Rappachini's daughter - analytical appreciation

The reader may notice the great contrast between certain descriptions in the passage, here, that of the reptile, which ‘contorted itself violently’ and the flower, which though fatal, ‘blushed and glimmered with the effect of a dazzling stone’. The simile used here is interesting, and like the setting of garden, is perhaps used to draw a parallel between the flower and Beatrice herself. Though beautiful, she inspires terror in the male protagonist, who ‘shrank back, and murmured and trembled.’ Her reaction at the death of the creature is curious; she is unsurprised, and does not act as a typical gothic heroine would, thus increase the mystery which surrounds her. Beatrice is a paradoxical figure, and her reaction raises the question of weather she is beautiful or terrible. It is typically the later gothic which concerns itself with the nature of women, and it is gothic tales of this era which are usually more focused on the female as a passive victim. It is interesting that here, in the middle of the 19th century, Hawthorne places more emphasis on female promiscuity: Beatrice excites in Giovanni an ‘intense and painful curiosity’, which is reminiscent of Lucy and the Vampiresses in Bram Stoker’s later ‘Dracula’ (1897). These figures are beautiful, but are seen through their predatory nature and promiscuity as being essentially corrupt. Indeed here, as Beatrice watches on with ‘childish delight’ as an insect dies, the ambivalence of her nature is highlighted. This is also revealed through the later simile which describes her voice as being ‘like a gush of music’. She has some qualities of he heroine of the gothic romance, in that she is beautiful, but the idea of Beatrice’s fatal breath evokes terror in the reader and her dual nature may indeed be prompted by the ideas of Coleridge in ‘Christabel’, which displays another example of duality in women. Christabel is outwardly fair, but beneath her robes is a terrible deformity. The gothic is concerned with the darker sides of human nature; and duality is often symbolised by a contradictory female figure, such as a vampiress. The gothic writer explores the human’s uncontrolled passions and desires, and a female with outward beauty and inward corruption is an ideal symbol. As in many gothic texts, the central idea of the passage is death and decay, which is personified in Beatrice; who is both vampire and angel. The theme of death exerts a powerful fascination for Gothic readers and writers, and is explored in countless texts of this genre. In ‘The Castle of Ontranto’, Frederic comes face to face with the ‘hooded figure of death’, much like the Count Frankenstein, who dabbles his ‘unhallowed fingers’ amongst graves and charnel houses to create his monster. Although the idea of death is portrayed in a slightly less obvious way here, the writer’s predisposition with the subject is still clear. Death is the great unknown, and Gothic writers are fascinated by the mystery of what lies beyond the grave. Whilst the mystery of death promotes terror, the idea of decay and the imagery of death produce horror. This is certainly the case in this passage as the mystery of Beatrice’s power evokes terror, and the description of the lizard’s body ‘contorting itself violently’ produces horror.

As the passage continues, Beatrice breathes onto the insect, which, like reptile, dies immediately as she watches with ‘childish delight’. Again, Giovanni’s reasoning is notable as he considers the insect, which, ‘perhaps wandered through the city and found no flowers or verdure’. The language avoids the excessive in favour of a style which is much more matter of fact, thus creating verisimilitude. The reader may notice the portrait of Giovanni, and the influence of the gothic romance in his character. He possesses sensibility and nobility, and is beautiful; with ‘a Grecian head’, ‘glistening gold among his ringlets’ and ‘fair, rectangular features.’ The next part of the passage deals with the psychological effect on the young man, which is much more penetrating than that of the early gothic. There is something of a conflict within him, as he acknowledges the ‘wisest course’ to be quitting his lodgings at Padua. Giovanni also becomes ‘conscious of having put himself…within the influence of a certain unintelligible power.’ The language here is again, reminiscent of alchemy and the practicing of things beyond the human understanding. Dr. Rappaccini is without doubt, an alchemist, but the power which he instils within his daughter suggests evil at work, he is, in a way, the transgressor. The doctor is not the typical ‘Gothic Other’, who, in the early gothic, makes the innocent female a victim of his masculine oppression. Unlike in gothic tales of this era, such as Lewis’s ‘The Monk’, the oppression here in Hawthorne’s story is not sexual, but the power which Rappaccini exerts over his daughter is certainly reminiscent in some way to the ideas portrayed in the earlier gothic.

Overall, the passage is an interesting one: though it tends to stray from the typical Gothic excess and melodrama, the subtle hint of Beatrice’s power creates terror. The setting and language do not place it firmly within the Gothic of its era, but the idea of death is explored in a more understated way, which may be considered more effective. The writer draws his inspiration from the medieval, in a way that such writers do, however, Hawthorne’s exploration of these themes set his tale apart from others of the Gothic genre.