...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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...Examine some of the ways Gothic horror is presented in Frankenstein showing how your understanding of Mary Shelley’s techniques has been illuminated by your reading of Poe’s short stories Firstly, Shelley uses the setting of her novel in order to create an unsettling atmosphere in various chapters. Factors such as time, weather and architecture all play an important role in bringing horror to life in both Frankenstein and Poe’s short stories. Mary Shelley aligns Victor with the Romantic Movement, which emphasised a turn to nature for experiences like hope and happiness. The natural world has notable effects on Victor’s mood. He is moved and happy in the presence of the scenic beauty of Switzerland. In return this also reminds Victor of his guilt, shame and regret. “The rain depressed me; my old feelings recurred, and I was miserable”. This enables the weather to foreshadow Victor’s emotions throughout the novel. The theme of nature also reappears in the monster’s narrative. Whereas Victor seeks the high cold hard world of the Alps for comfort, as if to freeze his guilt, the monster finds solace in the soft colours of a spring time forest. This symbolises his desire to reveal himself to the world and interact with others. The architecture of the early nineteenth century was typically gothic and of a medieval revival style. It is this gloomy and frightening scenery, which sets the scene for what the audience should expect. Likewise, Poe uses the setting to convey...
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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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...When thinking about the Creature that Frankenstein creates, the term “heartbreaker” probably isn't the first descriptive word that comes to mind. However, Kenneth Branaugh’s 1994 adaptation of the film brings on a whole nother meaning of the word “heartbreaker.” The film is likable in all the unconventional qualities it has. There are many factors that dial into the beautiful horror of Branagh's adaptation. Mary Shellys Frankenstein is one of the most faithful adaptations of the book in the same vein of it being the most different. The storyline is incredibly in sync with the book. Saying it is in sync with the original story by means of the broad overall story the film creates. The film follows along with the essence of how in the book Victor gets into the mindset of creating and stabilizing life into an immortal being. Within the film there are great parallels of how film Victor and book Victor handle their power and what they do with it. The film was surprisingly very faithful to the book in the way it carried out the mood of the story. While reading the book there are themes of obsession with carrying out the experiment correctly, trying to pursue a romantic relationship, and with his work/studys vs familia duties....
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...Romanticism Unshackled: a Study of the Modern Prometheus The most remarkable aspect about Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is the ability to label the novel in so many different ways amongst many genres, ranging from science fiction, to fantasy, to horror, and have all of them be correct. At such a young age, Mary Shelley constructed a narrative so revolutionary, intricate, and involved that it is still pertinent to be written about in college essays almost 200 years after it was written. As the author, Shelley is often attributed with vast creative intellect, and rightly so, as is evidenced while reading through her novel. It is imperative to recognize, however, just how much influence her colleagues—the Romantic poets—had on the ideas that became manifested in her writing. Frankenstein should bear the title of Romantic literature because the novel embodies trademark Romantic ideas, situations, and characteristics throughout the text. In an attempt to categorize any novel as Romantic, however, one must first attempt to identify what, exactly, makes a work Romantic. A group of poets, including the likes of William Blake, Samuel Coleridge, William Wordsworth, John Keats, Lord Byron and—Mary’s husband—Percy Shelley, who are commonly credited as being the ground-breaking authors of the Romantic movement (Ferguson). A prime example of this method of poetry was introduced in the 1798 collection, Lyrical Ballads. This work, written by Wordsworth and Coleridge, is a compilation...
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...As Max Cady stated in Cape Fear: “Now you will learn about loss! Loss of freedom! Loss of humanity! Now you and I will truly be the same…” words which are so incredibly applicable to the novel, Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, and the film Blade Runner directed by Ridley Scott. Both these texts raise questions about humanity, particularly its loss due to advancements of science and technology, in an effort to challenge views of their respective societies. However, whilst Shelley created her novel in the 1800s, a revolutionary time of the Romantics responding to the Enlightenment, Scott created his film during the 1980s, a time of war, commercialism and commoditisation of lifestyle, thus each text automatically privileges different perspectives whilst exploring this common theme. By examining the texts side-by-side we, like Cady, learn about loss in general, and loss of humanity in particular, as we explore the strong connections between two texts created in diverse contexts. Both texts question the ‘humanity’ of the creators, with, in Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein reflecting on the Romantic emphasis of the hero within the individual, yet the portrayal of this protagonist seems to query society’s very values. Being one of the first “gothic romantic” novels, the creation of a new being for self-centered purposes, due to his perception that “A new species would bless me as its creator”, confronts the 1800’s context about the motives of individuals. This focus on self glorification...
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...Frankenstein Biblical Allusions Essay Marco Ng Mrs. Hawes English 11 14 January 2016 To what extent does one’s collective intellect and diligence increase his/her capacity to achieve greatness? Is it feasible to believe that humanity—with adequate knowledge and wisdom— may be capable in imitating the abilities and power of God? These questions are flamboyantly revealed in the novel, Frankenstein, written by Mary Shelly, as a result of numerous biblical allusions focusing on the relationship between Victor Frankenstein and the monster. Through the biblical allusions in Frankenstein, Victor and the monster are utilized to emphasize the terror of uncertain human boundaries and also portray the duality of the two questionable protagonists in the novel. The duality depicted serves to critique the dominant religious beliefs developed up to the time period of the novel and challenge the axioms formed due to religious faith towards the Bible. The primary biblical allusion illustrated in Frankenstein is the reflection of Victor and the monster as creator and creation. In other words, Victor represents God and the monster represents Adam. By forming this allusion, Shelley illustrates the uncertain boundaries of human capability and arouses fear towards the power of human achievement. This biblical allusion inducing fear in human achievement first appears in chapter four through implicative dialogues involving the reanimation of life. While Victor defines reanimation, he accentuates...
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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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...Over time society has created many words to attempt to describe those it outcasts; monster, devil, brute, beast, barbarian, wretch and savage, to name a few. Although humanity has many words the root of their meaning remains the same: the people they describe are different. The words society uses to brand people mirror a sense of prejudice and hate that does not necessarily reflect the actual person. Thus, society creates monsters through a systematic branding of labels upon others as clearly evidenced in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein through the vilification of Justine the creature. To begin, words clearly have an impact on humanity; Susan Smalley, a Professor at UCLA remarks that in tests “individuals read words of 'loving kindness' showed...
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...In Chapter 24 of Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, Victor Frankenstein decides to leave Geneva and its painful memories after his entire family is destroyed. After searching for the monster for months, Victor eventually runs into Robert Walton and tells him his story. At this point of the novel, Walton regains control of the narrative and continues to send letters to his sister, Margaret. He begins to tell his sister that he asked Frankenstein how to create a monster and bring it to life. To that, Victor replied “are you mad, my friend . . . or whither does your senseless curiosity lead you? Would you also create for yourself and the world a demoniacal enemy? Peace, peace! Learn my miseries, and do not seek to increase your own.” Victor’s outburst raises the question of whether or not knowledge is dangerous. Knowledge is in fact dangerous when it is either broad, or far beyond our need in life. “Such words, you may imagine, strongly excited my curiosity; but...
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...Introduction Many literary critics consider Mary Shelley's Frankenstein as one of the most impressive and imaginative Gothic horror novels of all times. In the novel, Shelley managed to create one of the most phenomenal creatures in literary history: Frankenstein monster. The epistolary style that the author employs allows the reader to view the circumstances from varied viewpoints and draw conclusions from the plot and the characters. The book The plot has a variety of story-lines rolled into one. The main however is about a Doctor Victor Frankenstein who though born to a well-to-do and loving family, is over- ambitious and thirsts to prove himself. After achieving excelling academically, he designs a technique of creating life from a fusion of inanimate objects, dead bodies an animal parts. The doctor is not satisfied with achieving conventional feats but is determined to create a living being. It is this ambition that leads to the creation after years of painstaking work. It is this creation that leads to Victor's downfall. The creation is 8 feat tall and due to the use of human parts that do not march his massive size, is hideous. He is described as having watery yellow eyes, a withered, yellowish, translucent skin which barely conceals his muscular system and blood vessels. The only good aspects of his appearance are his perfect, white teeth, long black hair and his black lips. The doctor, who had hoped to create a beautiful being is shocked by his creation...
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...UK Walter Mr Mike English 29 Febuary 2012 The Frankenstein Syndrome In Shelley's Frankenstein, it is interesting to use text to ask the question, who's interest lie at the heart of science? Why Victor Frankenstein motivated to plunge the questions you bring life to inanimate matter can? Life of Victor Frankenstein was destroyed because of the obsession with the power to create life where none was before. The monster created shows a representation of all those who are evil in the name of science for selfish cuases. We can use the book to draw parallels of our modern society, show that there is a danger that science creates via a personal relationship between the scientist and the creator of his work. It seems to me that science is done without thought to any affect experiments can have on the basis of disclosure, we may risk all that is dear to us for our creation or study. This is the Frankenstein Syndrome. When describing the monster he created, Frankenstein says: “No mortal could support the horror of this expression. Mother given forth with animation could not be that bad this poor. I looked at him while unfinished, he was ugly then, but when those muscles and joints were rendered capable of motion, it has become that even Dante could not imagine.” (I, 235) It was Victor's reaction to the monster's that caused him to reach out to working in the night. Victor, who for months worked on creating this, suddenly confronted the results of his scientific pursuit. He labored...
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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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...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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