baglioni he tells him that the doctor must have a scientific interest in him and to beware. Giovanni quickly exits and the professor, out of concern for the son of an old friend and students as himself, “it is too insufferable an pertinence in Rappaccini, thus to snatch the blood out of my own hands, as I may say, and make use of him for his infernal experiments. This daughter of his! It shall be looked into. Perchance, those learned Rappaccini, I may foil you where you little dream of it!”
Upon returning to his mansion he encounters his housekeeper Lisabetta whose smirking and tells Giovanni of a secret entrance into the garden. Giovanni offers her some goals for this information and answers. In the back of his mind remembers what Baglioni he told him about the garden, but, according to the narrator of this short story by author Nathaniel Hawthorne, “it mattered not whether she were Angel or demon; he was irrevocably within her sphere and must obey the law that whirled him onward, in ever lessening circles, towards a result which he did not attempt to foreshadow” (1323). Upon entering the garden, he is nonetheless calm, and proceeds to examine the mysterious plants around him. Many of them are strange contorted growths, and, according to the narrator, “several, also, would have shocked a delicate instinct by an appearance of artificialness, indicating that there had been such commixture, and, as it were, adultery of various vegetable species, and the production was no longer of Scott’s making, but the monstrous offspring of man’s depraved fancy, glowing with only an evil mockery of beauty.” (1323). These reflections about the strange and horrible nature of the plants and garden give way to the entrance of Beatrice as she meets Giovanni face-to-face for the first time.
