Nathaniel Hawthorne

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Nathaniel Hawthorne
Hawthorne’s “Rap puccini’s Daughter” is a timeless short story that still easily applies to common fears of today. Like in Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein, Hawthorne uses literature to address the fascination many of us have with science verses religion. When Hawthorne describes Rappuccini’s creations in the garden, our imaginations could compare the likenesses to his daughter as well. He states, “Several, also, would have shocked a delicate instinct by an appearance of artificialness, indicating that there had been such commixture, and, as it were, adultery of various vegetable species, that the production was no longer of God’s making, but monstrous offspring of man depraved fancy, growing with only an evil mockery of beauty” (1296). In this description Hawthorne points out that Rappuccini has destroyed the boundaries of science by acting as a God-like figure. Rappuccini’s creations are evil concoctions that only illustrate his dark genius instead of a father’s or creator’s love.
Hawthorne uses Beatrice as a symbol of Rappuccini’s obsessive love of science while also using her words to tell the reader the seriousness of his condition. Hawthorne write, “...and at the hour when I first drew breath, this plant sprang from the soil, the offspring of his science, of his intellect, while I was but his earthly child” (1303). In her comment Beatrice points out that her father’s love for manipulating nature far surpasses any love or connection he feels with his daughter. The evil science has consumed his personality and destroyed his humanity.
In short, Hawthorne seems to be addressing the public to warn them about the dangers of excessive science. He seems to believe that the realm of God and God’s creations should not be manipulated by man. If we allow ourselves to become consumed with controlling nature, our evil creations will in a sense backfire and ruin even the best intentio...