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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Giovanni have to force himself through to get into the garden?

2. What is Rappaccini's first name?

3. What does Giovanni think Rappaccini looks like he is working among when he walks among his plants and flowers?

4. What does Giovanni hear when Lisabetta opens the garden gate?

5. What does Liabetta say a young man in Padua would give to be among Rappaccini's flowers?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Giovanni try to stop thinking about Beatrice?

2. What signs are there that Rappaccini is afraid to touch the plants?

3. How does Beatrice treat the plants differently to her father?

4. How does the insect die?

5. How does Giovanni know Professor Baglioni?

6. How does Lisabetta act when Giovanni arrives home?

7. How does the author describe the purple flower?

8. What does this section suggest about Giovanni's life thus far?

9. In what way can the Rappaccini's garden be compared to the Garden of Eden?

10. How does this opening section express Giovanni's youthful energy?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Examine what the following elements of the story symbolize.

1. The purple flower.

2. The cracked marble fountain.

3. The silver phial.

4. The spider.

Essay Topic 2

Examine the author's writing style. How would you describe the author's prose style? What kind of vocabulary does he use? What meaning does the author's style give to the story?

Essay Topic 3

How do Rappaccini and Baglioni use Beatrice and Giovanni for their own needs? What comment does their abuse of the two youngsters make on the nature of science, academia and the intellect?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 755 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample