Mankind’s desires have always been shown in a negative light. In Buddhism, it causes suffering; in Christianity, it is a deadly sin. Since the beginning of written records, religious texts have shown man’s ‘wanting’- whether it be lust or a thirst for knowledge- to be dangerous. In this way, Hawthorne uses allusions to the story of the Garden of Eden within Rappaccini’s Daughter to demonstrate why man’s desire is the reason behind its corruption and downfall.

By the ending of Rappaccini’s Daughter, we see Giovanni paralleling Eve in many ways, each way being a cause of their eventual downfalls. Within the story, both Giovanni and Eve portray a desire to stay with their partners- Giovanni’s desire being lust and Eve’s desire being loyalty. Giovanni eagerly confronts his love- the poisoned …show more content…
Many of the undertones in Rappaccini’s Daughter tell of Rappaccini's amoral personality. He is addicted to science and his thirst for knowledge, even poisoning his daughter as an experiment just to keep her safe. Yet his desire to keep Beatrice safe leads to the corruption of Giovanni, as shown when “[his] science, and the sympathy between [Beatrice] and [Giovanni], have so wrought within his system that he now stands apart from common man.” (pg 20), proving that because of Rappaccini’s science, Giovanni was now different from others- poisoned and corrupted along with Beatrice, and mirroring The Garden of Eden, in which God attempts to keep the forbidden fruit from Adam and Even until the serpent convinces the two to eat it, resulting in their loss of innocence and causing their downfalls. Although both characters originally harbored good intentions for their children, their action were also led by desire.The two’s desires to keep thier loved ones safe caused them to act recklessly, causing their loved one’s