Rappaccini's Daughter characters

Appears from the start

A young student from southern Italy who comes to Padua to continue his studies. From his lodging he can see a remarkable private garden, and his curiosity soon centers on the young woman who tends it.

Appears from the start

Doctor Rappaccini's daughter, who lives largely within her father's enclosed garden. Beautiful and isolated, she handles its strange plants with an ease that makes Giovanni uncertain whether she is their caretaker, their companion, or another subject of the same experiment.

Also known as Doctor Rappaccini

Appears from the start

A celebrated physician and experimental botanist whose garden contains plants of unnatural beauty and danger. He approaches living things with extreme caution while studying them closely, suggesting that scientific ambition governs even his most intimate relationships.

Also known as Professor Baglioni

Appears from the start

A professor of medicine at the University of Padua and an old friend of Giovanni's family. He distrusts Rappaccini's methods and warns Giovanni that the doctor's pursuit of knowledge disregards ordinary human limits.

Appears from the start

The elderly woman who looks after Giovanni's lodgings. Friendly and talkative, she knows a private way into Rappaccini's garden and helps Giovanni enter the place he has watched from above.