• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.19 no.10
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• pp.456-466
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• 2018

Nathaniel Hawthorne mainly deals with the ethical problems of sin and punishment in his works. Through these topics, readers have the opportunity to look more deeply into human nature. In Rappaccini's Daughter, he explains how the power of men influences a woman's life and drives her to death. Her father, Rappaccini, cultivates plants in his garden that are toxic and conducts a scientific experiment that gives his daughter Beatrice a fatal level of toxicity. He insists that this experiment was performed to protect Beatrice, but ultimately, it causes her death. Giovanni, who falls in love with Beatrice, provided an antidote in the attempt to detoxify her, but it resulted in her death. Finally, Baglioni used Giovanni to steer Beatrice to drink the antidote to defend his social status. The three men's selfishness and jealousy led to the demise of Beatrice, who eventually died from the selfish power of men and not due to her toxicity.