Literally, Rappaccini's Daughter by Nathaniel Hawthorn is the story of the rivalry between two scientists that ultimately causes the destruction of a young woman innocent. However, when the story is examined on a symbolic level, the reader sees that Rappaccini's Daughter is an allegorical reenactment of the original fall from innocence and purity in the Garden of Eden. Rappaccini's garden sets the scene for this allegory, while the characters in the story each represent important characters from the Genesis story. Through the literary devices of poetic and descriptive diction, Nathaniel Hawthorne conveys the symbolism of these characters, as well as the setting. The story takes place in the mid-19th century in Padua, Italy, and revolves around two major settings; the mansion of an old Paduan family and the lush garden of Rappaccini. The mansion is described as "tall and gloomy...the palace of a Paduan nobleman...desolate and poorly furnished..." This description creates a gloomy mood throughout the story. Hawthorne writes: "One of the ancestors of this family...had been represented by Dante as participating in the immortal agonies of his Inferno..." Dante's allusion refers to The Divine Comedy and Inferno describes the souls in Hell. Additionally, Baglioni speaks with Giovanni in this room of the mansion and attempts to manipulate him into his attempt to destroy Rappaccini. In a sense, the dark and gloomy mansion symbolizes the domain of evil. The second major setting is the garden. The author uses poetic diction to describe Rappaccini's garden. Hawthorne writes: "There was one shrub in particular... which bore a profusion of purple flowers, each of which had the luster and richness of a precious stone... seemed sufficient to light up the... middle of paper... this 35 (1989): 43-69.Male, The Tragic Vision of Roy R. Hawthorne. Austin: Texas University Press, 1957. Marder, Daniel: A History of Literature in Nineteenth-Century America. America, Inc., 1984. Norford, Don Parry. “The garden of Rappaccini’s allegory. » American Literature 50 (1979): 167-186. Phal, Dennis. The indeterminate fictions of Poe, Hawthorne and Melville. : University of Missouri Press, 1989.Person, Leland S., Jr. Aesthetic Headaches: Women and Masculine Poetics in Poe, Melville, and Hawthorne Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1988.Shurr, William H. Rappaccini's Children: American Writers In. a Calvinist world. Lexington: University of Kentucky Press, 1981. Wagoner, Hyatt H. Hawthorne: A Critical Study Cambridge: Harvard University Press., 1955.