Rappaccini's daughter is a deeply symbolic story.
references to mythology and other works. However, I would like to address the.
story of Rappaccini's Daughter, the fable of Giovanni and Beatrice as an analogy of.
Adam and Eve. Also, another interpretation of the story is worth notice: three men.
and a woman. All three men have their purposes for and judgments of Beatrice. All.
three men project corruption on an innocent, and imbue her with evil that really.
does not exist within her.
On the surface, the analogy to the Bible is clear: Rappaccini as God,.
Giovanni and Beatrice as Adam and Eve in the Garden, Baglioni as Satan, lurking.
around trying to act upon and influence the characters in the Garden. The tree of.
life and death, the eternal fountain of purity flowing. However, the parallels to the.
biblical Garden of Eden can also be determined as quite the opposite of their.
equivalents in the Bible. Instead of a tree of life; the shrub of death. Instead of the.
innocent companions; fearful accomplices. Instead of a benevolent God; a.
malevolent Father, his bent purposes imposed on the innocent and unsuspecting.
inhabitants of the Garden. .
The garden and its central highlight, the purple flowered shrub, resembling.
the Garden of Eden and the Tree of Life, are the central scheme around which the.
story revolves. The shrub is at once enticing and forbidding, beautiful yet dreadful. .
The same terms are applied to Beatrice, "What is this being? Beautiful shall I call.
her, or inexpressibly terrible?" (1753) In Giovanni's dream, "Flower and maiden.
were different, and yet the same, and fraught with some strange peril in either.
shape." (1750) The ruined fountain, with the water still gushing forth, lies in the.
background and is used by Beatrice to water the bush. Its ceaselessly flowing purity.
is used to nourish the venom embodied by the bush, and we are reminded of the.
purity nourished within the poison and poisoning body of Beatrice.
