Previous
Symbols
Rappaccini’s garden shows the reader that it is dangerous for humans to interfere with nature. Upon his arrival in Padua, Giovanni is told that his neighbor, Dr. Rappaccini, tends a garden filled with scientifically modified plants from which Rappaccini extracts poison to make medicine. Peering into the garden, Giovanni notes that it is like a grim, modern version of the Garden of Eden from the Bible. By comparing Rappaccini’s poisonous plants with paradise, Giovanni highlights how much Rappaccini has distorted the natural order, making it impure as a result of his experiments. At the same time, the plants are vibrant, beautiful, and alluring. When Giovanni walks among the flowers, he observes, “The aspect of one and all of them dissatisfied him; their gorgeousness seemed fierce, passionate, and even unnatural.” Even though they are beautiful, Giovanni is affronted by their strangeness. Throughout the story, Rappaccini’s daughter, Beatrice, is compared with the flowers, from the sound of her voice to her scent. Both Beatrice and the flowers are beautiful yet deadly—they wound or kill anything with which they come into contact unless it is also poisonous. This dangerous power is a result of Rappaccini’s meddling with the plant. Ultimately, his interference proves disastrous. Beatrice becomes so fully poisoned that the potion she drinks to restore her health winds up killing her instead. Rappaccini’s garden shows that, while interfering with nature can be enticing initially, such interference results in unforeseen, dangerous consequences.
The Garden Quotes in Rappaccini’s Daughter
The Rappaccini’s Daughter quotes below all refer to the symbol of The Garden. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Rappaccini’s Daughter Quotes
It was strangely frightful to the young man’s imagination to see this air of insecurity in a person cultivating a garden, that most simple and innocent of human toils, and which had been alike the joy and labor of the unfallen parents of the race. Was this garden, then, the Eden of the present world? And this man, with such a perception of harm in what his own hands caused to grow,—was he the Adam?
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
As Giovanni gazes into the garden next door, he sees Rappaccini for the first time and notices that he moves among the plants carefully and without touching or smelling them, as though they were malignant. Giovanni juxtaposes the decrepit, shady appearance of Rappaccini with his mental image of “unfallen parents of the race”—Adam and Eve, the Biblical first humans, who tended Eden before learning of sin and being expelled from the garden. Gardening is considered a nearly sacred activity because it was the job performed in Eden, and it has also been a means of subsistence for humans across time. Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem acc
Yes, my sister, my splendor, it shall be Beatrice’s task to nurse and serve thee; and thou shalt reward her with thy kisses and perfumed breath, which to her is as the breath of life.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
After Rappaccini asks his daughter to tend a plant that has become too poisonous for him to approach, she promises to love and care for it in exchange for the sweet aroma that the plant emits. Her tone of voice and the tender actions she anticipates (nursing and serving the plant) both indicate that Beatrice is a loving person. This passage also suggests that Beatrice has a special relationship with this plant, since its fragrance is “as the breath of life” for Beatrice. In other words, it sustains her. Later, when readers discover that the plant’s poison runs through Beatrice’s Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitat
For some purpose or other, this man of science is making a study of you. I know that look of his! It is the same that coldly illuminates his face as he bends over a bird, a mouse, or a butterfly, which, in pursuance of some experiment, he has killed by the perfume of a flower; a look as deep as Nature itself, but without Nature’s warmth of love. Signor Giovanni, I will stake my life upon it, you are the subject of one of Rappaccini’s experiments!
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
When Rappaccini passes them in the street and stares at Giovanni strangely, Baglioni claims that Rappaccini’s cold stare proves that the man has intentions to meddle in Giovanni’s life as part of a science experiment. Baglioni’s claims are suspicious because readers already know that the two doctors have a professional rivalry, and, furthermore, as a man of science, it seems too emotional and irrational for Baglioni to “stake his life” on his hypothesis about Rappacini’s stare being correct. However, Rappaccini’s stare is so unnatural as to concern readers, too. Baglioni points out that it is the look Rappaccini uses when Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occa
“I would fain have been loved, not feared,” murmured Beatrice, sinking down upon the ground. “But now it matters not. I am going, father, where the evil which thou hast striven to mingle with my being will pass away like a dream—like the fragrance of these poisonous flowers, which will no longer taint my breath among the flowers of Eden. Farewell, Giovanni! Thy words of hatred are like lead within my heart; but they, too, will fall away as I ascend. Oh, was there not, from the first, more poison in thy nature than in mine?”
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
When Rappaccini asks Beatrice if she would have preferred to be a defenseless woman instead of someone with poisonous touch, Beatrice responds that she would rather have been loved than feared by others. Instead, she was separated from other people and regarded as a monster, making her lonely and sad. Her own analysis of her life reveals how Rappaccini’s science experiment actually caused her great harm, even though he is a doctor who is supposed to heal people. In addition, when she says good-bye to Giovanni, she asks a rhetorical question implying that his cruel words were more poisonous than Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantiu
Get the entire Rappaccini’s Daughter LitChart as a printable PDF.
"My students can't get enough of your charts and their results have gone through the roof." -Graham S.
The Garden Symbol Timeline in Rappaccini’s Daughter
The timeline below shows where the symbol The Garden appears in Rappaccini’s Daughter. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Rappaccini’s Daughter
...chamber gloomy, she encourages Giovanni to look out the window for sunshine—outside, he sees a garden. Giovanni asks Lisabetta if the garden belongs to their building, but she replies that it...
(full context)
Gazing down into the garden, Giovanni notes that the property appears to have been the “pleasure-place of an opulent family”...
(full context)
...to scrutinize each plant, but he cautiously avoids touching or smelling them. Giovanni compares Rappaccini’s gardening, the “most simple and innocent of human toils,” with that of Adam in the garden...
(full context)
When Rappaccini reaches the purple flowers hanging beside the fountain, he puts on a mask. However, he still hesitates to move...
(full context)
Giovanni continues to ruminate on the striking resemblance between Beatrice and the purple flowers, and that night, he dreams of the two being the same entity in different forms...
(full context)
Walking home from dinner tipsy, Giovanni buys a bouquet. At home, glancing down at the garden, Giovanni again sees Beatrice, who looks so radiant...
(full context)
Just then, a lizard or chameleon crawls by Beatrice’s feet as liquid drops from the flower’s stem. The creature “contort[s] itself violently” then dies. Beatrice “crosse[s] herself, sadly, but without surprise”...
(full context)
After entering the garden, Giovanni resolves that seeing Beatrice is a matter of necessity—“It mattered not whether she were...
(full context)
...ease. Giovanni asks if the rumors are true that she knows the science behind the garden’s strange flowers, but Beatrice insists that she does not possess any advanced scientific knowledge, and...
(full context)
As they continue talking, Giovanni intuits from her naivety that Beatrice has never left the garden. They talk and walk through the garden together until they pass the purple flowers. Giovanni...
(full context)
...Baglioni states that Rappaccini may have created a similar monster using science. Baglioni notices a floral, vaguely poisonous scent in the air, but Giovanni dismisses this. Baglioni hands Giovanni a vial,...
(full context)
Baglioni’s visit revives Giovanni’s doubts about Beatrice. Giovanni buys a bouquet, reasoning that if the flowers wilt in her hands, then she is surely evil. On...
(full context)
Giovanni asks where the purple shrub originated, and Beatrice says her father made it. “It was my sister, and I loved...
(full context)
Beatrice vows to leave “the flowers of Eden,” says goodbye to Giovanni, and asks him, “Oh, was there not, from the...
(full context)
