Rappaccini’s Daughter
...work then for mankind? In my conception, scientists devote their life to experiments and innovation for humanity, which contradict Rappaccini’s idea of science. For example, he was in the garden examining his flowers wearing a pair of thick gloves. When he came upon that specific purple plant, he wore a mask to cover his nose and mouth to examine the plant. However, he was not able to do what it is that he wanted to, and then he called upon his daughter, who was not wearing any protection to touch and inhale the scents of the flowers without any harm. At one point, he even told her about the purple plant in particular; how dangerous it would be for his life if he were to examine the plant any closer and that she should take over the responsibility of it. How can a father sacrifice his daughter’s life? By exposing Beatrice to his experiments and poisoned garden, Rappaccini made Beatrice poisoned and actually restrict her from civilization. She was nutrition with poison since birth till her body became a poison. Everything about her was poisoned, her body, her breath, and even her touch. Further more, this lead me to what I think is the main point of this story. Poison is the prevalent gothic element in “Rappaccini’s Daughter”. The poison makes the connection with beauty, and in the case of Beatrice the goodness and life that make her so danseurs. All of the characters, in one way or another, are poisoned either mentally or physically. This poison, or poisoning, leads to the tales other isolation, dreams, horror, dread, and death. This is the only way I can think of to explain Rappaccini’s motives for his experiments, Giovanni’s connection with Beatrice, and Beatrice as a human being. There was something very special about Beatrice. The way she treated and spoke to the plant as if they were related, like she too was one of her fathers’ experiments. Beatrice, however, seems as dependent on the plants as they are upon her; in one case, she takes the branches in her arms and tells the plant "Give me thy breath, my sister, for I am faint with common air." I think that she is a very interesting character, and the way Giovanni describes her in the introduction makes the story even more dramatic when such a beauty and poison depart this life. As he spends more and more time with Beatrice, Giovanni becomes not only immune to her deadly fumes, but begins to turn poisonous himself; soon he, too, can kill insects with his breath. His friend Baglioni convinces him that not only has Beatrice been raised as a living scientific experiment, but now Giovanni is becoming one too. Baglioni gives him a powerful antidote against poison, with the suggestion that he administers it to Beatrice. The idea is to change her nature back to that of a normal mortal; but when she drinks it, she rapidly sickens and dies. Her nature was not merely tainted by poison, it was imbued with it Also, I think that th...