Rappaccini's Daughter Essay: Finding the Heart in Rappaccini's Daughter

The emphasis accorded these contingencies of physiognomy and the resolute refusal of any concession to our - or, so it would appear, antiquity’s - ideas of desirable physical appearance lead one easily to the conclusion that those portraits are uncompromising attempts to transcribe into plastic form the reality of what is seen, innocent of any “idealization” or programmatic bias. These are the portraits of the conservative nobility (and of their middle-class emulators) (luring the death-agonies of the Roman republic. There is no need to doubt that much of their character refers to quite real qualities of their subjects. These are men in later life because the carefully prescribed ladder of public office normally allowed those who followed it to attain only gradually and after many years to such eminence as would allow the signal honor of a public statue. One may well suppose that these hard-bitten and rather unimaginative faces closely reflect the prevailing temperament of the class and society to which they belong, and the twisted and

In “Only Daughter,” published in Glamour magazine in 1990, Sandra Cisneros talks about how it’s like for her to be the only daughter in a Mexican-American family of six sons. She talks about some of the struggles she faces. Sandra is a writer. A writer who wants her dad to be curious about her writing. He never bothers to ask what she’s writing. When they’d ask her father how many children's he has, he’d respond with “I have seven sons.” The mention of only sons, not a daugher. This proved to her he was only proud of his sons but not her. According to him she’d also have to go to college but only to find a husband. A man who will take her out of poorness. Since, according to Sandra that's why her dad thought college was important for her. He didn't care about her major. Sandra Cisneros is a writer who didn’t have the attention she was meant to receive. Towards the end she finally gets the attention she desired. She translated one of her pieces into Spanish, the only language her dad could read. That's how it gained the attention of her father. When her dad finally reads her story, it fills her with joy. At first she didn't get any attention from her dad at all, because she’s a girl. Sandra Cisneros makes a great argument on her life being full of loneliness. Although, she only talks about her perspective on things. In this article she only talks about her side of the story, and her side only. Sandra talks about how her life was as being the only girl out of seven children.

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Birthmark” and “Rappaccini’s Daughter” are both fictional short stories written in the 1800s. Although these are two different scenarios, both tend to share several similarities. They deal with relationships between a man and woman, experiments, and ironically ends with a twist that readers don’t expect.

In the literal sense, Nathaniel Hawthorn's Rappaccini's Daughter is the story about the rivalry between two scientists that ultimately causes the destruction of an innocent young woman. However, when the story is examined on a symbolic level, the reader sees that Rappaccini's Daughter is an allegorical reenactment of the original fall from innocence and purity in the Garden of Eden. Rappaccini's garden sets the stage of this allegory, while the characters of the story each represent the important figures from the Genesis account. Through the literary devices of poetic and descriptive diction, Nathaniel Hawthorne conveys the symbolism of these characters, as well as the setting.

Barna da Siena’s Mystic Marriage of Saint Catherine and Other Scenes from 1340 is vastly different in content, composition, and a number of other attributes from Fra Carnevale’s 1467 painting Presentation of the Virgin in the Temple. It is clear between the roughly hundred years between when the two were painted that advancements in realistic painting soared and a further appreciation for realism and humanism developed. The need to portray more than just the holy subjects, and to show how far painting had evolved is evident in the differences between Barna and Fra Carnevale’s works. Although, the emotion behind Barna’s work, and its significance are, in my eyes, far greater than that of Fra Carnevale’s.

In the realm of art, the portrait is one of the most intimate and relatable subject matters to the average human. In the past, the main purpose of the portrait was to capture the essence of the person that commissioned the work. The beauty of art is the fact that every artist views the world in a different light, which is reflected and understood when many works of the same subject are compared. No matter how hard one attempts to emulate someone else’s work, their own personal touch will innately shine through the piece. Many artists’ styles are so distinct that the viewer will instantly recognize their work, which is the same idea that great musical artists’ work can be identified within the first few seconds of a song. In order to develop a style that is exclusive to one person, they must first master the basic and essential aspects of the visual arts such as composition and the creation of still life pieces. Getting a solid understanding of the world and the skill of close observation is a step that mustn’t be skipped in the development of a personal style or look. Amedeo Modigliani’s portraits can be identified almost immediately, because of the distinctive features he incorporated into his subjects. His diligence in art school and his general desire to become a better artist were crucial aspects of him eventually finding and solidifying his iconic style.

Some of Hawthorne’s works are parallel in many aspects as in “The Birthmark” and “Rappaccinis Daughter” with a common obsession of scientific beauty and manipulation, the death. Both men have the obsession of science where Aylmer wants to help mankind unlike Rappacini’s work to destroys mankind “Rappaccini “cares infinitely more for science than for mankind”” (Roy R. Male, 1954). Georgiana’s is manipulated with her self-esteem easily convince her of the birthmark’s discouragement to her beauty “Life is but a sad possession to those who have attained precisely the degree of moral advancement at which I stand. Were I weaker and blinder, it might be happiness” (Bunge, 1993 ) Rappacini merely manipulates Beatrice with lies. Georgiana is clear to see that for Aylmer to achieve perfection, it will cost her life “She attributes this self-destructive attitude to the inspiring influence of Aylmer’s high standards and urges him to continue his noble work, at any cost” (Bunge, 1993 ) Rappaccini’s payment was the loss of a child when Beatrice took her life; diminishing the

One of the most famous painter and sculptors of the Italian Renaissance, the age of renewal and cultural achievement circa 1500, was the artistic genius Michelangelo Buonarroti. The man that desired nothing but perfection often reached it in his work. He captured the motion of the human figure and the anatomy of muscles in a way that was increasingly beautiful and startlingly realistic. Whether because of one of the most famous sculptures in history, “the David” or the paintings on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, that became the textbook examples for the art period of High Renaissance, Michelango’s art changed the world and he will continue to be studied with awe throughout history.

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

At first glance, Giovanni Paolo Pannini’s Picture Gallery with Views of Modern Rome (1757) reveals very little past the outsider-looking-in perspective we are given from Pannini’s perspective. In the center is the Duc de Choiseul surrounded by detailed views of Roman architecture including buildings, fountains, and monuments and several infamous sculptures from the 17th and 18th centuries. While looking at the painting, it is hard to pinpoint one focal point within the composition when the walls of the gallery are filled with paintings from the floor to the ceiling. The focus becomes about the space Pannini has created and it does not focus on one specific object or figure. Each view of Rome seen in the imagined gallery adds to the illusion of Rome as an ideal city and to the idea of its beauty. By showing a space that reflects this beauty through the numerous paintings, sculptures, and architecture Pannini’s painting transforms into an allegory. Even though this painting was commissioned to commemorate Rome, he is able to portray the city and its architecture through a well respected and scholarly environment uncharacteristic of any known space or time. These characteristics cause the which allows it by creating a fictitious These allegorical characteristics do not become known unless you take a closer look at Picture Gallery with Views of Modern Rome (1757).

Italy can be looked at as the home of the renaissance and consequently the immergence of great art. Artists such as Michelangelo, Botticelli, Da Vinci, and Raphael are some of the greats and are looked at for standards. But what about the artists whose lives are mysteries, and their works that were influenced by the greats? These artists hold just as much importance in the history of art as do the artist’s whose names can be recalled off the top of an average person’s head. During the sixteenth century things began to change in the art world, and that change was the Baroque. This new style of art brought a revolution to how subject matter was painted, it brought upon “… a radical reconsideration of art and its purposes…” (249) and how artists of all ranks could learn to paint the up and coming style of Baroque.

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

Nathaniel Hawthorne, an American novelist, whose works show a deep consciousness of the ethical problems of sin and punishment. In “Rappaccini’s Daughter," Hawthorne uses science and symbols to narrate the story of a student called Giovanni Guasconti, who falls in love with Beatrice. Beatrice is a beautiful and mysterious young woman whose touch and breath becomes poisonous by the experiments of her father, the scientist Giacomo Rappaccini, and is unable to be a normal young woman. Through a series of experiments, Hawthorne uses science to drive the entire story and show the boundaries of ethics and morals in science by the use of literary devices of mood and symbolism to create an association with the tale of Adam and Eve in the Garden of

Leone Battista Alberti, born in Genoa in 1404, was a famous Italian philosopher, painter, architect, musician, poet, and cryptographer and of the Renaissance period. His most famous work was his “Treatise De Picture” which enclosed the first study of perspective. Alberti was quite skilled in Latin verse and when he was twenty years old, he wrote a comedy entitled “Philodoxius.” He was also wrote the fantasy novel “Hypnerotomachia Poliphili,” which is considered one of the most imaginative and legendary novels ever written (Encyclopedia4U 1).

Beginning with the Renaissance (1400-1600) we see a change in the subject matter being portrayed by artists of the time. We can attribute this change not only to the change in patrons, from the Christian church to wealthy bankers and politicians, but also to the growing body of scientific knowledge. “The Renaissance was