Rappaccini's Daughter
| "Rappaccini's Daughter" | |
|---|---|
| Author | Nathaniel Hawthorne |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Short story |
| Published in | Mosses from an Old Manse |
| Publication type | Anthology |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Publication date | 1844 |
"Rappaccini's Daughter" is a short story written by Nathaniel Hawthorne in 1844 concerning a medical researcher in medieval Padua. It was published in the collection Mosses from an Old Manse.
Contents |
[edit] Plot summary
The story is set in Padua, Italy, in a distant but unspecified past. From his quarters, Giovanni, a young student of letters, looks at Beatrice, the beautiful daughter of Dr. Rappaccini, a scientist working in isolation. Beatrice is confined to the lush and locked gardens filled with poisonous plants by her father. Giovanni notices Beatrice's strangely intimate relationship with the plants as well as the withering of fresh flowers and the death of an insect when exposed to her skin or breath. Having fallen in love, Giovanni enters the garden and meets with Beatrice a number of times regardless of the warning of his mentor, Professor Baglioni, that Rappaccini is up to no good and he and his work should be avoided. Giovanni discovers that Beatrice, having been raised in the presence of poison, is poisonous herself. Beatrice urges Giovanni to look past her poisonous exterior and see her pure and innocent essence, creating great feelings of doubt in Giovanni. He begins to suffer the consequences of his encounters with the plants - and with Beatrice when he discovers that he himself has become poisonous; and after another meeting with Baglioni, Giovanni brings a powerful antidote to Beatrice so that they can be together, but the antidote kills Beatrice rather than destroy her poisonous nature. Beatrice's death devastates Giovanni and he collapses physically and mentally [this, not found within the short story].
[edit] Sources
According to Octavio Paz, the sources of Hawthorne's story lie in India. In the play Mudrarakshasa one of two political rivals employs the gift of a visha kanya, a beautiful girl who is fed on poison. This theme of a woman transformed into a phial of venom is popular in Indian literature and appears in the Puranas. From India, the story passed to the West and features in the Gesta Romanorum and other texts. In the 17th century, Robert Burton picked up the tale in The Anatomy of Melancholy and gave it a historical character: Indian king Porus sends Alexander the Great a girl brimming with poison.
There is no direct evidence that Hawthorne was aware of any of these earlier stories; however, in the story itself Pietro Baglioni draws a parallel between Beatrice's fate and an old story of a poisonous Indian girl presented to Alexander, a tale that appears to be based on the Burton/Browne story.
[edit] Style
Hawthorne begins the story with reference to the writings of the fictional writer "Monsieur Aubépine", named after the French name of the Hawthorn plant. He both praises and criticizes the author's style and intent. This introduction aims to establish a tone of uncertainty and confusion, throw off expectations and establish the theme of the interrelationship of perception, reality and fantasy.
[edit] Major themes
- The productive and destructive powers of scientific discovery
- Voyeurism and adoration
- The ways in which fantasy and reality work together and against each other to shape one's perceptions
"Rappaccini's Daughter" contains references to Dante's Divine Comedy, the Garden of Eden, and Milton's Paradise Lost as it juxtaposes the scientific aspects of research (Professor Rappaccini and Professor Baglioni) with spirituality (Giovanni and Beatrice) and explores original sin. Hawthorne's story is often compared to a later work by Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., a novel called Elsie Venner.[1]
[edit] Adaptations
[edit] Operas
- Rappaccini's Daughter by Charles Wakefield Cadman premiered at Carnegie Hall on March 20, 1925 [2]
- Rappaccini's Daughter by Margaret Garwood (1983)[3]
- La hija de Rappaccini by Daniel Catán (1991)
[edit] Plays
- Spanish-language play: La Hija de Rappaccini by Octavio Paz (1956)
- English-language play: Rappaccini's Daughter by Sebastian Doggart (1996)
[edit] Poetry
- John Todhunter verse-play The Poison-Flower, A Phantasy, in Three Scenes (1891)
[edit] Television
- PBS's American Short Story, starring Kristoffer Tabori, Kathleen Beller, and Leonardo Cimino (1980)
[edit] Film
- Twice Told Tales, starring Vincent Price (1963)
[edit] In popular culture
Monica Rappaccini, a fictional villain and biochemical genius in the Marvel Comics Universe, is named after the Rappaccini of Hawthorne's story. Her daughter, Carmilla Black, is, like Beatrice, both immune to poisons and able to deliver poisonous infection to another individual.
DC Comics' Poison Ivy is partially inspired by Hawthorne's story.
Medicine Melancholy of Touhou Project seems to be inspired by this story as she's a doll which became alive and poisonous after being left on a hill full of poisonous flowers.
[edit] References
- ^ Fryer, Judith. The Faces of Eve: Women in the Nineteenth-Century American Novel. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1976: 41. ISBN 0-19-502431-1
- ^ "Opera versions of Hawthorne's works, scores, librettos, and vocal recordings" ibiblio.org 5 August 2011
- ^ New York Times review of premiere: http://www.nytimes.com/1983/05/14/arts/opera-rappaccini-opens.html
- Stage Labyrinths: Latin American Plays, S. Doggart, Nick Hern Books, 1996
[edit] External links
- Text of story
- Literary Criticism at VCU
- Audio
- Rappaccini's Daughter - the 1980 TV version at the Internet Movie Database
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