534 Hawthorne, Nathaniel
out of my own hands, as I may say, and make use of
him for his infernal experiments” (988).
The consequences of the scientific pride that
both characters exhibit become clear at the end of
the story. It is then that both men see their oppor-
tunity to outwit each other. In the case of Baglioni,
he discloses Beatrice’s true poisonous nature to
Giovanni when he visits the young student in his
lodgings and deems Beatrice “the victim of his
[Rappaccini’s] zeal for science.” Wishing to amend
Rappaccini’s deed, Baglioni offers Giovanni the
chance to bring Beatrice back to social life by
showing him a little silver vase that contains an
effective antidote to the most devastating poison.
It is this antidote that, according to the professor,
will effectively cure Beatrice from her poison-
ous nature. However, rather than wishing to save
Beatrice from an alienated existence, Baglioni
secretly enjoys the opportunity to defeat Rappac-
cini. To that effect, Baglioni gives Giovanni the
vase and the young student goes to meet Beatrice.
Baglioni’s revelation has already had a profound
effect on Giovanni by inspiring wrath, despair, and
doubt about Beatrice and her monstrous nature at
the same time that he discovers his own poisonous
condition. Upon that realization, Giovanni under-
stands that the only option for him and Beatrice
to live their love among society is to resort to Pro-
fessor Baglioni’s antidote, which Giovanni deems
“almost divine in its efficacy.” Thus, Giovanni pro-
poses that both of them shall drink it in order to
be purified from their monstrous condition. Bea-
trice, playing a traditional self-sacrificing female
role, offers to drink it first so that Giovanni can
examine the effects.
The final scene brings all the characters together
and again reveals the two scientists’ pride. When
Beatrice openly blames her father for having brought
the pain of rejection upon her, Rappacini’s answer
betrays his pride in his science and in its capacity to
surpass the natural laws of life. He calls his daughter
“foolish” for not being able to understand the sup-
posed benefits of his experiments, among which
he lists the possibility to transcend weakness and
defeat by being powerful enough to inflict evil upon
anybody. Equally, Beatrice’s death leads the proud
professor Baglioni triumphantly to ask Rappaccini
whether Beatrice’s death was really the planned
result of his experiment.
Teresa RequenaHaWTHornE, naTHaniEL The
Scarlet Letter (1850)
Set in Puritan Boston, The Scarlet Letter chronicles
the life of Hester Prynne. The novel opens as
Hester, with her infant Pearl in her arms, is led
from the town prison to a scaffold that stands in
the marketplace. Hester stands on the scaffold as
part of her punishment for adultery; on her chest
is a scarlet letter A that the magistrates decree that
she must wear. Hester and Pearl live an isolated life
on the outskirts of Boston, and Hester makes her
living through her needlework skills. She has used
these skills to embellish her “A” with flourishes of
gold thread, and she dresses Pearl in red and gold
as if to emphasize that both are symbols of her
adultery. Throughout the novel, Hester keeps two
secrets. The first is that her husband, who was to
follow her from Europe to the new world, arrived
in Boston as she stood upon the scaffold. Remain-
ing anonymous, he lives under the name of Roger
Chillingworth. Hester’s second secret is the identity
of her lover, the respected young minister Arthur
Dimmesdale. Though Hester refuses to publicly
name Dimmesdale as Pearl’s father, Chillingworth
suspects him. Acting as the minister’s physician,
Chillingworth takes up residence with Dimmes-
dale, all the while trying to ferret out his secret. In
his dying moments, Dimmesdale publicly confesses
that he is Pearl’s father. Hester and Pearl later leave
Boston, but at the novel’s end Hester returns to
her seaside cottage and again takes up her scarlet
“A.” Hawthorne uses Hester’s story to explore the
nature of symbolism and the themes of religion,
parenthood, and the individual and society,
among others.
Laurie A. Sterlingindividual and Society in The Scarlet Letter
The second paragraph of The Scarlet Letter intro-
duces the notion of the social contract when the
narrator says, “The founders of a new colony . . .
have invariably recognized it among their earli-