Rappaccini's Daughter Analysis

Selfishness or Love? In the introduction to “Rappaccini’s Daughter,” Hawthorne disguises self-critique by using French and writing it in the third person. He describes himself as an average writer with a small audience who has to read his stories in just the right way to be slightly entertained (Hawthorne, “Rappaccini’s” 1043). These opening paragraphs seem almost completely unrelated to “Rappaccini’s Daughter,” except for the idea that Hawthorne uses the same method in the story that he uses in the introduction implying that if the audience reads his story in the way that he means for it to be read, then they will appreciate it more. Specifically, in “Rappaccini’s Daughter” he wants his audience to read this story by placing their attention

Baglioni says “Rappaccini! Rappaccini! And is this the upshot of your experiment!” (Hawthorne, “Rappaccini’s” 1065). This shows one of the main foci of the story is the effect this experiment had on Rappaccini’s daughter. Rappaccini’s explanation for Giovanni being poisonous, “My science and the sympathy between thee and him have so wrought within his system that he now stands apart from common men,” (Hawthorne, “Rappaccini’s” 1064) shows that science has made Rappaccini forget about morality and ethics even when it involves his own daughter. He admires how his science has created a partner for his daughter and forgets about how Giovanni might feel about becoming toxic. Rappaccini’s lack of sympathy is also apparent in the way that he speaks to Beatrice in the last moments of her life. It’s made obvious that he isn’t upset about the fact that his daughter is dying when he says, “What mean you, foolish girl?” (Hawthorne, “Rappaccini’s 1064) only moments before her death. He is more upset about the failure of his experiment, and doesn’t realize how much he has hurt Beatrice in the