Nathaniel Hawthorne -- Rappaccini’s Daughter Leslie Lin Eva Hsu Yulix Chen Melanie Chen

Nathaniel Hawthorne Birth Date: July 14th, 1804 Birth Place: Salem, Massachusetts Family Background: A descendant of Puritan immigrants; one ancestor a judge in the Salem witchcraft trials.

The classmates of Nathaniel Hawthorne at Baldwin College later on became important literary and political figures of the time, including: Writer Horatio Bridge, Future Senator Jonathan Ciley and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Future President Franklin Pierce. Nathaniel Hawthorne

The Most Important Work of Hawthorne The Scarlet Letter represents the height of Hawthorne's literary genius; dense with terse descriptions. It remains relevant for its philosophical and psychological depth, and continues to be read as a classic tale on a universal theme.

Summary of Rappaccini’s Daughter Giovanni, the main character of the story, had noticed the odd deportment of Dr. Rappaccini and his beautiful daughter, Beatrice. He then discovered Beatrice’s “secret,” particularly her sweet fragrant breath, and visited her often after he had gained access to the garden. After some time, Giovanni had turned poisonous himself. He got some antidote from Prof. Baglioni to Beatrice, in order to save her, but that soon soon became the cause of her death.

Theme Faith Breaking of chain of humanity Presence of morality Solitude and isolation

The Death of Beatrice by D.G. Rosetti Rappaccini’s Daughter

Symbolism Water in the fountain  spirit Purple shrub (Garden)  Beatrice's potential spiritual perfection & paradoxical state Reference to the Bible, particularly the Genesis Different colors (purple, sunlight, black)

Reference to the Bible Dr. Rappaccini garden = Garden of Eden Mansion = the domain of evil Giovanni = Adam Beatrice = Eve Rappaccini = God or trying to be Baglioni = Devil (snake)

Characters Rappaccini– evil and dominant, yet loving and protective Beatrice– combination of good and evil, purity and corruption Giovanni– the most ambivalent, sometimes obsessively love, sometimes selfishly hate Baglioni– ambitious in triumphing his counterpart

Works Cited “Survey of Criticism of Rappaccini's Daughter”, “Rappaccini's Daughter Fall From Grace”, “Rappaccini’s Daughter and Its Relationship to the Bible”,