Essay on the Conflicts, Climax and Resolution in Rappaccini’s Daughter

Aside from flouting her family’s and culture’s conventions, DiPrima’s greatest transgression may be that she dares to write about herself in the first place. As Mary Jo Bona reminds us: “the fact that the Italian American woman…has chosen writing to express the self illustrates her ability to break away from traditional emphasis on family, one that implicitly enforces silence upon its members to insure that its family secrets are kept.” This code of silence, a common theme in Italian American literature, is explicitly

Supporting the Friar’s dismal assessment of Romeo is the Nurse. I will direct her to be the funny character in the scene, her face underlining how ridiculous Romeo appears, bawling like a woman on the floor. She even looks appalled as she asks Rome to stand up and be a man, instead of blubbering on the floor. Still, as the Nurse describes Juliet's misery, she would exude deep concern like a mother would. Her face depicts that if there is anyone who loves Juliet as much as Romeo, it is her for she is similar to a mother who cares only for her child's happiness and nothing

The first passage reveals the parallel suffering occurring in the lives of different members of the family, which emphasizes the echoes between the sufferings of the father and the narrator. The narrator’s father’s despair over having watched

Don Giovanni is a one-of-a-kind character, yet so predictable living a certain lifestyle, almost to the point of being mysterious. It is the enlightenment era however, where a lot of impossibilities were being explored, and presented to the public in different forms, including this opera, Don Giovanni. Although Don Giovanni seems like a total embodiment of immorality, he nevertheless carries some admirable principles, sparkling the enlightenment idea through the story of Don Giovanni.

In Shakespeare’s comedic play “Much Ado about Nothing” there are many unique characters but the character Beatrice sticks out for many reasons. Beatrice is not like the other characters in “Much Ado about Nothing.” She “rebels” against the idea of conformity and humility that was prevalent during that time period for women; therefore, she fit the archetype of

One of William Shakespeare’s most renown plays, set in Verona where two young star-crossed lovers; Romeo and Juliet met in tragedy as their family feud bound their love within solemn hatred. The Montagues and the Capulets are two families of equal powers who’s prolonged bitter quarrel leads to the tragic death of these two lovers, and by their love reconciled the family’s hatred. Love is a predominant theme within this novel portrayed through the eyes of Romeo and Juliet, however, the maternal endearment between Juliet and her nurse can not be denied.

Hero is quite, kind, respectful and modest while Beatrice is witty, independent and fierce. Beatrice is a powerful woman and is not afraid to question the validity of a man’s honour. Beatrice has strong beliefs about what a real man is and should be. Beatrice: What should I do with him—dress him in my apparel and make him my waiting gentlewoman? He that hath a beard is more than a youth, and he that hath no beard is less than a man; and he that is more than a youth is not for me, and he that is less than a man, I am not for him. (2.1.128–132). In these lines Beatrice explains why she must remain unmarried, according to her there is no man who would be the perfect match for her. According to Beatrice a man who has no facial hair is not manly enough and a man who has facial hair is not young enough. Beatrice is untraditional and has her own opinions. Beatrice is not an accepting character like

Leonato’s niece and Hero’s cousin. Beatrice is “a pleasant-spirited lady” with a very sharp tongue. She is generous and loving, but, like Benedick, continually mocks other people with elaborately tooled jokes and puns.

Foil characters are defined as characters that are used to contrast another character. This character in most cases is the protagonist. Moreover, foil characters tend to be based on the protagonist’s hubris, wherein contrasting the fatal flaw shows how it has ballooned out of control. Foil characters further themes by highlighting the characteristics of certain characters that will help enhance the theme. The role of foil characters in Shakespearean tragedies is to show what could have happened if the protagonist made a different choice. Likewise, this idea is prevalent within Romeo and Juliet. Furthermore, this play portrays two children from warring families who meet and fall in love, but eventually kill themselves as their love is not

Each man only saw what he wanted to see regarding Beatrice, and for Giovanni, it was most complex. Her father probably had good intentions when he caused his daughter to be poisonous. He did it as a means of protection, but this backfired, because the tendency of others to misunderstand Beatrice's complex makeup led them to unintentionally kill her. Each of the three men in Rappaccinni's Daughter wanted to mold Beatrice into something and each had his own idea of her identity, yet none of them looked at her subjectively. This is pointed out by Luedtke on page 188. "When he (Giovanni) was unable to bring Beatrice 'rigidly and systematically' within the realm of his own experience, and unwilling to risk a closer knowledge, Giovanni left the poison-damsel to die in her own pleasure-place." It is interesting to note Luedtke's use of the words "pleasure-place". This suggests that the poisonous garden was not the real problem or prison for Beatrice. An interesting point is revealed by Luedtke as he states, "The author makes a late attempt to intertwine her poison and her purity, but the demonic and the angelic continue to occupy their separate spheres, the former of the body, the latter of the soul. As Baglioni's antidote takes effect, eradicating the poison from Beatrice's system, her physical life is consumed. The soul might be innocent but it has no resting place."(181) If Beatrice's soul had no

Certain rumors spread into town characterize her as a highly educated young woman. We find evidence in that sense from Doctor Baglioni, another character in the story: "Rappaccini is said to have instructed her deeply in his science, and that, young and beautiful as fame reports her, she is already qualified to fill a professor's chair"(Hawthorne 878). But the truth is that, as she confesses later in the story, she knows nothing about the science of botany that her father is involved in; actually, she is only familiar with the flower's "hues and perfumes"( Hawthorne 883). She practically knows as much as a child of small age would; her education also lacks any form of interaction experience with the society. Hawthorne presents her father, Doctor Rappaccini, as her only companion of life. Her reason for isolation is related to her father's overprotective attitude towards his only child. Rappaccini raises her in the neighborhood of poisonous flowers, making her immune to them, but also transforming her into a source of poison. Beatrice is aware of the poison that she exudes; thus she becomes indirectly isolated from the rest of the world by her father. The deadly attribute Beatrice possesses places a social safeguarding wall around her.

Don Giovanni is an operatic character that plays a womanizer during the 17th century. This was a play first performed in 1789, a successful creation of Mozart and DaPonte. During the play, Don Giovanni represents a sociopath that is lead by his incredible weakness for women. This weakness leads him into darkness, complete with seduction, and murder. Since the beginning, many people have seen Don Giovanni as a hero but many others have considered him a villain. The actions of Don Giovanni are not completely heroic neither are they totally villainous. But is noticeable that throughout the play he is more a hero than a villain.

Hawthorne frequently uses words like "imagine", "seemed", or "appeared to " to cast a doubt upon the validity of what Giovanni thinks he sees. Even Giovanni himself rationalizes the situation and convinces himself that what he thought he saw did not happen. This is because in Giovanni's mind, it is impossible to separate the physical from the spiritual. For him, if Beatrice's body is poisonous, then so is her spirit. Giovanni is unable to see the possibilities for good and bad to be simultaneously within someone. This problem is at the heart of this story and is what ultimately causes Beatrice's death. Since Giovanni allows himself to disbelieve what he had seen earlier in the garden, he is able to fall for Beatrice. Giovanni is drawn to Beatrice not because of the "glamor" of science, but an interest in the unknown. He knows that all is not right in Rappaccini's garden and he is fascinated with the mystery. As Giovanni and Beatrice get to know each other, they develop a strong bond. However, for Giovanni this is not true love. Hawthorne provides the reader with clues that question the integrity of Giovanni. For example, Hawthorne writes, "Guasconti had not a deep heart or at all events, its depths are not sounded now-but he had a quick fancy, and an ardent southern temperament, which rose every instant to higher fever-pitch" (Hawthorne 614). Not only is Giovanni passionate in his lust for Beatrice, but he also

At the beginning of the story, Hawthorne establishes a dark mood when describing the ancestors who were occupying the mansion “pictured by Dante as a partaker of the immortal agonies of his Inferno” (Hawthorne). This allusion refers to the “Divine Comedy” and the Inferno, which tells Dante’s journey through hell. This story also alludes to the tale of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, in which the prominent figures disobey God and they end up being cast out of Eden, the paradise. One of the parts in the story of “Rappaccini’s Daughter” that alludes the tale of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden is when Giovanni thinks “was this garden, then, the Eden of the present world?” about Rappaccini’s botanical garden (Hawthorne). In addition, Beatrice can be associated with Eve because, despite the fact that her body is corrupted by her father and becomes poisonous, her soul always remains pure and clean. With her beauty, Beatrice enamors Giovanni and poisons him slowly unintentionally with her breath and essence of the violet flower. Beatrice does not know that she can poison Giovanni because she is imprisoned in the garden, as Beatrice says to Giovanni, “the effect of my father’s fatal love of science, which estranged me from all society of my kind” (Hawthorne). Giovanni is not really in love with Beatrice because he convinces her to drink the

Two households, both alike in dignity, in fair Verona, where we lay our scene, from ancient grudge break to new mutiny, where civil blood makes civil hands unclean. From forth the fatal loins of these two foes, a pair of star-crossed lovers take their life; whose misadventure piteous overthrows. Do with their death bury their parents' strife. The fearful passage of their death-marked love, And the continuance of their parents' rage, Which, but their children's end, nought could remove, Is now the two hours' traffic of our stage; The which if you with patient ears attend, What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.