Gender expectations have been ingrained in society for generations, creating an image of what female identity should look like. In the 1800s, women in literature were often portrayed solely as domestic caretakers; their only goal was to take care of their children and their husbands. Nathaniel Hawthorne's writings often fall into this trope, however, with different intentions. Her work exaggerates the notion of female inferiority as a method of satirizing the general idea that men are the dominant sex. In “Rappaccini’s Daughter,” Hawthorne ridicules the 19th century perspective of male superiority through themes of female expectations. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get the original essay From Rappaccini's first introduction, he is presented as a most intelligent scientist, a man to be feared and respected. Baglioni describes him as “caring infinitely more for science than for humanity” (Hawthorne 4). Rappaccini's only companion is his daughter, Béatrice. Although he shares the same compassion for botany as his father, he uses it as an experiment against his free will. By prioritizing his passion for science over Beatrice, he neglected to view her as a human being. Rappaccini does not hesitate to “sacrifice human life [...] to add even a grain of mustard to the great pile of his accumulated knowledge” (Hawthorne 4). Rappaccini objects to Beatrice, depriving her of her own desires in the name of his own adoration. He injects poison into her body, condemning her to only touch and care for plants. Rappaccini deprives her of all the qualities that make her human, stealing her ability to love. Hawthorne creates this dynamic between Beatrice and Rappaccini to illustrate the effect of referring to women as housewives. Given free will, Hawthorne believes women are capable of greater things. Similar to Rappaccini, all men in the story are characterized by formal education, where Beatrice must only learn from her experiences. When Giovanni, educated at the University of Padua, first had a conversation with Beatrice, he noted speculation that he had heard of her gardening abilities. Giovanni asks him to teach him, claiming: "I should prove myself a more competent scholar than under Signor Rappaccini himself". Yet, unlike her father, Beatrice never had the opportunity for a formal education. Although her father was an intelligent man, he never taught Beatrice the true nature of his garden, nor shared with her the knowledge he had accumulated from her over the years. Rappaccini used Beatrice as a tool to help her advance academically in her career, but never thought she might have any interest in learning herself. Beatrice responds to Giovanni “although I grew up among these flowers, I know them no more than their hues and their scents” (Hawthorne 11). Even in her home environment, she never learned more about flowers than what her own senses could perceive. She spent her entire life devoted to the garden, but she never learned anything other than her own observations. Beatrice's ignorance is representative of men's constant desire to marginalize women. Hawthorne's use of sexism is prevalent throughout the story in an attempt to exaggerate the social differences that men place between themselves and women. Rappaccini refused to see Beatrice as a human being with her own.