Literary analysis of "Rappaccini's Daughter"

In many of Nathaniel Hawthorne's short stories, he creates characters with either a malicious or evil feature to relay to the reader a more allegorical meaning. In the story " Rapaccinni's Daughter" he uses Beatrice as a carrier of a deadly poison. Beatrice's relationship with Giovanni is the main plot of the story. To Giovanni, she is the woman who represents death and enslaves him but in reality she is not deliberately harmful to him. She …

…made her punishable for deeds she never intended to commit. The focus on the relationship between Giovanni and Beatrice is a major part of the story of "Rappaccini's Daughter"; with Beatrice being a carrier of a deadly poison. "Rappaccini's Daughter" is a wonderful example of Hawthorne's ability to show the evil that resides in his characters through symbolic representation. Works Sighted: Hawthorne, Nathaniel. "Rappuccini's Daughter." The Norton Anthology of American Literature. New York, London, 2003. 647-667