Rappaccini’s Daughter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Short summary

5 seconds

Giovanni falls in love with Beatrice, a girl bred in the poisonous gardens. He tries to help her so they can be together, but nothing works and the girl dies.

1 minute

The action takes place in Padua, in the distant past. Giovanni Guasconti, a young student of literature at the University of Padua, looks from his room at Beatrice, the beautiful daughter of Dr. Giacomo Rapacini, a scientist working alone. Beatrice sits in the enclosed gardens, which are filled with poisonous plants cultivated by her father.

Falling in love, Giovanni enters the gardens and meets Beatrice several times, ignoring his mentor, Professor Pietro Baglioni, who warns him that Rapacini is insidious and that he and his work should be wary. Giovanni discovers that Beatrice, having been raised in the presence of poison, is herself poisonous. He begins to suffer the consequences of his encounters with Beatrice, and discovers that he himself has become poisonous.

After another encounter with Baglioni, Giovanni brings Beatrice a powerful antidote so that they can be together, but the antidote kills the girl rather than curing her poisonous nature.