These questions are for
Nathaniel Hawthorne's “Rappiccini's Daughter” (1332+); “The Birthmark” (1320+)
Copy and paste the questions and answers into an email with "Hawthorne Answers" as your subject heading and send to me. These questions will form part of your class participation grade.
To give a bit of time to work on them, these questions are due by Thursday, 4/24/08.
Do I need to add that you should use quotes for these? I didn't think so.
- How is Rappacini characterized? Through him, what is the narrator/Hawthorne suggesting about science?
- Why a garden, not a forest? What's the difference between a garden and a forest? Note, too, that the garden is enclosed.
“The aspect of one and all of them dissatisfied him; their gorgeousness seemed fierce, passionate, and even unnatural” (1323). Why are these plants “unnatural”? Why does the narrator describe them, through Giovanni, in such an odd light?
- Beatrice, as she's dying “Oh, was there not, from the first, more poison in thy nature than in mine?” (1333) How is this true?
- Use both "The Birthmark" and "Rappiccini" for this question. If you're feeling especially nimble, you can refer to Scarlet Letter as well. Roy Male makes the following claim about the role of women in H's fiction: “ Hawthorne's ability to create vital women in his fiction is inseparable from his understanding of tragedy. He knew that in order to find a home and a hope of heaven – in order, that is, to develop his full human potential – man must accept either the woman or the dual promise she represents: tragic involvement with sin but also the consequent possibility of redemption” (Male 247). How is this true? How do his female characters show that man must “accept” women.
- On "Birthmark:" How does this story illustrate American Romanticism/Transcendentalism? (Refer to your notes for list of traits)
See you on Tuesday.