In
"" by , Beatrice dies when her lover Giovanni gives her a potion that destroys the
immune system that had protected her against the poisonous flowers in her garden. As Giovanni
states,
It is composed of ingredients the most opposite to
those by which thy awful father has brought this calamity upon thee and me. It is distilled of
blessed herbs.
It is accidental death. Giovanni had hoped
by giving her the potion they would be able to leave the garden and become proper lovers. The
only time she had touched him before he had felt a "burning and tingling agony in his
hand" When he turned his hand over he saw that it had turned purple.
Unfortunately, she takes the antidote while she is still in the garden. She had been
protected so long from the poisonous plants that her body can't take it, and she dies at the
feet of her father and Giovanni. At the end of the story the man who gave Giovanni the antidote,
Baglioni, leans out of a window and says, "in a tone of triumph mixed with horror,"
Rappaccini! Rappaccini! And is this the upshot of your experiment?
No comments:
Post a Comment