...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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...Figurative language in the novel Frankenstein is consistent throughout the book except for the beginning. Robert Walton was writing letters to his sister which made the beginning of the story first person Personification appears in chapter 24 for example “I was hurried away by fury; revenge alone endowed me with strength and composure; it molded my feeling, and allowed me to be calculating and calm, at periods when otherwise delirium or death would have been my potion” Metaphor, “my present situation was one in which all voluntary thought was swallowed up and lost” Metaphor “I cannot doubt it, yet I am lost in surprise and admiration” Ironic Devices This novel is highly ironic, in the novel situational, dramatic and verbal irony all appear...
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...Frankenstein Essay Assignment For this essay, you will choose a focus in the novel, Frankenstein, and create an original argument based on it. Your writing may be strictly literary analysis or it may take the form of a compare/contrast essay that works to connect an aspect of the novel to concepts or events outside the book. You are free to choose whatever focus you like in the novel. A good starting point is to consider what aspects of Frankenstein interest you most as you read it; for example you might be particularly drawn to the monster’s development, the relationship between Victor and Walton, Victor and the monster, the role of women, the nature vs. nurture debate, the importance of companionship, or the role of nature in the book. Here are some topic ideas that you may choose if you would like to connect the novel to outside sources: 1) Psychology/Identity formation- research child development, nature vs. nurture, and connect what you find to the monster’s development in the novel. What does Shelley’s novel seem to suggest about how identity is formed? Compare and contrast Shelley’s views with your research. 2) Philosophy- Shelley was heavily influenced by Locke and Rousseau, two major philosophical thinkers. Read excerpts of their works, and apply concepts from their writings to the novel. 3) Shelley’s biography- If you are interested in learning more about the writer behind the story, this is a good option for you. It won’t take you long to see...
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...the reader visualize what is going on. It also gives deeper meaning to the story by relating it to another story with a similar theme, and it gives a way for the author to further emphasize the main point which he or she is trying to make with the story. By using allusions it may give the reader a chance to better understand and they can draw the similarities between the two different stories and so how they relate to one another. “Frankenstein” and “Adam and Eve” have a lot of similarities. Both stories have characters that portray curiosity that leads to...
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...Mary Shelly’s “Frankenstein” Essay Introduction: Mary Shelly’s “Frankenstein” has is more than just an ordinary novel. It is a book that carries a profound philosophical message. The novel touched me to my very soul. It turned out to be a book not about a struggle against a monster but a tragedy of a scientist, who reached the goal of his work and life and realized that breathless horror and disgust filled his heart but all of these is on the surface. The deepest philosophical thought is covered and hidden, but is very deep. The author tries to say that life is a gift. After this gift is given no one can take it away and it becomes the responsibility of the creator. The novel makes the reader concerned with the question: “Is a human being able to take responsibility to give life?”. “Frankenstein’s” philosophy is a conflict between the value of human life and the value of a scientific discovery. This story is not only the tragedy of Victor Frankenstein but also of his creation. It is the tragedy of loneliness and fighting alone with the world.The tragedy of Viktor Frankenstein was a tragedy of him being a toy in the hand of his own parents for the believed that he “was in their hands to direct to happiness or misery”[p.34]. The next quote shows exactly how he grew up: “they were not the tyrants to rule our lot according to their caprice, but the agents and creators of all the many delights which we enjoyed…”[p.37]. This subconsciously led him to the desire to have somebody...
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...position that opposes the ruling. The audience of the message is the people of America who are competent in political issues. The video is composed of interviews of common people on Capital Mall, clips of Senators who oppose the decision, a comedian using sarcastic satire making fun of the decision, and a narrator with an informative style combining these elements. The main argument of this video is that corporations are not people therefore should not have influential power over our nation. The video views corporations as sinister entities taking away power from the people and diminishing our democracy. The message defends the first amendment and wants to reclaim it for US citizens (What did the Supreme Court do to our Democracy?, 2010). Analysis The above description revealed...
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...According to dictionary.com, the term ‘responsibility’ is defined as the state or the fact of being answerable, or accountable for something within one’s power, control, or management. In the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, one certain character attempts to avoid his responsibility caused by his genuine desire and determinism for knowledge and fame, which eventually brings a catastrophic tragedy for the novel as a whole. Mary Shelley incorporates themes such as nature of man, curiosity, dangers of knowledge, expectations versus reality, the pursuit of fame and popularity to achieve and depict the character’s actions and reactions. In Shelley’s novel, Victor Frankenstein is depicted as a character that creates the creature and is the primary...
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...Can we be born evil or is it something developed by the environment around us? Researchers have conducted experiments on this very question, and more often than not, have found surprising results each time. Each of those times though, a common consensus being that we all have the capacity to commit the unimaginable, but it takes a certain environment and people to bring it out in us. While some interpret that those who are evil are born that way, evil is something that is developed over time by their individual environment and the people within it. It’s entirely possible to be born with traits that give us the potential to be evil. In William Harms article “Psychopaths are not Neurally Equipped to have Concern for Others” he reports a study done by University of Chicago that took 80 prisoners between ages 18 and 50 and tested for levels of psychopathy using standard measures. The results showed: The participants in the high psychopathy group exhibited significantly less activation in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, lateral orbitofrontal cortex, amygdala and periaqueductal gray parts of the brain, but more activity in the striatum and the insula when compared to control participants. This latter region is important for monitoring ongoing behavior, estimating consequences and incorporating emotional learning into moral decision-making, and plays a fundamental role in empathic concern and valuing the well-being of others(Harms, 2013). The study showed that the parts of...
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...Abandonment of a child by a father has a lasting effect on the social and emotional development of a functioning being. The conflict between father and son can be rooted in many different circumstances and causes long-term conflict. The novel Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, illustrates the struggle between a father and a son that occurs in all societies and time periods. In the novel, the father-son connection that is most crucial to the theme of the book: the impact of abandonment in a beings life. The relationship between Victor Frankenstein and his metaphorical son, the monster, demonstrates the horrors that come out of selfishness and ignorance in Victor’s disregard of his creation. The violence in Frankenstein stems from the original abandonment...
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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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...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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...Analysis of "The Boogeyman" This Stephen King short story is about how children's lack of reality sense, and therefore also their vivid imagination, lets them to see things that adults never could. The things, that the main character Lester Billings' children can see, are in this case a monster: A so-called Boogeyman. Now, the Boogeyman is a widely spread myth, and there are many stories of the Boogeyman, but his intentions are always the same: He is no Mr. Nice guy. This particular Boogeyman lives in a closet, a rather traditional place to stay in this profession. Other Boogeyman-habitats might include places such as dark cellars, behind a tree in a public park or beneath beds. The fact that the Boogeyman lives in a closet, merely underlines that the Boogeyman is a tale for children. Only children have the innocent imagination to believe them, because they are not yet members in 'the reasonable tribe' of humanity. The difference in this Boogeyman story however, is that this one is actually happening. Lester Billings' children are being killed! While these murders are not violent crimes, the death of a child is always horrible (and might lead to justifying hallucinations). It is your basic innocence versus the world. Some human beings have, in this world, deteriorated to the level of dumb beasts. Preying on others to feed their own animalistic needs (like Patrick Bateman from American Psycho). The Boogeyman is not traditionally a human, though he is born from human imagination...
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...Frankenstein Notes ------------------------------------------------- Some Interesting Points * There is a chilling logic in the creature's arguments. Why should he not respond in kind to the way that he has been treated by both his maker, who should have cared for him and looked after him, and by mankind as a whole? If the creature is inhuman, it is only because he is imitating the inhumanity of the human species. Therefore, I think that the novel presents Victor as being more inhuman. * Victor is alien in his society in the way that he removes himself from others, for example when he goes about creating the daemon/creation. Victor is very secretive and seems to like it that way... he doesn't really try to understand people like the creation does. The creation tries again and again to belong in the community, its his greatest desire. With Victor, on the other hand, there seems to be a gulf between him and the rest of society. * Justine’s trial testifies to the inhumanity of man. What is important to note is the way this links in to a vital theme of the novel, which is the presentation of the creature himself. He starts off innocent and wanting a relationship with his maker. It is the way that he is shunned by his maker and by humanity and treated cruelly that forces him into cruelty, but this cruelty is only paralleled by the monstrous nature of humanity as displayed in incidents such as the trial of Justine. We cannot expect the creature to be good when...
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...BUSINESS ETHICS AND STAKEHOLDER ANALYSIS Kenneth E. Goodpaster Abstract: Much has been written about stakeholder analysis as a process by which to introduce ethical values into management decision-making. This paper takes a critical look at the assumptions behind this idea, in an effort to understand better the meaning of ethica] management decisions. A distinction is made between stakeholder analysis and stakeholder synthesis. The two most natural kinds of stakeholder synthesis are then defined and discussed: strategic and multi-fiduciary. Paradoxically, the former appears to yield business without ethics and the latter appears to yield ethics without business. The paper concludes by suggesting that a third approach to stakeholder thinking needs to be developed, one that avoids the paradox just men* tioned and that clarifies for managers (and directors) the legitimate role of ethical considerations in decision-making. So we must think through what management should be accountable for; and how and through whom its accountability can be discharged. The stockholders' interest, both short- and long-term, is one of the areas. But it is only one. Peter Dnicker, 1988 Harvard Business Review W HAT is ethically responsible management? How can a corporation, given its economic mission, be managed with appropriate attention to ethical concerns? These are central questions in the field of business ethics. One approach to answering such questions that has become popular during...
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...G U I D E T E A C H E R’S A TEACHER’S GUIDE TO TWELVE YEARS A SLAVE BY SOLOMON NORTHUP bY Jeanne M. McGlInn anD JaMes e. McGlInn 2 A Teacher’s Guide to Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup Table of Contents SYNOPSIS......................................................................................................................................3 ABOUT THE AUTHOR...............................................................................................................3 INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY GUIDE............................................................................3 MEETING COMMON CORE STANDARDS.............................................................3 THE SLAVE NARRATIVE GENRE...............................................................................3 HISTORICAL OVERVIEW..........................................................................................................4 DURING READING.....................................................................................................................6 SYNTHESIZING DISCUSSION QUESTIONS.......................................................................9 ENRICHMENT ACTIVITIES.......................................................................................................9 ACTIVITIES FOR USING THE FILM ADAPTATION........................................................ 11 ADDITIONAL RESOURCES.....................................................................................
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