Rappaccini’s Daughter Analysis

Introduction

In the main part of the following paper with the topic “Two Mad Scientists: A Comparison of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Short Stories “The Birthmark” and Rappaccini’s Daughter” I will offer a comparison of selected aspects since the space is limited.

First of all, I will concentrate on the comparison between Aylmer, the scientist which is presented in Hawthorne’s short story “The Birthmark”, and Giacomo Rappaccini, the scientist appearing in “Rappaccini’s Daughter”. Furthermore, I will give a comparison of both of the female characters, which are the victims of the scientists. On the one hand, there is Georgiana, Aylmer’s wife, and on the other hand there is Beatrice Rappacini, the daughter of Giacomo Rappaccini.

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After I named similarities, as well as differences between the two scientists and also between their wife and daughter, I will concentrate on the symbols “nature” and “science” and how they are represented as contrasts within the two short stories. A Symbol in discussing literature is defined as “a word or phrase that signifies an object or event which in its turn signifies something, or suggests a range of reference, beyond itself. ” Thus symbols can give the reader a deeper impression of the meaning of the short story and that is way I chose to focus on two of the main symbols within Hawthorne’s short stories.

At the end of the following paper I will give a conclusion, which summarizes the most important facts and also evaluates the aspects of the main part.

A Comparison of Hawthorne’s Short Stories “The Birthmark” and “Rappaccini’s Daughter”

The Role of the Scientist

The two scientists Aylmer and Rappaccini, which both are main characters in Hawthorne’s short stories “The Birthmark” and “Rappaccini’s Daughter”, have several qualities in common. Both of them are presented as god-like scientists and very successful.

Aylmer is described as “an eminent proficient in every branch of natural philosophy” and also Rappaccini is said to be a “famous doctor” and absolutely skilled in his profession. Either one of them is striving after perfection concerning their wife’s and daughter’s beauty. Aylmer married a beautiful woman who has a hand-shaped birthmark on her left cheek, which bothers him so much that Aylmer wants to remove his wife’s birthmark. In his eyes the birthmark is “the visible mark of earthly imperfection” and also the only defect of his wife, who “came so nearly perfect from the hand of Nature”.

Therefore he wants to remove it with the help of scientific methods to make his wife, who actually likes the birthmark, perfect. Also Dr. Rappaccini uses his scientific skills to make his daughter, in his eyes, an object of perfection. Hence they both have the plan to create a consummate human being with the help of science. In addition both of them make someone who is important to them their object of scientific impact on nature. Aylmer risks his wife’s life by removing her birthmark while Dr. Rappaccini doesn’t care if his daughter is happy with the way of life which he has chosen for her to live.

Both of the scientists, Aylmer as well as Dr. Rappaccini, have to learn at the end of the short stories that their beloved wife and daughter paid their husband’s and father’s scientific obsession with their lives. However, despite the many similarities between Aylmer and Dr. Rappaccini, there are also a few crucial differences. While Aylmer wants to make his wife a perfect human being by removing her “symbol of imperfection”, Dr. Rappaccini uses at first his only his daughter as a subject for his scientific experiment and later on he even uses a stranger for his trial, without concerning whether it could harm him or not.

Another difference between the two scientists is the way they want to change or impact something. Aylmer wants to remove something which is already existent, his wife’s birthmark. In contrast, Dr. Rappaccini modified his daughter with the help of scientific methods from the moment she was born when he connected her life to the poisonous shrub in his garden.

The Role of the Wife and Daughter

Just like the two scientists, the two female characters have several similarities to offer. Both, Georgiana and Beatrice are beautiful women which became victims of the scientific obsession of their husband and father.

Georgiana is described as a beautiful woman and also Beatrice is characterized as “a young girl, arrayed with as much richness of taste as the most splendid of the flowers, beautiful as the day. ” After their description of beauty and pureness their ‘mistake’ is revealed. Georgiana carries a hand-shaped birthmark on her cheek, which was loved and cherished by her former lovers, envied by other women but hated by her own husband. Also Beatrice’s dark character treats are revealed when the young Giovanni Guasconti observed her poisonous breath and her relationship to the mysterious shrub.

Thus Beatrice can be compared to the flowers in Dr. Rappaccini’s garden; she is beautiful but poisoned. At the end of the short stories both of the young females die and their former beauty and perfection are destroyed. While Georgiana dies after her husband tried to remove her birthmark, Beatrice dies after she drank an antidote, which was given to her by Giovanni Guasconti, to free herself from her father’s scientific experiments. Beside the many similarities there are also a few differences between Georgiana and Beatrice which are revealed throughout the story line.

Aylmer’s wife Georgiana is changed by the scientific actions of her husband in the course of the short story. In comparison to Georgiana, Beatrice’s scientific change is performed from the moment she was born by the sprouting of the shrub in her father’s garden, which symbolizes the “offspring of his science, of his intellect”. According to this, Georgiana’s appearance is natural until the moment when Aylmer tries to remove the birthmark, but Beatrice is changed by science since she was born.

Nature vs. Science

In both of Hawthorne’s short stories the symbols of nature as well as science play a decisive role. In “The Birthmark” science is symbolized by the scientist Aylmer, who is able to produce all kinds of scientific perfumes and liquids is not able to control his wife’s nature. Nature is symbolized by Georgiana’s natural beauty and of course by her birthmark which also symbolizes the mightiness of nature. In the end science fails to control nature with the result of Georgiana’s death and Aylmer’s unhappiness after he has lost his beloved wife.

In “Rappaccini’s Daughter” Dr. Rappaccini’s garden symbolizes nature on the one hand and science on the other hand at the same time. All the numerous and beautiful flowers are linked to nature at the first glance but, when their poisonousness is revealed, the connection to science is made instantly. Rappaccini uses his garden and also his daughter to embody his scientific powers and to achieve his personal goals. Just as in “The Birthmark” science is not able to control nature. In the end Dr. Rappaccini’s poisoned daughter dies after she tried to fight science by drinking an antidote.

Conclusion

As it emerges of my paper about the comparison of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short stories “The Birthmark” and “Rappaccini’s Daughter”, there are numerous aspects between Aylmer and Dr. Rappaccini, as well as between Georgiana and Beatrice, which can be seen as very similar and also aspects which are completely different from one another. Another very important aspect which I analyzed throughout the composition of my paper, are the two symbols nature and science.

Even today there are lots of discussions about the change of nature by science. A current example for this is pre-implantation diagnostics, a procedure in which embryos are produced by in-vitro fertilization to make sure they don’t suffer from a genetic disease before the embryos are implanted in the uterus. This topic leads to controversial discussions because the embryos which aren’t used after the examination are thrown out. In addition pre-implantation diagnostics is a current example of science trying to control nature.

Even if the result sometimes is not perfect, nature should be allowed to run its course.

Works Cited

1. Abrams, M. H. A Glossary of Literary Terms. Boston: Thomson, 2005.
2. Hawthorne, Nathaniel. Mosses from an Old Manse. Cambridge: Riverside Press, 1900. 48-78.
3. Hawthorne, Nathaniel. Mosses from an Old Manse. Cambridge: Riverside Press, 1900. 125-178

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