Browse Stories

In Padua, a young student named Giovanni becomes infatuated with Beatrice, the beautiful daughter of Dr. Rappaccini. But Beatrice tends a garden of poisonous plants cultivated by her father’s twisted science—and she herself has been raised on poison. In this dark tale of love and science, Giovanni discovers that to be with Beatrice, he too must risk becoming a monster.

Reverend Hooper shocks his New England congregation by donning a mysterious black veil over his face. As he stubbornly refuses to remove it throughout his life—even unto his deathbed—the veil’s dark symbolism instills fear and provokes profound reflections on secret sin and isolation.