“Rappaccini's Daughter” – The ThemeIn Nathaniel Hawthorne's tale, “Rappaccini's Daughter,” the dominant theme is the evil within humanity . This essay aims to explore, illustrate and expand on this topic. Hyatt Wagoner in “Nathaniel Hawthorne” says: Alienation is perhaps the theme he treats most powerfully. “Isolation,” he sometimes called it – suggesting not only isolation but impermeability. It is the opposite of this “osmosis of being” that Warren speaks of, this ability to react and establish relationships with others and the world. . . . it places us outside the “magic circle” or “magnetic chain” of humanity, where there is neither love nor reality (54). Wagoner's theme of alienation does play a role in "Rappaccini's Daughter" in reference to the doctor and Beatrice, and Giovanni after being rendered poisoned by prolonged contact with Beatrice. But alienation is not, in the eyes of this reader, the dominant theme of the tale. The overarching theme would be the evil that resides inside human beings, regardless of their outward appeal. “Everything he has to say is ultimately related to ‘this inner sphere’” (McPherson 68-69). Giovanni's love for the beautiful girl blinds him to the various indications of her venomous nature, to his father's evil nature, and to his father's intention to involve Giovanni as a subject in his sinister experiment. At the climax, his blindness is lifted and he sees, with Beatrice's help, the truth of the situation; he sees the evil inside man. The story takes place in Padua, Italy, where a student from Naples named Giovanni Guascanti has moved to attend medical school there. His fashions...... middle of paper ......es Press, 1968.Hawthorne, Nathaniel. “Rappaccini’s daughter.” Electronic text center. University of Virginia Library. http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/etcbin/browse-mixed-new?id="HawRapp"&images=images/modeng&data=/texts/english/modeng/parsed&tag=publicKazin, Alfred. Introduction. Selected short stories by Nathaniel Hawthorne. New York: Fawcett Premier, 1966. McPherson, Hugo. “Hawthorne’s Use of Mythology.” In Readings on Nathaniel Hawthorne, edited by Clarice Swisher. San Diego, CA: Greenhaven Press, 1996. Wagoner, Hyatt. “Nathaniel Hawthorne.” In Six Nineteenth-Century American Novelists, edited by Richard Foster. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1968. Williams, Stanley T. “The Puritan Spirit of Hawthorne.” In Readings on Nathaniel Hawthorne, edited by Clarice Swisher. San Diego, CA: Greenhaven Press, 1996.