n be both good and evil within someone. For him, he thinks that someone is either all good or all bad. Even after Dr. Baglioni's revelation about Beatrice, Giovanni tries not to see the possibilities of Beatrice being poisonous. It is only when he realizes that now he too is poisonous that he truly allows himself to believe. Because of this, he becomes insanely angry, as if he is the only one wronged, and ventures forth to confront Beatrice. The woman that he before worshipped, he now calls "Accursed one!" (Hawthorne 624). Now, he is repulsed by Beatrice and loathes her. Giovanni hurts Beatrice deeply with his accusations and stinging words. However, through Baglioni's antidote he sees a possible way to cure them both. Beatrice takes the potion, urging Giovanni to wait and see what happens to her. At this point Beatrice dies because the poison in her body is too strong and the antidote causes her death. As she dies she says to Giovanni, "Thy words of hatred are like lead within my heart-but they, too, will fall away as I ascend. Oh, was there not, from the first, more poison in thy nature than in mine" (Hawthorne 626). Giovanni is a normal, but selfish student who is drawn into the Rappaccinis' lives. He is unable to separate Beatrice's good and sweet spirit from her poisonous body. He does not comprehend the possibility of an intermixture of good and evil within people. Once he finds out that she is indeed poisonous, he hates her. However, it is Giovanni in the end that is poisonous with his cruel words and the potion that he gives to Beatrice. In fact, although inadvertently, it is Giovanni who kills Beatrice by trying to change her nature with his antidote. The short story's title, "Rappaccini's Daughter" immediately tells the reader that the focus of the story is upon Beatrice even though she is not introduced to the reader for a couple pages. The first introduction to Beatrice teaches the reader that she is very beautiful and s...
