s short story
Rappaccinis Daughter concludes with the following paragraph:
To Beatrice--so radically had her earthly part been wrought upon by Rappaccini's
skill--as poison had been life, so the powerful antidote was death. And thus the poor victim of
man's ingenuity and of thwarted nature, and of the fatality that attends all such efforts of
perverted wisdom, perished there, at the feet of her father and Giovanni. Just at that moment,
Professor Pietro Baglioni looked forth from the window, and called loudly, in a tone of triumph
mixed with horror, to the thunder-stricken man of science: "Rappaccini! Rappaccini! And
is this the upshot of your experiment?"
What is the significance of Baglionis final words? Several possibilities suggest
themselves, including these:
- Baglioni is upset that Rappaccinis
experiments have led to the unnecessary death of Rappaccinis daughter. According to this
interpretation, Baglioni cares more about Beatrice than Rappaccini does. - Baglioni is upset because Rappaccinni, a fellow scientist, has betrayed the ethical
standards that should guide the work of scientists. - Baglioni is upset that
Rappaccini has now placed Giovanni in exactly the same unfortunate position that Rappaccinis
daughter had once occupied. In a bizarre sense, Giovanni has now become Rappaccinis son.
Earlier he had been, in some sense, the son of Baglioni, but now his situation has subtly
changed. - Baglioni wishes to torment his old rival by calling explicit
attention to the failure of Rappaccinis experiments; hence his partial tone of
triumph. - Some critics have suggested that Baglioni had actually anticipated
that Beatrice would die if she drank Baglionis potion; in that case, Baglioni may be trying to
pin the blame totally on Rappaccini and distract attention from his own partial responsibility
for Beatrices death. According to this view, Baglioni does not want to face the upshot of his
own experiment.
Something
extra: Hawthornes story invites attention from a historical point of view. Like
various other works of the early to mid-nineteenth century (such as Mary Shelleys
Frankenstein and Hawthornes own story ), this tale raises disquieting
questions about the horrific consequences that might result if science €“ one of the great
forces of the nineteenth century €“ were used in unethical ways.
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