Yet, her death is very significant for it marks the end of Rappaccini's experiment and the loss of his only companion. Throughout these events, Hawthorne conveys the romantic belief that science corrupts humans and inflames the greed for knowledge that is beyond human limits. However, for the romantics, science is not the only element related to corruption. Like science, culture is seen as a threat to human souls and nature. .
19th C America is characterised by a crucial conflict between culture and Nature. This conflict is obvious from the beginning of the story. In the first paragraph Giovanni discovers the gloomy chamber where he is lodging. The narrator describes the room as "an old edifice" having "armorial bearings" in its entrance. These characteristics have a cultural connotation that provokes a feeling of sadness in Giovanni. This hellish atmosphere of the room leads him to relate it to Dante's Inferno as if he is having a "journey through hell."3 Hawthorne's reference to the Inferno may be deliberate; through it he shows the romantic point of view toward culture. Together with this, he also conveys the idea of Nature's supremacy over culture through old Lisabetta. In the second paragraph, she advises Giovanni to look out of the window in order to get rid of the chamber's gloom. Once he does, the sense of gloom is replaced by his fascination by the garden, and he forgets it in the process of meditating. One notices here the sharp contrast between the darkness associated with the room and "the bright sunshine" of the garden. .
The opposition between the room and the garden reflects Hawthorne's romanticism; that is to say that culture imposes restrictions on individuals, whereas Nature provides them with freedom and peace. The position of both the chamber and the garden is used by the author in purpose to demonstrate the clash between culture and Nature.