Rappaccini's Daughter  

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"Rappaccini's Daughter" is a short story written by Nathaniel Hawthorne in 1844 concerning a medical researcher in medieval Padua. It was published in the collection Mosses from an Old Manse.

Contents

Plot summary

The story is set in Padua in a distant, but unspecified past. From his quarters, Giovanni, a young student of letters, observes Beatrice, the beautiful daughter of Dr. Rappaccini, a scientist working in isolation. Beatrice is confined to the lush and locked gardens in which experiments involving poisonous plants take place. Having fallen in love, Giovanni ignores the warning of his mentor, Professor Baglioni, that Rappaccini is up to no good and he and his work should be shunned. Eventually, Giovanni sneaks into the forbidden garden to meet his lover, and begins to suffer the consequences of the encounter with the plants - and with Beatrice, who dwells among them and has been rendered both immune to their effects and poisonous to others. In the end, Beatrice dies after being given an antidote by Giovanni.

Sources

According to Octavio Paz, the sources of Hawthorne's story lie in India. In the play Mudrarakshasa one of two political rivals employs the gift of a beautiful girl who is fed on poison. This theme of a woman transformed into a phial of venom is popular in Indian literature and appears in the Puranas. From India, the story passed to the West and features in the Gesta Romanorum and other texts. In the 17th century, Robert Burton picked up the tale in The Anatomy of Melancholy and gave it an historical character: Indian king Porus sends Alexander the Great a girl brimming with poison.

There is no direct evidence that Hawthorne was aware of any of these earlier stories; however, in the story itself Pietro Baglioni draws a parallel between Beatrice's fate and an old story of a poisonous Indian girl presented to Alexander, a tale that appears to be based on the Burton/Browne story.

Style

Hawthorne begins the story with reference to the writings of the fictional writer "Monsieur Aubépine", named after the French name of the Hawthorn plant. He both praises and criticizes the author's style and intent. This introduction aims to establish a tone of uncertainty and confusion, throw off expectations and establish the theme of the interrelationship of perception, reality and fantasy.

Major themes

  • The paradoxical/inverse that every time an experiment happens, it takes place in the Garden of Eden
  • The malevolence/benevolence of Rappaccini and Beatrice
  • The notion that fantasy and reality work together and against each other to create one's perceptions

Typical of Hawthorne's stories, Rappaccini's Daughter contains references to Dante's Divine Comedy and the Garden of Eden. The story juxtaposes the scientific aspects of research (Professor Rappaccini and Professor Baglioni) with spirituality (Giovanni and Beatrice). This story provides an interesting approach to the voyeurism presented by the scientists and how far two people can love each other despite physical barriers.

The end of the story leaves many readers baffled as Baglioni goes into an awkward euphoria after realizing that his experiment was a success. The purpose of the experiment is unknown to readers and should be left in question. The story ends with Professor Baglioni mocking Rappaccini: "Rappaccini! Rappaccini! and is this the upshot of your experiment?"

Adaptations

  • In 1949 the story was adapted on the syndicated radio program The Weird Circle.
  • Octavio Paz's play La Hija de Rappaccini, first performed in Mexico in 1956 and first performed in an English translation by Sebastian Doggart in 1996
  • Daniel Catan's libretto to the opera Rappaccini's Daughter, which premiered in 1991.
  • In 2008 the German gothic-metal band Aeternitas made a musical in german language by Hawthorne's short story, called "Rappacinis Tochter"

In 1891, the poet John Todhunter (1839-1916) privately published a verse-play titled The Poison-Flower, A Phantasy, in Three Scenes, which was suggested by "Rappaccini's Daughter." The play was re-published posthumously in 1927.

A version of the story was included in the 1963 film, Twice-Told Tales which starred Vincent Price as Rappaccini.

Another film version was made in 1980 by Dezsö Magyar starring Kathleen Beller as the title character.

In popular culture

Monica Rappaccini, a fictional villain and biochemical genius in the Marvel Comics Universe, is named after the Rappaccini of Hawthorne's story. Her daughter, Carmilla Black, is, like Beatrice, both immune to poisons and able to deliver poisonous infection to another individual.

DC Comics' Poison Ivy is partially inspired by Hawthorne's story.




Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "Rappaccini's Daughter" or another language Wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice.

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