The Political Unconscious Interpretation Of Rappaccini’s Daughter

Nathaniel Hawthorne is one of the most famous romantic novelists and apsychological novelist in the19thcentury. Among his numerous works, his masterpieceThe Scarlet Letter is declared a classic almost immediately after its publication and hasalways been the focus of scholars and critics all over the world. Before The Scarlet Letterpermanently establishes Hawthorn’s reputation, his short stories have won him adequatecritical attention. Rappaccini’s Daughter is one of his most marvelous short stories. Thereare many scholars who have studied the novel from various perspectives at home andabroad, but this dissertation attempts to interpret Rappaccini’s Daughter with Jameson’sthe political unconscious.Fredric Jameson is a brilliant Marxist cultural critic. In The Political Unconscious, heinsists that every text or narrative is “in the last analysis” political and the political actalways pretends to be the repressed unconsciousness. So the aim of this dissertation is tounearth the political unconscious in Rappaccini’s Daughter.In the first narrowly political or historical horizon, the task is to restore Rappaccini’sgarden to its original archetype and to find corresponding historical events and medicaldisputes in reality. Hence when the death of Beatrice resolves the irreconcilable socialclass contradictions and medical disputes, Rappaccini’s Daughter stands out as a sociallysymbolic act. The aim of this dissertation is to interpret the political unconscious hidingbehind the disputes and social class contradictions. In the next horizon, when takingpoison as ideologeme to reveal the true nature of protagonists, it can be concluded thatRappaccini is empowered too many special privileges that triggers a series of problems.Finally, after unmasking the ideological strategies of containment, it explains the tragedyof the novel and comes to the conclusion that: firstly, there should be separation of powersand checks and balances between the strong like Rappaccini and Baglioni. In internationalrelations, this policy should also be applied to preventing the superpower from abusing itspower and any single power from controlling the whole. Secondly, it is the disorderly competition that leads to the tragedy of the tale. Therefore only under fair cooperation andcompetition can the good relations attain between the strong and the weak. So the strongand the weak should work towards a win-win situation through founding a balancebetween competition and cooperation. Thirdly, the weak like Lisabetta and Giovannishould achieve their self-realization by struggling hard rather than being opportunistic ortaking a shortcut when dealing with the strong.