This is easily my favorite of Hawthorne’s stories, as it most fully realizes his idea of romance as an elusive chase between the actual and the imaginary.
Questions to consider:
- Whom should we trust in this story? A simpler way of putting this is: Who are the good guys/gals in this story, and who are the villains? Hawthorne, like Irving, begins the story with a fictional allusion to history (a common convention among 19th-century writers). But each of the characters have aspects of unreliability. Which character do you think is most trustworthy, and why?
- What does Hawthorne reveal about his attitude toward science in this story? What do you learn from the interactions between Dr. Rappaccini, Giovanni, Beatrice, and Dr. Baglioni about differing views of the relationship between science and humanity?
- Keep watching for examples of Dark Romanticism or Gothic imagery, including emphasis on the subconscious, descriptions of death or destruction, gloomy settings, suspense, frightening scenes, or dramatic juxtapositions.
- Dr. Rappaccini: Hawthorne’s Parson Hooper has a deathbed message that encapsulates his reasons for wearing the Black Veil. What do you learn in Rappaccini’s final monologue about his reasons for transforming Beatrice’s and Giovanni’s physiology? How does he rationalize this?
Michael Sandel’s article, “The Case Against Perfection: What’s Wrong with Designer Children, Bionic Athletes, and Genetic Engineering,” could be a useful reference for “Rappaccini’s Daughter.”
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