Nathaniel Hawthorne's Short Stories A Comparison of Two Short

The two short stories, "Rappaccini's Daughter" and "Young Goodman Brown" typify the short works of Nathaniel Hawthorne, the American writer who lived from 1804 to 1864. It is the purpose of this paper to compare and contrast the two stories in terms of conventional literary concepts.

Both of the stories deal with the basic themes of good and evil and, in particular, the struggle with death and fear of death. Beatrice, Rappaccini's daughter, has led a skewed, poisoned life, at the mercy of her mad scientist father who views her more or less as only one more botanical specimen, a subject for his experimentation. She knows nothing about living, only about relating with the plants in the garden where her father has imprisoned her.

Giovanni, the young man who becomes interested in her, notes to his dismay that within Beatrice's presence, a lizard dies, a flying insect dies, and the bouquet tossed from his window withers within her grasp. During the course of the story, Giovanni becomes imbued with the death-like qualities by association with her, and he too kills insects with his very breath. Hawthorne's choice of words leans heavily toward the death theme--"Could it be that Beatrice's breath ... thus embalmed her words with a strange richness...?" (McLaughlin 646). The two lovers conclude the story with a kiss of death.

The struggle between good and evil is also a theme in "Young Goodman Brown." Brown takes off

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ral series of events, all of which flow from the circumstances and characters. In both pieces logic holds the stories together. One expects that Giovanni's passion for Beatrice will lead him to death, even with his full knowledge of that consequence. One expects that Brown's innocent wife will somehow be involved in the cult activities because so much emphasis is placed upon her beauty and purity at the beginning of "Young Goodman Brown." Brown is the protagonist with no clear antagonist, save the curious human tendency toward evil. Giovanni is a protagonist with the opposition of antagonist Rappaccini. On a broader scale, evil wins out over the protagonist of youth and pure love. These types of conflicts are typical of the styles and values of the era during which the stories were written. They can only be appreciated with a perspective of the historical time period, much different from what one would find in a modern short story. The literary device of metaphor appears in "Rappaccini's Daughter." Beatrice's favorite flower bush is termed a sister, "one sister performing the duties of affection to another" (McLaughlin 636). Strange plants bask in the sunshine and acknowledge sympathy and kindred feeling. The garden se

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