Hubris or Salvation? The Dangers and Lures of Biotechnology in Rappaccini’s Daughter by Nathaniel Hawthorne and Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

The two literary works analyzed are separated by more than a century and a half – a period during which humanity has witnessed not only spectacular scientific and technological progress, but also a diversification of attempts to define what it means to be human. However, they are united by the same concerns about the relationship between science and humanity. The aim of the paper is to examine the two works comparatively, focusing on how they portray scientifically altered beings – Beatrice and Kathy H. – as products of biotechnological ambition and moral failure. Although conceived as instruments of human progress, these figures become marginalized “others”, revealing the ethical and emotional void behind scientific experimentation detached from compassion

Daughter · Hubris · Humanity · Reinterpretation · Contemporary Literature and Criticism · Ecocriticism and Environmental Literature · Literature, Film, and Journalism Analysis