“Rappaccini’s Daughter”
by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Guided Reading Questions
1. What causes Giovanni to sigh?
• Thinking about Dante's Inferno
• feeling a little homesick (p. 146)
2. What does Giovanni find
particularly eye-catching in the
garden?
• The shrub with the purple blooms that he
compares to gems (p. 147)
3. To what are the garden and
gardener compared?
• like someone walking among savage beasts or
poisonous snakes, who would shrink from
them as he passed
• also compared to Adam and the garden to
Eden. (p. 147-148)
4. What does the gardener do
when examining the plant that
Giovanni noticed?
• wore gloves
• put on a mask.(p. 148)
5. What images does the voice
suggest to Giovanni?
• tropical sunset
• the colors purple and crimson
• perfume. (p. 148)
6. What does Beatrice do that her
father does not?
• touches the plants
• inhales their odors. p. 148
7. What does Giovanni dream?
• Of a rich flower and a beautiful girl, each of
which is perilous. p. 149
8. What does Baglioni find
objectionable about Rappaccini?
• Rappaccini values science over human life. p.
150
9. What is Rappaccini's
particular interest?
• poisons - he thinks that they have medicinal
virtues. p. 150
10. Why might Baglioni have a
motivation to lie about
Rappaccini?
• they are professional rivals. p. 150
11. What shocking incident
occurs?
• the flower seems to kill a lizard
• Beatrice's breath seems to kill an insect. p. 152
12. What does Beatrice say she
would like to give Giovanni in
return? Why doesn't she?
• one of the purple flowers
• but she can't throw it that far. p. 153
13. What happens to the bouquet
Giovanni gives to Beatrice?
• It withers as she walks away with it. p. 153
14. What sort of look does
Rappaccini give Giovanni?
• A very intent look that seems to analyze him
deeply. p. 154
15. What warning does Baglioni
give Giovanni?
• Baglioni says Giovanni is probably a subject in
one of Rappaccini's experiments. p. 154
16. What possibility does
Giovanni consider?
• That Rappaccini told Lisabetta to show him
the secret door to the garden. p. 155
17. What is shocking or
objectionable about the flowers'
appearance?
• They seemed "fierce, passionate, and even
unnatural."
• Some seemed artificial, so that it was obvious
that they had been "created" by man. p. 156
18. What does Beatrice ask
Giovanni to do?
• She asks him to believe only what he sees with
his own eyes,
• and then agrees to ask him to believe only
what she says herself. p. 157
19. Why does Beatrice blush?
• he points out that she should ask him to only
believe what she says;
• she seems to realize that he had probably seen
her kill things with her breath. p. 157
20. What has Beatrice forgotten
for the first time in her life?
• She has forgotten her plant. p. 158
21. What does Giovanni do that
frightens Beatrice?
• He nearly picks one of the purple flowers. p.
158
22. What has happened to
Giovanni's hand?
• burning and tingling
• turned purple where she touched it. p. 159
23. How do Giovanni and
Beatrice feel about each other?
• They love each other. p. 160
24. What happens in the classic
book Baglioni has been reading?
Why does he relate this story to
Giovanni?
• The main character was given poisons from
birth so that she was immune to them but was
herself poisonous.
• Baglioni tells Giovanni this because he thinks
it’s what has happened to Beatrice. p. 160-161
25. How does Giovanni respond
to Baglioni's tale? Which of his
actions reveal that he believes the
professor's story?
• He calls it childish and says he doesn’t believe
it. p. 161
• However, he buys flowers so he can test her. p.
163
26. What does Baglioni give to
Giovanni? What is it supposed to
do?
• He gives Giovanni a silver vial of antidote
• It should rid Beatrice of the poison. p. 162
27. What does Giovanni assume
about Beatrice's outer and inner
nature?
• He assumes that they are the same – that she
cannot be imbued with poison unless she has a
monstrous soul as well. p. 163
28. What does Giovanni realize
about himself?
• He, too, is permeated with poison and can also
kill with his breath. p. 163
29. Why is Giovanni incapable of
seeing Beatrice's true nature?
• he is in love with her
• and in denial about all his doubts. p. 164
30. How did the plant come into
being? What is its relation to
Beatrice?
• Her father created it and it has been alive as
long as Beatrice.
• It was treated as a sister to Beatrice and she
loved it. p. 164
31. How does Giovanni behave
toward Beatrice?
• He blames her for what her father has done
and assumes that she enjoys being poisonous.
• He accuses her of luring him into her solitude
and making it impossible for him to return to
the outside world. p. 164-165
32. What does Beatrice say her
intentions were? Does she resemble
in any way the woman Giovanni has
accused her of being?
• She only wanted to love Giovanni and spend
some time with him, although she knew it
couldn’t last.
• She is not the woman he accuses her of being –
she is instead patient, kind, and lonely. p. 165
33. What does Giovanni realize?
Why is it too late?
• that they should be kind to each other since
they can never mingle with the outside world
again.
• However, after his unkind words, she’ll never
love him again. p. 166
34. Why is Beatrice shrinking
from Giovanni now?
• She shrinks from him because he has hurt her.
p. 166
35. What does Beatrice ask
Giovanni?
• “Oh, was there not, from the first, more poison
in thy nature than in mine?”
Post-Reading Worksheet
Investigate, Inquire, and Imagine
1. When and in what city does the story take
place? How does Giovanni Guasconti
happen to be there? How does he enjoy
spending his time when in his chamber?
• A long time ago in Padua, Italy.
• Giovanni is a student.
• In his chamber, he enjoys looking out the
window at Rappaccini’s garden. p. 146, 151
2. Who is Baglioni? What is his relationship
with Rappaccini? How does he warn Giovanni
when they meet on the street?
• Baglioni is an elderly doctor, and an old friend
of Giovanni’s father. p. 149-150
• He knows Rappaccini professionally and is a
professional rival; he also disapproves of
Rappaccini’s disregard for humankind. p. 150
• He warns Giovanni that he may already be a
subject of Rappaccini’s experiments. p. 154155
3. Before Giovanni meets Beatrice, what does
he see, or think he sees, that makes him fear
her? After he meets her, what makes him
ignore his fears until Baglioni's visit?
• He thinks he sees her purple plant kill a lizard
with a drop, and her breath kill an insect.
• He also thinks the flowers he gives her wither
in her hand. p. 152-153
• After he meets her, his love makes him ignore
his fears. p. 157
4. What things, natural and
unnatural, are considered poisonous
in this story? What behaviors?
• things: plants;
• behaviors:
– Rappaccini’s valuing of science over human life
and experimenting on his daughter;
– Giovanni’s treatment of Beatrice when he realizes
she is poisonous
5. Giovanni suspects that Rappaccini has
arranged for him to visit the garden. Why
does he think so? What might be Rappaccini's
reasons for allowing a man to visit Beatrice?
for choosing Giovanni to be that man?
• He thinks so because Lisabetta shows him the secret
entrance right after he sees Rappaccini examine him
in the street.
• Rappaccini seems to want to test his daughter’s
power on a man, and perhaps chooses Giovanni
because he has seen Giovanni looking out the
window into the garden.
6. Could Giovanni trust Baglioni's opinion of
Rappaccini? Why, or why not? At the end of
the story, why does Baglioni's voice suggest
triumph as well as horror?
• Yes - although Baglioni’s motives in
discrediting Rappaccini might be motivated
more by the professional rivalry they share, he
is ultimately right about Rappaccini.
• Baglioni’s voice suggests triumph as well as
horror because he is both proud to be correct
and horrified at what Rappaccini has done.
7. During their first meeting in the garden,
why does Beatrice hide her face and run away?
• Beatrice hides her face and runs away because
she is ashamed to realize that not only is the
plant fatal, but so is she (p. 158).
7. (cont) When G suggests that both he and
Beatrice drink the antidote, why does she say,
"I will drink—but do thou await the result"?
• She wants Giovanni to await the result because
she knows the antidote will be like poison to
her. She wants him to see what she gives up to
prove that she loves him and doesn’t want to
poison him.
7. (cont) Whose love is more real, Beatrice's
for Giovanni or Giovanni's for Beatrice?
• Her love is more real
• because she is willing to sacrifice herself for
his safety,
• whereas he is only willing to sacrifice her
safety for his own.
8. Is Rappaccini evil? Is Baglioni,
Beatrice, Lisabetta, or Giovanni himself?
• Rappaccini certainly has little respect for
human life and seems to desire mere power.
• Lisabetta motivated by money,
• Baglioni motivated partly by concern for
Giovanni but partly by his rivalry with
Rappaccini.
• Giovanni is naively unable to tell the
difference between a person’s character and
their circumstances which causes him to be
cruel to Beatrice.
8. (cont) How do you define evil? What degree
of evil does each of the characters possess?
• All of the characters possess some amount of
evil,
• perhaps Rappaccini is the worst because he is
so uncaring of the pain caused by his actions.
• Giovanni at least realizes he is wrong,
although it is too late.
9. In popular culture and throughout
history, people have accused others of
being poisonous, toxic, or a "bad
influence." Name examples of such
people and the ways they have
influenced the world around them. Then
name people or groups who have
countered them.
1. Fantasy. Is "Rappaccini's Daughter" a
fantasy, or do realistic elements dominate
the story? Explain, using examples from
the text.
• Fantasy: Rappaccini has bred super plants and
imbued Beatrice with poison w/o killing her.
• Realistic: modern genetics may make super
plants seem more plausible today.
• realistic elements are human interactions and
their emotional repercussions.
2. Symbol. Consider that the lush,
poisonous foliage in Rappaccini's garden
might represent temptation or evil. If so,
what does the fountain that flows
"cheerfully" into the garden pool
symbolize?
• The fountain, which surrounds the poisonous
purple sister plant, seems to symbolize
Beatrice’s pure character.
2. (cont) Does Beatrice also represent evil,
or something more complex? What might
Rappaccini himself symbolize?
• Beatrice symbolizes the difference between
outward appearances and inward qualities.
• Rappaccini symbolizes lust for power and its
consequences.
3. Allusion. How does the allusion to the
Biblical story of creation demonstrate
Rappaccini's pride?
• Rappaccini creates these poisonous plants, and
in a sense, creates a new species in Beatrice.
• His pride leads him to believe that she will
appreciate his creation as a gift, when in fact
she sees it as a curse. He can’t conceive of
anyone disagreeing with him.
3. (cont) What light does it throw on the
nature of the evil in Rappaccini and his
garden?
• This shows that Rappaccini’s evil is in not
considering the rights of others before taking
actions that will affect others.