Critically analyze the ending of “Rappaccinl’s Daughter”.

 Critically analyze the ending of “Rappaccinl’s Daughter”.
Ans:
In his short story, Hawthorne uses symbols to represent the material versus the fantasy world. The use of imagination is rife in the story, especially with the thought of limitless possibilities science could attain. It has been said that Rappaccini's Daughter is actually a reference to the experiences of the author’s wife when she lived a sheltered childhood as a young girl.
But the short story had a tragic ending compared to Hawthorne's real life. Many of the symbols and symbolic allusions are found in the setting of the story such as being set in Padua, with no specific time period.
Most of the scenes take place in a garden which the author dubbed as a place of adultery. Significantly, the garden itself is a contradiction being filled on one hand with lush and beautiful plants but also filled with poisonous flowers.
Rappaccini’s Daughter is, in fact, a heartbreaking story where none of the characters triumphs in the end. It is important to note another theme of the story which is betrayal that is seen in the characters
of Giovanni and Beatrice.
 As they fall in love, Giovanni creates a plan to save her but Beatrice neglects to mention her poisonous body. Giovanni who was poisoned in the process took this as an act of betrayal. Many would describe the plot of Rappaccini's Daughter as radical but this is only a reflection of the author’s real disposition being a transcendalist.
The story highlights common predicaments men face when making life changing decisions. Giovanni was advised by an older men to stay away from Beatrice since she is a temptress another label degrading women by connoting their evilness. However, Lisabetta an older woman encourages Giovanni and even helps him enter the garden.
When she meets Giovanni and falls in love she discovers, she can never be with him. When he attempts to cure her with an antidote, she takes it knowing that the antidote will act like poison to her. She chooses to die because she can never be with the man she loves.