Rappaccini's Daughter Parallel

Until now, the Garden of Eden story has been approached with the ideas of the garden and the role of God in mind, but the parallel between the “Rappaccini’s Daughter” and the Garden of Eden biblical story also extends to the characters of Giovanni and Beatrice. However, by extending the parallel to these two main characters, one notices how the interpretation takes a different turn. Within the realm of the original story. God created Adam as the first man and then Eve as the first woman. Inside the New International Version of the Bible, it states “…the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and then closed up the place with flesh. Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man” (“Bible Gateway” Genesis 21-22).

Due to the parallel that has been established between the Bible story and “Rappaccini’s Daughter,” one would expect and assume that Beatrice would inhabit the typical role of Eve while Giovanni takes on the traditional role of Adam. However, as one reads Hawthorne’s tale, one realizes that this is not the case. Within the short story, it is interesting to note that that Beatrice gained her immunity poison and her ability to cause from her scientist father who the story established as being a God-like figure. However, this concept becomes even more interesting when one considers that later, Giovanni gains this same ability from his exposure to Beatrice within the garden and, by extension, Dr. Rappaccini. With these two notions in mind, readers can assert that not only it was Beatrice that was created before Giovanni, Giovanni’s poison abilities were created from a part of Beatrice herself. Thus, readers can state that in this version of the Garden of Eden tale, that Eve comes before