Literary Devices in Rappaccini's Daughter

Giovanni and the narrator both use metaphors to compare Giovanni to elements from the garden. Giovanni says he is “no flower to perish in her grasp,” and the narrator says he is as “white as marble.” Flowers and statuary both exist in the garden. Though Giovanni denies that he is a flower, the comparisons nevertheless suggest Giovanni is becoming an element in the garden and falling under Rappaccini’s control.

This simile compares Giovanni’s suspicions to “demons.” In response to Professor Baglioni’s gossip, Giovanni grows concerned that Beatrice would give poison to patients. This simile reveals that Giovanni’s suspicions are becoming menacing and his fear of Beatrice is growing.

In another simile that describes Giovanni’s emotional state, his suspicions are “monster-like,” and his love becomes “thin and faint as the morning mist.” It’s unclear exactly what Giovanni’s suspicions are. He could be worrying that Beatrice doesn’t love him as much as he does her or that she will never allow them to have a physical relationship. Giovanni’s feelings are prone to dramatic fluctuations.

In this simile, the narrator compares Giovanni and Beatrice’s dialogue to the “tongues of long-hidden flame.” This suggests that, as the story progresses, their feelings grow in heat and passion. However, this image also suggests that their love, like fire, has elements of danger.

This line is one of the few instances where the narrator pulls away from Giovanni’s point of view and takes on a philosophical tone. The narrator describes love as stubborn and suggests that Giovanni’s feelings for Beatrice are a “semblance of love” that “strikes no depth.” In other words, Giovanni’s feelings for Beatrice are shallow and inauthentic. The narrator also foreshadows tragic events ahead, revealing that Giovanni’s feelings are “doomed to vanish.”

In this simile, the narrator compares Beatrice’s voice to a dagger. Beatrice is trying to save Giovanni by preventing him from touching the flowers; yet, she herself is also a dangerous weapon. This introduces the irony that is at the heart of the story’s ending: that which might prevent death causes it.

The narrator develops a conflicting sequence of metaphors to describe Beatrice’s character in this interaction with Giovanni. First, she beams “like the light of truth itself.” This description gives Beatrice a god-like or angelic aspect. Then, Beatrice’s breath “embalmed her words with a strange richness.” Embalming is the process by which bodies are chemically preserved after death, so Beatrice’s breath is given grim, macabre power. This complex development, associating Beatrice with both light and dark, supports the reading that her character and the story avoid simple moral evaluation.

The narrator uses a simile to compare Lisbetta’s face to a “grotesque carving in wood.” A grotesque is a distorted figure, and is usually ugly or even comically repulsive. This simile hints at the sinister nature of Lisbetta’s suggestion as she tempts Giovanni into the garden. It also suggests that Giovanni doesn’t quite appreciate the true danger of the undertaking.

The narrator uses personification to characterize the plants in the garden. Plants bask and nod, and even have feelings toward each other, such as “sympathy” and “kindred.” This description reflects Giovanni’s positive outlook at this moment in the story. He is curious about Rappaccini and ignores warnings about him. Giovanni is also intrigued by Beatrice, whom he has just learned is admired throughout Padua.

This passage draws an extended metaphor that compares Beatrice to the purple flowers in the garden: They are sisters who perform “the duties of affection,” and they are “different, and yet the same, and fraught with some strange peril in either shape.” Giovanni sees Beatrice and the flowers as equal, and seems intoxicated by and afraid of both; there is also a strong erotic connotation that associates Beatrice’s female body with the shape of the flower, adding further complexity to Giovanni’s reaction to both.

As Giovanni admires the garden, he sees Rappaccini working therein. Giovanni notices that Rappaccini is walking strangely, as though he fears the plants are “malignant influences.” The narrator develops a metaphor in which the flowers are compared to “savage beasts,” “deadly snakes,” and “evil spirits.” Though readers already know the plants are used for medicines, this passage foreshadows the grim, deadly nature of the plants in Rappaccini’s garden.

The narrator uses a simile to describe the other plants’ movement as “serpent-like.” The reference to snakes suggests that the plants in the garden are more powerful, or more dangerous, than just plants. It is also an example of religious imagery, drawing a parallel between this garden and the biblical Garden of Eden.

In the initial description of the purple flowers in the garden, the narrator uses a metaphor to compare them to “a gem.” This suggests that the flowers are precious, rare, and eternal. Giovanni is tantalized by the garden itself before he sees Beatrice.

Hawthorne uses the introduction to emphasize the allegorical nature of his writing, generally, as well as this short story. Ironically, despite the story’s allegorical nature, it defies any easy, clear moral reading as it unfolds.