He Came With A Vengeance
...“He has affected, or seemed to effect, a marvelous cure; but, to tell you my private mind, Signor Giovanni, he should receive little credit for such instances of success, -- they being probably the work of chance, -- but should be held strictly accountable for his failures, which may justly be considered his own work.” Baglioni clearly displays some sort of envy towards Rappaccini. He recognized Rappaccini as someone to spite, rather than someone with passion for his science work. He not only shows such feelings toward Rappaccini, but also to Rappaccini’s daughter, Beatrice. “I know little of the Signora Beatrice save that Rappaccini is said to have instructed her deeply in his science, and that, young and beautiful as fame reports her, she is already qualified to fill a professor’s chair. Perchance her father destines her for mine! Other absurd rumors there be, not worth talking about or listening to.” Through this quote, Baglioni shows us his real reason for not caring too much of the daughter and her father. He states the fear he has of possibly losing his professor’s chair to another person, and of that person being a woman. Baglioni expresses to himself his intentions to defeat Rappaccini. Hawthorne uses this as a foreshadowing of the stories end. “It is too insufferable an impertinence in Rappaccini, thus to snatch the lad out of my hands, as I may say, and make use of him for his infernal experiments. This daughter of his! It shall be looked at too. Perchance, most learned Rappaccini, I may foil you little dream of it!” Baglioni finds himself threatened. He fears he has risked the friendship of Giovanni, the son of a dear friend of his. He does this through various acts of befriending Giovanni, getting in to his head, and giving wild suggestions that lead to a fatality. First, Baglioni uses the ‘I am your friend technique:’ “What! Did I grow up side by side with your father? And shall his son pass me like a stranger in these old streets of Padua? Stand still, Signor Giovanni; for we must have a word or two before we part.” Second, Baglioni uses the ‘I am your friend, so therefore I am concerned about you and your well being:’ “Patience! Patience! I tell thee, my poor Giovanni, that Rappaccini has a scientific interest in thee. Thou hast fallen into fearful hands! And the Signora Beatrice, -- what part does she act on this mystery?” Finally, Baglioni uses an attempt that ended up being a success. He tells Giovanni a story that pushes him to see the light of his infatuation with Signor Beatrice. This in turn makes Giovanni realize what he has to do. But the key factor to this conversation is the way Baglioni comes in to it. He starts talking to Giovanni about the gossip of the city and the university. He then brings up another topic. This topic, of course, is what he intended to bring up as one would say, ‘out of the blue,’ but obviously for another purpose. “I have been reading an old classic author lately, and met with a story that strangely interested me. Possibly you may remember it. It is of an Indian prince, who sent a beautiful woman as a present to Alexander the Great. She was lovely as the dawn and gorgeous as the sunset; but what especially distinguished her was a certain rich perfume in her breath – richer than a garden of Persian roses. Alexander, as was natural to a youthful conqueror, fell in love at first sight with this magnificent stranger; but a certain sage physician, happening to be present, discovered a terrible secret in regard to her. That this lovely woman had been nourished with poisons from her birth upward, until her whole nature was so imbued with them that she herself had become the deadliest poison in existence. Poison was her element of life. With that rich perfume of her breath she blasted the very air. Her love would have been poison – her embrace death. Is not this a marvelous tale?” At this point in the story, Baglioni is very successful. He not only has Giovanni speculating the story at hand, but he also finds that Giovanni seems to contain this poisonous substance from a fragrance with in his room. “What singular ...