...HUMN 303 Week 7 Assignment Sheri A. Green DeVry University Professor Gessford August 23, 2014 Frankenstein, a novel first published in the year 1818, stands as the most talked about work of Mary Shelley’s literary career. She was just nineteen years old when she penned this novel, and throughout her lifetime she could not produce any other work that surpasses this novel in terms of creativity and vision. In this novel, Shelley found an outlet for her own intense sense of victimization, and her desperate struggle for love. Traumatized by her failed childbirth incidents, troubled childhood, and scandalous courtship, many of Shelley’s life experiences can be seen reflected in the novel. When discussing the character and development of the monster, Shelley launches an extensive discussion on the need for a proper environment and education for a child’s moral development. When we explore the novel in depth, we can see that it exudes the true horror of childbirth felt by Shelley, and articulates the fears and anxieties she had regarding her reproductive and nurturing capabilities. Shelley’s life was marked by a series of pregnancies, miscarriages, childbirths, and deaths. Her firsthand experience of a bereavement started early in her life, when her mother died when she was eleven days old, because of a puerperal fever contacted because of childbirth. This marked her first encounter with pregnancy and related complications, but unfortunately, it was not the last...
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...Reading Between the Lines: An analysis of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, or, the Modern Prometheus, using Horace Walpole’s The Castle of Otranto as an example of male discourse about women Louise Othello Knudsen English Almen, 10th semester Master’s Thesis 31-07-2012 Tabel of Contents Abstract ................................................................................................................................................ 3 Introduction .......................................................................................................................................... 5 Historical Context .............................................................................................................................. 10 The View on Women and Their Expected Roles in the late 18th and 19th Century ....................... 11 - Mary Shelley disowns herself .................................................................................................. 11 - Mary Shelley’s Background .................................................................................................... 12 Women’s Role in Frankenstein ..................................................................................................... 13 Men’s Role in Frankenstein ........................................................................................................... 13 - Women in Society and Women as Writers .........................................................
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...Khizer Awan AP LIT Frankenstein Literary Analysis I Must Know More Frankenstein written by Mary Shelley is a romantic era novel based on the theme of knowledge. The word “knowledge” reoccurred many times throughout Frankenstein and forced the reader to understand the definition of it. According to Webster’s Dictionary, knowledge is defined as “Knowledge: n. Understanding gained by actual experience; range of information; clear perception of truth; something learned and kept in the mind.” The word knowledge is very simple, but has different meanings to all of us. Knowledge is the tool we use in making proper judgement. Knowledge is an extremely powerful thing and it must be used wisely and properly. Carelessly using knowledge can cause terrible consequences. The novel, Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, is a novel that has many comparisons of powers in life. It pertains to many themes in society today. Frankenstein contrasts science, technology, life and death, and most importantly knowledge and ignorance. It shows the consequences of knowledge in both negative and positive ways. In Frankenstein, three characters searched for one thing - knowledge. Unfortunately the results of their search differed from what they had anticipated. Walton, blinded by ambition, believed that search for knowledge on the route to the North Pole would bring fame to his name, but he quickly learned that he ended up only with the danger to the lives of his crew. Frankenstein, driven by passion...
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...Rosario Sandoval The Horror Story- Section 031 November 14, 2014 Mary Shelley’s story “Frankenstein” is a story of a young man obsessed with the creation of mankind. We are introduced to Victor Frankenstein a man that uses all his education and resources to create a new human. With good intentions Victor creates not a human but a monster too terrible to even look at. Victor’s new creation provokes him fear causing him to abandon his own creation. This creature abandon by his creator becomes Victor’s Frankenstein’s nightmare and becomes the monster of Mary Shelley’s story. The following will show how Shelley’s intentions were meant for Victor’s creation to be seen as the true monster in the story. Victor Frankenstein wanted to create a human to improve humankind. He made is creation out of various parts of human corpses. Victor then realizes that his creation is hideous. The creation is a monster; he is larger than any human about eight feet tall, with yellow skin and scary eyes. The appearance of the creation is one of the first signs that he is a monster. His own creator becomes fearful of him and due to the monsters appearance he is unable to have any type of human interaction. People who see him fear and perceive him as a monster. The creation has now been perceived as a monster. He has been rejected by his creator and now by all humankind. Causing Victor’s creation to feel anger towards all humans especially Victor. On the discussion board, Allison Mascivecchino defends...
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...In her novel, Frankenstein, Mary Shelley covers an array of themes which have been subjects of heated debates and controversy. The provocative nature of these themes has also arrested the interest of numerous literary critics, resulting in a huge assortment of critiques that detail their understanding and interpretation of the content and sentiments expressed in the novel. Topics of interest among the reviewers have ranged from the materialist inclinations and utopian ideals expressed in the novel, to the creativity of the author and relevancy of the content, to her own upbringing. This paper seeks to critically analyze the article, “‘Frankenstein’- a cautionary tale of bad parenting” by Susan Coulter, which reviews Shelley’s novel in relation...
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...death of and infant either at birth or shortly after is psychologically painful causing fear and depression. The death of the mother after childbirth would also contribute to this fear. Lockiophobia is the result, women fearing the birth process. Fear is a great motivator for humans, and it can push a person to do good or bad things. Mary Shelley chooses to write expressing her fears of childbirth in a uniquely creative way. Psychotherapy for individuals can be different, and she created her own through her writing. Utilizing the fictitious character of Frankenstein created by a male over a nine month time period before being brought to life. By avoiding the use of a female to create Frankenstein, the fearsome birthing process was bypassed. His life, filled with rejection and lack of love, severely depressed he choose to kill. Any further pregnancies for Mary Shelley would be encased with the fear of death, not only for the infant but also herself. Keywords: Mary Shelley, Frankenstein, childbirth, depression Introduction The fear of childbirth arises from past experience of the birth process, lockiophobia. Mary Shelley’s book was written about a monster that was brought to life. Childbirth does not always end happily, death of a child or mother is always a possibility and the ability to cope is not the same for every woman or their family. The pain and loneliness consumed her dreams and writing gave her the ability to cope. “My life will flow quietly away...
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...Frankenstein by Mary Shelley Key facts full title · Frankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus author · Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley type of work · Novel genre · Gothic science fiction language · English time and place written · Switzerland, 1816, and London, 1816–1817 date of first publication · January 1, 1818 publisher · Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor, & Jones narrator · The primary narrator is Robert Walton, who, in his letters, quotes Victor Frankenstein’s first-person narrative at length; Victor, in turn, quotes the monster’s first-person narrative; in addition, the lesser characters Elizabeth Lavenza and Alphonse Frankenstein narrate parts of the story through their letters to Victor. climax · The murder of Elizabeth Lavenza on the night of her wedding to Victor Frankenstein in Chapter 23 protagonist · Victor Frankenstein antagonist · Frankenstein’s monster setting (time) · Eighteenth century setting (place) · Geneva; the Swiss Alps; Ingolstadt; England and Scotland; the northern ice point of view · The point of view shifts with the narration, from Robert Walton to Victor Frankenstein to Frankenstein’s monster, then back to Walton, with a few digressions in the form of letters from Elizabeth Lavenza and Alphonse Frankenstein. falling action · After the murder of Elizabeth Lavenza, when Victor Frankenstein chases the monster to the northern ice, is rescued by Robert Walton, narrates his story, and dies tense · Past foreshadowing · Ubiquitous—throughout...
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...In this exquisite piece of literature named “Frankenstein”, Mary Shelley depicts Victor Frankenstein, born into a wealthy Genevan family and audacious scientist with a desire for discovery, creating a freak of nature we come to know as Frankenstein’s Monster all through the story-telling framing structure of letters by a man named Captain Robert Walton. Obsessed with old theory books of recreating natural wonders, Frankenstein studied endlessly for decades until he went off to college in Germany. During college, he excelled at his science classes while on the side partaking in several hidden studies to hide the grief of losing his mother shortly after leaving her to go to college. These experiments consisted of delving into the practice of transferring living matter to non-living objects. After concluding with plausible data, Victor Frankenstein took it to the next level; he attempted to create a humanoid figure. In order to fit the entirety of the necessary elements for this being to live as a proper functioning human being, Frankenstein resorted to making him freakishly large and proportionally gigantic. Nevertheless, he had succeeded. The being was alive! Since, the question of technology going overboard as...
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...Mary Shelley: Submissive Women in Writing In the writing of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein or, The Modern Prometheus, she creates four submissive female characters all of who are negatively affected by the hands of Victor Frankenstein. These four submissive female characters are Agatha, Safie, Elizabeth, and Justine. Each of these women is proposed as passive and nonessential. The women, Agatha, Safie, Elizabeth, and Justine, make a pathway for the creation of action for male characters. The actions that happen with/to these women negatively affect them for the purpose of teaching one of the male characters a lesson or inflicting deep emotions to the male characters. Agatha’s purpose to man in this book was teaching the monster. “The girl [Agatha] was young, and of gentle demeanour…she looked patient, yet sad.” (Shelley 75, 76). Agatha teaches the monster many things mostly by him observing her interactions with her blind father and studying her actions and mannerisms. “Agatha listened with respect, her eyes sometimes filled with tears, which she endeavored to wipe away unperceived”(Shelley 80). Agatha teaches the monster about respect, sensitivity, and human relationships. Safie, a close friend of the De Lacey’s, comes on horseback to the cottage. Safie is Arabian and doesn’t know or understand english, so the De Lacey’s give her lessons. Safie’s lessons in language and culture become the monster’s lessons as well. “My days were spent in close attention… I improved more rapidly...
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...Frankenstein was written by Mary Shelley and published in 1818. This novel contains notions about the roles of nature and nurture in the upbringing of living things. Is someone condemned by their DNA, or are they forced to reap the ideas their parents sowed in them when they were young? In Frankenstein, nurture, or lack of nurture plays a larger role than the nature of the creature; this idea can be seen by the relationship of Victor Frankenstein and his creation, and is also evident in the life of Mary Shelley and her child. In Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein creates a creature who isn't human but resembles one; he is very large and an alarming sight to most people. After Victor creates this thing out of dead body parts, he brings it to...
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...To begin with, both the inventors of CRISPR and Victor Frankenstein have good intentions. Frankenstein wants to understand life and death partly because of his mother’s early departure from his life. “Whence, I often asked myself, did the principle of life proceed? …. To examine the causes of life, we must first have recourse to death.” (Shelley 41) His original purpose of creating a creature is to understand the basic mechanism of life and death so he could bring back the dead one day. Similarly, CRISPR is mainly for prevention, detection and treatment for disorder and improve the overall health of the population. Frankenstein also acknowledges the adverse changes his creation could cause to society. He asks himself, “shall I, in cool blood, set loose upon the earth a demon whose delight is death and wretchedness?” (Shelley 173) Although CRISPR itself doesn’t have the ability to murder with purpose, its side effects to the society could not and should not be ignored. To summarize, both Frankenstein’s creation and CRISPR are double-edged swords. As he recounts “the promise of virtues which [the creature] had displayed on the opening of his existence and the subsequent blight of all kindly feelings by the loathing and scorn which his protectors had manifested towards him” (Shelley 150), Frankenstein realizes that the creature is capable of being virtuous, but it is the environment that causes him to become this heartless...
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...During my childhood my aunt played a really big part in my life, and she influenced me and taught me to be a better person. One novel that explores the importance of a positive influence is Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, talks about a young scientist named Victor who at first started as a normal kid from a noble family. He gets interested in studying natural philosophy, chemistry and alchemy. Soon after, Victor's mother dies of scarlet fever. Which brings him great sadness, and he turns to his studies as a result of it. Consequently, he creates a monster that later in the story ruins his life and the lives of those around him. These facts prove that Victor's downfall is most likely caused by a lack of a female anchor. In the beginning of the...
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...the entirety of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley’s Frankenstein, tensions between the natural and unnatural were the ultimate driving forces as the story unfolded. The overarching theme most apparently found throughout the novel is Nature and its relationship with man. Shelley juxtaposes the revitalizing power of Mother Nature with the dreadful portrayal of the man-made creation of the monster. This harsh juxtaposition drives the reader to consider the effects of crossing boundaries of the natural world. Romantic writers, like Mary Shelley, often depicted Nature as the most unadulterated and pronounced force in our world. Mary Shelley uses a great deal of natural imagery in Frankenstein, which is apparent even at the very beginning of the story. Early on, she establishes that Nature and all of its grandeur will play a major role throughout the entirety of the novel, “the pole is the seat of frost and desolation; it ever presents itself to my imagination as the region of beauty and delight. There, Margaret, the sun is forever visible; its broad disk just skirting the horizon, and diffusing a perpetual splendour” (Shelley, 5). While Shelley attempts to convey the profound power of Nature, she also contrasts this central theme with the characterization of Victor. Nature and its relationship with man is the leading cause, and resolution, for almost every conflict found in this novel. In regards to Romanticism’s notion that Nature is the epitome of perfection, Mary Shelley creates...
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...feminist writings was brought and create a debate on the merits of women’ rights. A surge of women began writing and expressing themselves through novels and other literary works, such as Mary Shelley, Jane Austen. The feminist novels have tested the central “I” of women and also have shaken up gender roles of men. The female writers focused on the moral and ideological issues arising out of daily life and basic human relationships, and they advocate for female equality during romantic period fought to obtain better rights for women. The images of women across genres can be varied as the authors themselves. Mary Wollstonecraft is the radical feminist who contributed to those debates and typically revolted against the social condition of women. In her work of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, she believed in a push for growth in women and was disturbed by the lack of education. For most romantic feminists, their literary works focused on both the source of women’s inequality and its potential solution. The feminist novels in romantic era raised concerns about the ability of women to reject silence and express themselves. A feminist view from William Blake pointed out that female liberation some kind can make men free from the relationships based on power. Mary Shelley in her novel Frankenstein questioned prescribed social roles of women and illustrated the female oppression, and she reveals women as captive servants in the household. Similar with Shelley, Jane Austen in Pride...
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...the full potential of a person and prevents him or her from achieving perfection. Humanity as a race is imperfect, as with any other being in the world, yet there are certain aspects of the human race that the simple imperfection of humanity cannot fully prevent. Humans have an endless amount of determination if there is ample hope, they have a complete unwillingness to accept death, and most prevalent and important, they have an immeasurable greed for knowledge and the power that it contains. Victor Frankenstein from Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and Oedipus from Sophocles’ play “Oedipus the King” both do their best to outmatch their humanity and perpetually gain as much knowledge and intellect that they can. However, they both feign a powerful wisdom and intellect when in reality they are the blindest characters in their respective novels. Firstly, within Frankenstein, Victory is constantly chasing higher knowledge. The whole basis for his creation is his endless pursuit of education in natural philosophy. Even in the face of adversity from his family, friends, teachers, and the physical laws of nature, he pursues his visions. He even describes his own guile and conviction when he claims, “...I was left to struggle with a child’s blindness, added to a student’s thirst for knowledge” (Shelley...
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