Rappuccini: The Destruction Of A Marble Fountain

Paper #2 "For there was the ruin of a marble fountain in the centre, sculptured with rare art, but so wofully shattered that it was impossible to trace the original design from the chaos of remaining fragments. The water, however, continued to gush and sparkle into the sunbeams as cheerfully as ever." Dr. Rappuccini has constructed this lustrous garden full of rare and magnificent plants, even some that he created himself. Beatrice, his daughter, is the main keeper of the plants, as she is the only one who can touch some of them. She has been poisoned by her father, and therefore the poisonous plants in the garden do not affect her. Giovanni Guascanti is a student who has recently move to Padua to attend the university. He develops a curiosity

Having any object as a focal point will direct attention to itself, as being front and center is accompanied with importance. Therefore, the reader, knowingly or unknowingly, puts importance into this fountain because of its position in the garden. The fountain itself represents the life of Beatrice in which is broken. She is the subject to her father's each and every experiment and as a result cannot interact normally, having to be careful about being in contact with other humans, or any living creature of that matter. When she touched Giovanni, "a purple print, like that of four small fingers," appeared on his wrist, showing the corruption and brokenness that she endures." Beatrice goes on to ask her father later in the story, "wherefore didst thou inflict this miserable doom upon thy child," again showing that she feels broken and miserable just as the fountain portrays her to

Standing without, you can see no glory, nor can imagine any, but standing within, every ray of light reveals a harmony of unspeakable splendors.” Knowing that Hawthorne possesses these ideals is helpful in concluding a purpose for the fountain and the water in this story. Hawthorne wants the readers to understand that the result of corruption does not have to be death and in Beatrice's case, it is not. While there is no human or being that is perfect, "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God," there can still be life within as Ephesians says, "put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt…and to put on your new self in likeness of God in righteousness and holiness." Hawthorne wants the reader to see that the broken fountain is the representation of Beatrice's old life. It was once perfect and beautiful, but once corruption entered her life, just as sin enters into the life of every human, the fountain was cracked and broken. However, the spirit of Christ inside of our same broken bodies continues to flow and renew even in the midst of corruption just as the water continues to flow in the fountain. It is the idea of dying to oneself as it says in Galatians 2:20, "it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me," and that walking in the Christian faith reveals a harmony of unspeakable splendors, that provides Beatrice with