Rappiccini's Daughter Character Analysis

Women in literary works are usually symbols of desire because the male authors that portray them perceive them through their lens of masculinity, but when literary works by female authors are used as comparison, then does the construction of women differ and then the stereotype is challenged. The construction of women is a stereotype that sexually objectifies women, even in the most humble way. The male perception of women is degrading and harmful to the role of women in society because it does not relate to them as humans, but objects that can be controlled and possessed. However, from the perception of a woman, women are portrayed as the reality of women. There is no sexual desire to disguise their worth as a woman and human. The three …show more content…
The stereotype of the young, pure, virginal, and beautiful girl is perpetuated in Hawthorne’s Rappiccini’s Daughter. This text shows a difference in the construction of women, but women are still desired. The young female in this text is not considered a woman, but a girl because of her virginal status, which makes her single and available and untouchable. The young man, Giovanni, admires Beatrice, the daughter, from afar at first because he has not been introduced yet. Here the metaphor of the male gaze is first introduced. The male gaze is the masculine view of woman, “She looked redundant with life, health, and energy; all of which attributes were bound down and compressed, as it were, and girdled tensely, by her virgin zone,” (Hawthorne 837). The audience is given one perspective of Beatrice through Giovanni’s eyes and only knows her character from the he way he decides to see her. His description of her points out that she has much energy and beauty, but it is seen that she is also being held back from reaching her potential. I think he sees a beautiful young girl that should be breaking young men’s hearts and not tending to her father’s garden. He is correct in his assumption that her life force is being contained and it is her father. The doctor keeps her away for protection, but his protection is controlling. Beatrice’s containment in her father’s home is an expression of women’s sexuality being controlled by men. Her destiny for love has already been chosen for her and she must either take what has been dealt to her or choose her own path and she decides on death. Her choice to die is the first decision she has made her own because all of the others have been provoked by her father or lover. Her father pushed her and Giovanni together, so that she may have someone to