A Rose for Emily and Rappaccinis Daughter - Research Paper Example

? Short Story Analysis Short Story Analysis I have chosen two works by William Faulkner and Nathaniel Hawthorne respectively that fall under the genre of short stories. A Rose for Emily and Rappaccini’s Daughter are two works that contain a tragic setting where the main characters are met by death towards the end of the book. Furthermore, the books present a rather gloomy climate in which the characters seem drawn in to a social conflict for their own realization. The characters in the story seem consistent on the note that both of them have rarely stepped outside their homes to watch and experience the outside world. Both Miss Emily and Beatrice seem to be constrained inside their homes having minimal social or intimate interaction with the people outside. I aim to analyze the plot, characterization, and the mood that is created in the two works. By doing so, I wish to develop an abstract interpretation of the two literary works and find a contrast in the elements of the two works. A Rose for Emily, written by William Faulkner is a short story about a once wealthy woman who was now only left with a house after her father died. The story involves a tragic condition of Miss Emily who was once an influential person of the town whose house was one of the finest when she moved here. Her monetary condition as well as physical condition declines as she could not get married although she got into an affair with Homer Barron. After Miss Emily’s dies, the story takes a horror turn after the townspeople find out the dead body of her lover, Homer in one of the rooms of her house. The story makes a grim and gloomy setting throughout with the tragic conditions of Miss Emily and the ghastly setting of her house. The story presents a sad cycle of how Miss Emily goes from being a wealthy and influential owner of the finest house of her times to being a miserable woman who cannot even afford to pay her taxes anymore (Faulkner & Inge, 1970). Rappaccini's Daughter written by Nathaniel Hawthorne is a tragic short story about a botanical specialist Dr. Giacomo Rappaccini whose daughter has grown up among different herbs and plants that have been grown by her father in their garden. It happens that the daughter, Beatrice Rappaccini, develops a poisonous personality within herself after being grown up among the poisonous plants in her garden. When a young student named Giovanni Guasconti comes to attend university in the town, he falls in love with Beatrice coming to know about her poisonous nature. Giovanni has been warned by his teacher, Professor Baglioni, who tells him that Rappaccini’s work is not legitimate and that his work should be avoided. But Giovanni loves Beatrice who is poisoned herself. After a few interactions, Giovanni comes to know that the poison has also transmitted within him and he tries to remedy his and Beatrice’s poison with an antidote. The story comes to tragic end after Beatrice dies in an attempt by Giovanni to devenomize her. The story demonstrates the immunity of Beatrice to the poisonous plants and her poisonous nature towards others. Also, it represents a struggle to live like normal human beings without any odd characteristics (Hawthorne & Schama, 2003). The plot in A Rose for Emily has been developed to show how Miss Emily’s family goes from being from a high class to one who has to live on a form of charity from the townspeople that exempts her from paying any taxes on her house. The story line introduces how Miss Emily’s house was once grand and the finest one of its kind in the town. Later as the story progresses, more people come to live in the town and it is more of an industrial locality now. Miss Emily’s house reduces to an old and smelly place that no longer holds the splendor it once did. The townspeople start pitying her for her conditions after her father dies and she is left with nothing but just an old and gloomy house. After her father’s death she is in a state of denial after which conditions of the house worsen. She had not been married because her father did not think the town had anyone that could meet their standard. She does get into an affair with Homer Barron but that soon seems to halt after his disappearance. Miss Emily is hardly ever seen to step outside her house except a few sightings of her from her window. The plot represents a social class conflict where Miss Emily, being of a higher class was unable to marry coupled with the obstructions from her father’s side (Faulkner & Inge, 1970). The plot of Rappaccini’s Daughter illustrates a social conflict occurring as a result of the inherent personality characteristics of Beatrice who has developed immunity to the poisonous plants of her garden. Her poisonous quality makes her poisonous to people who not possess immunity to the poisonous plants. After Giovanni falls in love with her he is determined to make her like other normal humans and to recover her from her venomous personality. As it is impossible to think of their union without her normal recovery, it is essential to retrieve her to a normal devenomized state. The plot builds the story such that the reader is aware that the person responsible for the condition of Beatrice is her father who has grown the poisonous plants in the garden. Her father being a botanical physician is a hope to experiment with curious plants for unknown purposes. This results in the poor state of Beatrice who has now developed immunity such that she can no longer enjoy social intimacy with others as it may prove to be fatal for others. That is also why she hardly ever been outside her house (Hawthorne & Schama, 2003). The plot in the two works plays an important role in declaring the social struggle faced by Miss Emily and Beatrice. Both somewhat face a similar conflict where they cannot develop social closeness with others in Miss Emily’s case due to her social class and her father’s interventions, and in Beatrice’s case her poisonous immunity that is harmful for others. The story lines of both works illustrate a rather grievous situation for both characters where Miss Emily becomes an object of pity and sorrow and Beatrice is faced by a sad circumstance after her closeness with Giovanni is proving to be detrimental for the wellbeing of Giovanni. In Beatrice’s case too, her father’s strange experiments result in her poisonous condition that later takes her life in order to get a cure. The characterization plays an essential role in creating the relevant mood and bringing out the social conflict being faced by Miss Emily. The character of Miss Emily is effectively characterized by a strange personality who has a deep relationship with the townspeople mainly due to her sad conditions. The townspeople now feel sorry for her because of her inability to afford tax payment for her house. This is also why she has been exempted from paying tax. An even significant role is played by the representation of her house which was once a fine house built on one of the best streets. But now as years have passed, Miss Emily has become more miserable who has become an obligation on the dwellers of the town. She now depends on the townspeople for care. Her house has also become an old, dark, gloomy, and smelly place which hardly receives sun light in its rooms (Faulkner & Inge, 1970). In Rappaccini’s Daughter, the characterization of her father is more important due to the “evil” tinge that is present in his personality who has turned is daughter into a poisonous mutant. Professor Baglioni warned Giovanni of Beatrice’s father who could do anything even take an innocent life to conduct his experiment. Giovanni is also told of his poisonous plants that had been modified such. Hawthorne characterizes Beatrice as an innocent girl who also starts loving Giovanni but due to her poisonous nature, she stays away from any close interaction with Giovanni. Because of her inherent poison, she is kept away from any social communication with people outside her house and she is left circumscribed within the boundaries of her home. After Giovanni later develops the same poisonous symptoms as Beatrice, Rappaccini is happy and says that the two can now live together in peace. The devilish characterization of Rappaccini illustrates how Beatrice is pushed into the social conflict she faces as a result of the poison within her (Hawthorne & Schama, 2003). The characterization of Miss Emily and Beatrice and Giacomo Rappaccini gradually builds the social struggle faced by the two characters of being isolated within their homes. Miss Emily through her character represents a pitiful character that the townspeople see as an imposition and therefore feel sorry for her. From belonging to a superior family, she is now reduced to a sorrowful character that lives as an obligatory object on the townspeople. Beatrice on the other hand, faces a lack of closeness due to the poison within her which hurdles her relationship with Giovanni. In A Rose for Emily, the mood has been built to create a sad and gloomy atmosphere starting from the kind of life spent by Miss Emily to her funeral. When the story introduces Miss Emily’s family background, the descriptions about her house create a distressing environment that trigger a reader to think of the pitiful conditions of Miss Emily. The mood often created to demonstrate Miss Emily to be the center of the townspeople’s pity. Equally important is the description of Miss Emily’s house which was once the best in town but now it is old and smells so much that the townspeople had to sprinkle lime around the house to mask the smell. The fact that the rooms of her do not receive sun light creates a dull and dreary environment that makes a reader suspicious of some mysterious and scary activity. Also, the fact that Miss Emily had not been able to marry and now had gain weight and gone old represents her struggle to associate with people. She seems to be more of a lonely character that does not like to socialize with the townspeople and rarely steps outside her house except a few glances from her window (Faulkner & Inge, 1970). The mood of the story in Rappaccini’s Daughter develops to later demonstrate the hopelessness of Beatrice to return to normal state after being immunized to poisonous plants as a result of her father’s experiments. The mood created is often cryptic illustrating the strange experiments of Dr. Giacomo Rappaccini as being fatal for others thereby inhibiting Beatrice from developing intimacy with others and confining her within the boundaries of their home. The tone of the story reveals the social struggle faced by Beatrice to return to normal especially after Giovanni acquires the same poisonous symptoms. Rappaccini avoided touching the poisonous purple flower shrubs and asked Beatrice to touch the plants enabling her to come into contact with the poisonous shrubs. Hawthorne sets the mood to create a tragic atmosphere where Beatrice has been made to become venomous by her father due to which can she can no longer enjoy close relationships with other people and has been left isolated. Throughout, the mood makes the reader suspicious of the mysterious Dr. Giacomo Rappaccini who can merely do anything while experimenting with the strange plants (Hawthorne & Schama, 2003). The mood is perhaps the most important element in exposing the readers to the social struggle experienced by the two characters, Miss Emily and Beatrice. While the social struggle faced by the two is slightly different in the sense that Miss Emily feels more of a class related conflict with herself as she has now reduced in status. The mood of the story A Rose for Emily is more terrifying than tragic as it appears that Miss Emily had killed Homer Barron. As the story explains the early life of Miss Emily, the mood expresses her as a sorrowful character that has been left to the pity of the townspeople. A Rose for Emily keeps moving back and forth as the story progresses. The story starts with Miss Emily’s funeral and goes on to explain how she spent her life. Details of her life are given telling the readers about her high social status which later declines as she is only left with her old house after her father dies. Through the physical and emotional isolation represented in the story, Miss Emily reflects the transition from one generation to another. As Faulkner himself demonstrates the importance of past and present in his other works, the story reflects the importance of the past (Miss Emily’s grand past) for Faulkner. Miss Emily’s story reflects Faulkner’s own conflicts with time and the past that should not be forgotten. Faulkner brings an essence of Southern Gothic sensibility. While it is unlikely that Faulkner experienced the same unusual circumstances as that of Miss Emily, the story does reflect the degree of importance of past for Faulkner. Although Faulkner himself never experienced such a huge shift in social class, the story reflects the eccentric nature of Miss Emily who has isolated herself within her house. Faulkner meant the work as a ghost story and he wants readers to feel a motivation to go outside and interact with others around. Also, he wants the readers to acknowledge the glory of the past and to accept the present despite its changes. Rappaccini’s Daughter reflects the loss that results from developing an intimate relation with Beatrice. It is also important to consider the fact that the time around which Hawthorne wrote the book was a time of great industrial revolution and scientific research. Hence, the story demonstrates the destructive effects of unethical scientific manipulative experiments that Dr. Giacomo Rappaccini carried out in his garden by planting poisonous purple flower bearing plant. Biography of Nathaniel Hawthorne tells that his friends often felt a grieving side during conversations as if he was frequented by something murky. The isolated side of Beatrice reflects the tendency of the author to be asocial as he hardly ever socialized with other people except his wife. In the short story, Beatrice has been shown as an asocial character that hardly leaves her house due to her strange immunity to the poisonous plant which keeps her away from developing a close relationship with anyone including Giovanni. By analyzing the three elements, plot, characterization, and mood, an interpretation of the social conflicts faced by the characters illustrates slight similarities between Miss Emily and Beatrice in terms of isolation. However, Miss Emily also faces a social dilemma after she is only left with her old family house after the death of her father. Beatrice on the other hand, faces a social dilemma when she is unable to develop a close relationship with Giovanni although she loves him because of her strange immunity to the poisonous plant. Therefore, by analyzing and interpreting the elements, several differences and similarities have been found between the social struggles as they have been disclosed by the elements. References Hawthorne, N., & Schama, S. (2003). Rappaccini's daughter. London: Hesperus Press. Faulkner, W., & Inge, M. T. (1970). A Rose for Emily. Columbus, Ohio: Merrill. Read More