Nathaniel Hawthorne

Nathaniel Hawthorne 1804-1864

• Born in Salem, Massachusetts

• Puritan Background

• Ancestor was John Hathorne – one of the three judges in the Salem Witch Trials

Hawthorne’s Background

• Began writing after college at Bowdion College in Maine

• Spent many years in seclusion – starving artist

• Held many jobs including writer, publisher, working at a custom house, and consul in England

More Background

• Married Sophie Peabody in 1825

• Was friends with Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Herman Melville, and President Franklin Pierce

His Themes in Writing

• Moral allegories

• The sinful man

• Hypocrisy• The Dark

side of Human Nature

• Religious in Nature

His Most Famous Works

• Novels– The House of Seven Gables– The Scarlet Letter

• Short Stories– “The Minister’s Black Veil”– “Young Goodman Brown”– “Rappaccinni’s Daughter”

And Now, Nathanial Hawthorn’s Short Story

“Rappaccinni’s Daughter”

Themes

• Main Theme: Corruption .......Corruption is the main theme of “Rappaccini's” daughter. Among the definitions of corruption are these: (1) wickedness, evil, malignity; (2) contamination, pollution, decay.

• Hawthorne focuses on both kinds of corruption, contrasting one with the other in order to make clear this truth: that the more heinous form of corruption is the first kind, which lodges in the human heart and intellect. 

• .......The theme of corruption begins to manifest itself when old Lisabetta refers to the “strange flowers” that grow in the garden and the narrator mentions plants that “crept serpent-like along the ground.”

• When Rappaccini appears in the garden to study the plants, the narrator observes that “the man's demeanor was that of one walking among malignant influences, such as savage beasts, or deadly snakes, or evil spirits, which, should he allow them one moment of license, would wreak upon him some terrible fatality.”

• .......But the real evil is not in the garden plants; it is in Rappaccini. He is a canker that generates corruption.

• He first corrupts his soul, committing the father of all sins, pride, by defying God and nature in order to aggrandize his reputation through experiments that turn his garden into an evil Eden.

• His experimentation also corrupts his body, which becomes feeble and sickly, and transforms his innocent daughter into a poisonous agent whose very breath can kill. 

Exceeding the Bounds of Morality

• Rappaccini far exceeds the bounds of morality when he ruins the life of his daughter—and jeopardizes his own life—for the sake of achieving scientific breakthroughs.

• His fictional research foreshadows  the experimentation of historical figures such as the infamous Dr. Joseph Mengele. a member of the Institute for Hereditary Biology and Racial Hygiene, founded in Nazi Germany in 1934. Mengele performed cruel experiments on live human beings in the Birkenau concentration camp, where he served as an SS officer beginning in 1943. Jewish inmates became virtual guinea pigs, enduring great pain and suffering..

• Here in the 21st Century scientists are experimenting with the possibility of cloning human beings, an activity which theologians generally condemn as unethical and immoral

Love

• Although Dr. Rappaccini corrupts the body of Beatrice, her soul remains pristine. She is a gentle young woman who treats even the highly poisonous plant in the marble vase with tenderness.

• When Giovanni reveals Baglioni's phial as an antidote for the contaminants in their bodies, she says, “Give it to me! . . . I will drink but do thou await the result.”

• Her response indicates that she suspects foul play but is willing to test the antidote on herself. If it turns out to be a fatal poison, only she will die. Giovanni will live. Whether Giovanni's love for Beatrice is as strong as her love for him—or whether he even experiences love rather than infatuation—is open to question.

Hatred

• .......Rappaccini and Baglioni, rivals in science, despise each other. One of the goals of Rappaccini's research is to discover medical breakthroughs that will elevate his reputation above Baglioni's. Baglioni retaliates with the phial of poison that kills Beatrice.

Isolation

• Because her father has turned Beatrice into a poisonous agent, she remains isolated in her house and garden. Her ignorance of the world outside and her lack of contact with its inhabitants have rendered her a mere child in terms of cultural and social growth.

Artificiality

• Almost all the plants in Rappaccini's garden appear unnatural to Giovanni.

• The artificiality of the flowers reflects the artificiality of Giovanni's affection for Beatrice. It is insincere. It also reflects the artificiality of Dr. Rappaccini's motives in seeking breakthrough medical cures. His primary interest is not in saving lives but in enhancing his reputation and satisfying his coldly intellectual curiosity.

Exploitation

• Dr. Rappaccini exploits Beatrice in his medical research. Giovanni exploits her for her charms; his professed love for her seems insincere. Dr. Baglioni kills Beatrice to spite Rappaccini. 

Some Basics…

• Characters– Young

Goodman Brown

– His wife, Faith

– Mysterious man in the forest with a strange looking staff

Some Basics…

• Minor Character’s Notes…– Constable: person in law

enforcement– Deacon: position in church

held by congregation member

– Goody: abbr. of “goodwife”, female version of goodman

– Reverend: pastor– Sabbath: day of rest in the

Judo/Christian church – in this case, Sunday

YGB as an Allegory

• What is an allegory?– A story where everything is a

symbol– Used commonly to instruct

especially in religious matters– Some famous allegories are:

• Dante’s Divine Comedy (more famous though is the first part commonly known as Dante’s Inferno

• John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress

The Allegory of Young Goodman Brown – Basics

• The Snake Satan – The Devil

• Why? – See Genesis Chapter 3

The Allegory of Young Goodman Brown - Basics• The Forest

• Evil / Sin

The Allegory of Young Goodman Brown – Basics

• Stars / Sky / Heavenly Bodies

• Heaven / Connection with God

The Allegory of Young Goodman Brown - Basics

• White Purity

• Red Sin

• Pink ????

The Allegory of Young Goodman Brown - Basics• Fire

• Hell

The Allegory of Young Goodman Brown – now, not basic• Young Goodman Brown

• The common Christian man – brown is neutral

• Faith• A Christian’s faith

• Witches• Satan / Evil

One Last Thing for Tomorrow…Another literary term feather

for your literary term cap…

• Imagery: words and phrases that re-create vivid sensory experiences for the reader. Usually imagery is visual, but often it is written to the senses of smell, hearing, taste, and touch

Assignment for Tomorrow…

• Read “Young Goodman Brown”

• There will be a basic quiz tomorrow on the PowerPoint and the story– PowerPoint is online for

your viewing enjoyment

• Underline in pencil examples of imagery – for effort points