Hawthorne employs the
kind of inflated language associated with Gothic . For example, the lodgings taken by Giovanni
Guasconti are "gloomy," and Signor Rappaccini approaches the plants as though they
possess some "terrible fatality." It all seems "strangely frightful" to
Giovanni. His dreams, after his first sighting of Rappaccini and Beatrice, were full of the
"mysteries" he imagined. When he awakens, he feels "surprised, and a little
ashamed" by what he'd imagined before. When Giovanni sees the death of the lizard, he
wonders if Beatrice is beautiful or "terrible." Language that is expressive of
mystery, terror, surprise, and even darkness is common to Gothic fiction.
Another element commonly associated with the Gothic is supernatural or seemingly inexplicable
events. For example, when Giovanni sees Beatrice interacting with the flowers in the garden, he
thinks, "Flower and maiden were different and yet the same, and fraught with some strange
peril in either shape." When a drop...
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