卿瑜
重庆工业职业技术学院
ABSTRACT: Nathaniel Hawthorne was a representative romantic writer in the 19th century American literature, who was praised as “the first great novelist of American nation.” He was greatly affected by Calvinism believed that the “ Original Sin” was the source of evil. In his story Rappaccini’s Daughter, he exquisitely displayed his idea about evil in human nature. Also, many Biblical Similarities can be found in the story. The purpose of this paper is to introduce, compare, and discuss the story in order to find its close ties with the Holy Bible.
KEY WORDS: Nathaniel Hawthorne, Original Sin, evil, Holy Bible
摘 要: 纳撒尼尔·霍桑是十九世纪美国文学史上具有代表性的浪漫主义小说家。人们称赞他为“美国第一位伟大的小说家。” 霍桑深受加尔文主义的影响认为“原罪”是人类恶性的根源。在他的短篇小说《拉帕齐尼的女儿》（又译《怪医的女儿》）中，他细致地展现了他关于人性有恶的观念。在小说中，出现了大量与圣经的相似之处。本文意在通过介绍，比较和讨论这篇小说，达到揭示小说跟圣经的联系的目的。
关 键 词: 纳撒尼尔·霍桑， 原罪， 恶，圣经
INTRODUCTION
Nathaniel Hawthorne has been considered to be the first great American writer of fiction to work in the moralistic tradition. Yet Hawthorne believed that evil as well as good impulses were native to every human heart and must combated afresh by every man and woman in every generation. Consequently, almost all his stories, in greater or lesser part, implied the theme of “Original Sin”.
Giovanni happens to take a room overlooking the garden where Rappaccini raises his plants. He is attached to Beatrice. They begin to spend time together and then become attached to each other. Giovanni was told that he has become a victim of an experiment of Rappaccini’s. Baglioni convinces Giovanni to accept an antidote that he has already prepared, while Giovanni gives this antidote to Beatrice, who swallows it and dies.
1. The Recurring Theme-“Original Sin”
1.1 Sinfulness of Men
In Hawthorne’s Rappaccini’s Daughter, “Sin” was an important theme. Beatrice is the only woman in the garden. Dr. Rappaccini isolates her from the society. She longs for love. Though she does not want to commit any sin, she is poisonous to other creatures. Evil is predominant in her. But at last, she gets redemption through her death.
Dr. Rappaccini sacrifices his own daughter and Giovanni for his scientific experiment.The only thing he cares for is science. He is depicted as an inhuman devil. In his opinion, only God has the right to create and control everything. Any activities to improve human nature and to deny rules of God are blasphemous to God. Dr. Rappaccini also sins by violating rules of God. And Rappaccini’s sin of intellect is the most vicious one, for its prototype is the “Original Sin”.
Dr. Rappaccini’s rival, Baglioni, humbugs Giovanni to let Beatrice take the antidote, which makes her die. This also shows Hawthorne’s view that people are born with “Original Sin”, and sin penetrates into human nature in their whole life.
1.2 Duality of Human Nature
The Calvinist Puritanism had deeply engraved in Hawthorne’s ideology through his living condition and experience. So, he firmly believed the so-called “Original Sin” was the source of evil, which present all kinds of crimes in the human lives. In
Hawthorne’s Rappaccini’s Daughter, he presented for people the evil part of human nature.
In the story, Giovanni’s heartlessness makes a great contrast with his strong love and affection to Beatrice. He loves Beatrice, and appreciates her beauty and kindness and understands her loneliness, but when he realizes that he has become poisonous because of Beatrice, the evil part of his nature become apparent. He begins to hate Beatrice and curse her with most injurious words.
Beatrice’s father, Dr. Rappaccini, is also a man with dual nature. On the one hand, he loves his daughter and decides to protect her by isolating her from other people. On the other hand, he uses Beatrice to carry out his experiment, making Beatrice a poisonous creature. Beatrice cannot communicate with others normally because she would either kill other people by her breath or make them poisonous as she is. Rappaccini sacrifices his daughter for his own desire.
From the above analysis of Hawthorne’s view about human nature, it is clear that all have evil in their heart. Rappaccini dedicates himself to his science and causes his daughter’s death; Baglioni wracks his brains for the sake of fame and position; Beatrice is a terrible poisonous creature, who lures Giovanni to enter her world because of her loneliness; Giovanni loves Beatrice first, but suspects and curses her at last.
Hawthorne wrote some words in this novel reveal that all men are born with evil in their souls.
2. Biblical Similarities
The mythology of the paradise of Eden in the Holy Bible is universally known to the people all over the world. It appears in literature of later ages repeatedly.
In Hawthorne’s Rappaccini’s Daughter, many Biblical parallels can be found. The similarities range from the setting, to the characters, and even to the deadly plant in the story. The account of Adam and Eve in Genesis 1-3 is extremely similar to the situation of Giovanni and Beatrice in the story.
2.1 Similar Setting and the Plant
In both Rappaccini’s Daughter and the Genesis chapters in the Holy Bible, beautiful gardens are the setting. Both gardens are exotic and pretty. The garden of Eden is bright and tropical, While Dr. Rappaccini’s garden is darker and mysterious. The flowers and other plants in it are exquisite, too. Both gardens are home to a type of “forbidden” plant. The forbidden plant in Genesis is a gorgeous, extremely tempting fruit plant. However, these fruits have been prohibited by God. The forbidden plant in Rappaccini’s garden is a large flowering bush. The flowers on this bush unlike any other flowers. They are extremely exquisite but poisonous. The two plants share the trait of “forbidden” in different ways.
2.2 Similar Characters
2.2.1 Rappaccini-God
The story of the paradise of Eden mainly means to give prominence to God’s domination of the world. In the garden of Dr. Rappaccini, he himself is “God”. He is engaged in the garden and has created various kinds of plants. He dominates all creatures in the garden. In the light of relationship between people, he is Beatrice’s father and in the elder generation of Giovanni. Beatrice, being his worldly child, grows up under his absolute authority like his plants. In the garden, Dr. Rappaccini is just like the Almighty God, Who controls the whole world. “ This garden is his world.”
2.2.2 Beatrice and Giovanni –Adam and Eve
Just as Eve is the only woman in the paradise of Eden, Beatrice, Dr. Rappaccini’s daughter, is the only woman in the garden. Beatrice and Eve are the ones that first fall to temptation, which ultimately leads to each of their demise.
In the mythology of Eden, Adam is the most important protagonist. Without him the story cannot occur and go on. The fates of later generations are in close relation with his experience. Giovanni in the story is just like Adam in Genesis. “God” Rappaccini plots to draw Giovanni to his garden, so that he can give his daughter a companion and get a new object for his scientific experiment. On the first sight of Beatrice, Giovanni couldn’t help getting close to her. He is now like Adam who is lured by Eve. At last both Giovanni and Beatrice are poisonous. Giovanni becomes the second man that can enter and leave the garden.
In the paradise of Eden, Adam and Eve go against God’s prohibition and they are driven out of Eden. So they has sinned and become worldly human beings. While in the story of Rappaccini’s daughter, Beatrice takes the antidote and dies. She and Giovanni cause the failure of the “God” Rappaccini. His scientific experiment fails. The lovers violate the “God” Rappaccini’s will. They sinned in a sense, just like Adam and Eve.
2.2.3 Baglioni-Satan
In the mythology of Eden, Satan is also a very important character. We have learned from the Holy Bible that the serpent is the one who lures Adam and Eve to eat the forbidden fruit and leads them to sin. Baglioni is just like Satan. He is a famous doctor and professor in Padua. He perceives Dr. Rappaccini as his rival. Baglioni is jealous of Rappaccini, so he tries by every means to destroy Dr. Rappaccini’s achievements in science. Just as Satan lures Adam and Eve with blandishments, Baglioni pretends to care for Giovanni and warns him not to be the object of Dr. Rappaccini’s scientific experiment. Because of this, the antidote he gives to Giovanni makes things worse. Finally Beatrice dies and Baglioni’s plot succeeds.
Conclusion
Hawthorne’s unique gift is for the creation of strongly symbolic stories that touch the deepest roots of man’s moral nature. His ability to create vivid and symbolic images that embody great moral questions appears strongly in his Rappaccini’s Daughter. The Biblical parallels in the story and the theme of “Original Sin” inevitably prove his intention to deal with the religious topic.
All in all, the Biblical ties in Hawthorne’s Rappaccini’s Daughter inflect his idea that the telling of a tale was a way of inquiring into the meaning of life. The themes of “sin” and “evil” in his works greatly influenced some other American writers. They represent Hawthorne’s high position and great value in American literature.
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