...Only the Lonely Frankenstein is Mary Shelley's most notable piece of work, written when she was only eighteen years old. The novel explores the theme of loneliness and rejection. The monster created by Victor Frankenstein is rejected by human society because of his appearance. Mary Shelley explores the feelings of how the creature is utterly ignored and abused by the society. I believe the novel became a reflection of the inner state of Mary Shelly. It reflects sufferings and loses that occurred in the own authors life. As notes Anthony Badalamenti in his article Why did Mary Shelley Write Frankenstein: “She was also the product of her own past, suffering three successive losses in her early life that reveal why themes of being alone and abandoned run through the novel”(Badalamenti, 431). All these sad events and constant feeling of loneliness helped Mary to create a very deep and powerful character. Victor does not think about possible results of his experiments. He does not think what will happen when he finally succeeds and created a living creature. He is severely punished by his attitude when the creature created by him turns into a monster. Shelley illustrates that the guilt for murders can not be put only on Frankenstein's creation. Society and social norms finally result in the feeling of loneliness and estrangement. “The monster complains that his maker and mankind are moving his nature from goodness and benevolence to wrath and violence. He attempts the company of...
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...Frankenstein Frankenstein is the creator of a monster. His monster became his child. He was the parent, and he was responsible for the monster. The theme of the parent and child relationship is shown throughout the movie Young Frankenstein and the book Frankenstein. The theme of parent and child relationship is shown in different ways throughout the book Frankenstein and the movie Young Frankenstein. In the book the monster had no one to take care of him. So, he had to learn on his own. The creature has a lot in common with a child. He had to learn as any child would have to. A good example of him learning like a child is when he put his hand in the fire. He stated, “One day, when I was oppressed by cold, I found a fire which had been left by some wandering beggars, and was overcome with delight at the warmth I experienced from it. In my joy I thrust my hand into the live embers, but quickly drew it out again with a cry of pain” (Shelley 72). The creature learned not to put his hands too close to the fire or he would get burned. Just like a child would learn this by putting his hands on a stove. The creature did not have a parent to warn him to not get too close to the fire. The creature is just like a child with no parents. Since he had no one to teach him things, he had to learn on his own. He had to learn how to speak and read on his own. The creature discovered, “that these people possessed a method of communicating their experience and feelings to one...
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...Frankenstein by Mary Shelley creates great emphasis on appearance and acceptance in society, which highlights the harmfulness of judging based solely on external appearance. The novel is set in an appearance-based society, and this topic is brought to the limelight by the hideous figure of Victor Frankenstein's monster and the creature's humanistic need for acceptance. Every human is engraved with a controlling desire to be accepted in an intellectual and sophisticated manner, regardless of his or her physical appearance. The duty of the creator is displayed through Victor Frankenstein's failure in taking responsibility for his creature, this constant theme is entwined with the consequences of judging solely on physicality. The monster's revolting...
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...As a myth about procreation, the maternal imagery in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is clear, evident, pervasive. Yet, while the novel suffers no shortage of mother figures, Shelley’s interpretation of the maternal archetype in her seminal work is unique in its focus. The theme of the maternal finds itself in a paradox wherein its absence becomes evidence for its ubiquity; it is everywhere in that it is nowhere. One can therefore conclude that the concept of motherhood in Frankenstein does not require a mother, but only demands the notion that there was once a maternal presence where there is now none. By promptly abandoning his role as his monster’s creator, Victor seems to have perfectly complied with Shelley’s aforementioned definition of the maternal archetype. Still, some argue that the fact of Victor’s sex precludes him from ever fulfilling the theme of motherhood in Frankenstein. Victor is a man; the evident conclusion would be to declare Victor a paternal force in his creation’s...
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...felt emotions are the two that most directly apply to The Phantom of the Opera composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Frankenstein written by Mary Shelley. The Phantom of the Opera brings forth a love-crazed sociopath who strives to flourish his love with a lead soprano in an opera house. The Phantom inflicts terror and pain into “those who come between” (Webber) him and Christine, the soprano he cares for. The Phantom acts as an angel-like being, seeking to protect Christine and his opera house no matter the cost. He is an omniscient, mysterious character and throughout the play, little is revealed about his true identity. The Phantom’s deep emotional connection with Christine is also present throughout the play . and causes him to act in irrational ways The Phantom has a growing discontent with Christine due to her not loving him in “'the same way that he does to her. Throughout the play, The Phantom kills off the surrounding characters in order to draw himself closer to Christine, yet finally vanishes into thin air when he finally wins her love (Webber). Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein focuses on a dedicated scientist, Victor Frankenstein, who’s infatuation with creating new life lead to the creation of a repulsive creature. Frankenstein’s Monster is successfully created from various body parts and chemicals used by Victor. His creation, which Frankenstein describes as a “…demoniacal corpse to which [he] had so miserably given life” is supernatural in nature, being the first...
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...‘As with many Gothic Texts, Frankenstein challenges set oppositions.’ Discuss this statement in light of the novel. In Gothic texts, a common theme is for the authors to write about oppositions. It is often the case that oppositions are challenged in books from this particular genre, such as the opposition of rational and irrational and civilised and primitive. This is shown, for example, in the book ‘Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde’ by Robert Louis Stevenson, where the characters of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde can be seen as parts of the same person. This is further shown in Mary Shelley’s ‘Frankenstein’ where oppositions are explored such as good and evil, human and monster and life and death. In particular, the novel Frankenstein is concentrated on exploring the opposition between the monstrous and human. Shelley challenges the opposition between the monstrous and human through her main protagonists: Victor Frankenstein and the Monster. Victor defines the creature as monstrous from the start, purely on the basis of his physical appearance. ‘His yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath; his hair was of a lustrous black, and flowing; his teeth of a pearly whiteness; but these luxuriances only formed a more horrid contrast with his watery eyes, that seemed almost of the same colour as the dun-white sockets in which they were set, his shrivelled complexion and straight black lips.’ In this quote, Victor describes the monsters appearance and portrays...
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...What motivates and creates the patchwork of experiences that make up people? In her pinnacle of writing, the gothic horror novel Frankenstein, Mary Shelley explores various themes and motifs among them nature versus nurture. She does so through a man attempting to create life named Victor Frankenstein and the Creature he creates. In Frankenstein, Shelley gives examples of the consequences of a spoiled upbringing, the effect on people of their surroundings, the idea of innate goodness, and the idea that people are blank slates upon which their experiences are etched. In the debate of nature versus nature over why people are good or bad, nurture is by far the more influential. A privileged and unrestrained upbringing by overly indulgent parents...
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...romantic period in their writing. Both others uses nature as one of their themes throughout their writing. Mary Shelly uses the idea of romanticism in Frankenstein by putting escape of nature and high regards towards the weather. As an example weather which represent the feeling of the monster Tim, “When the sun had recovered its warmth, and the earth again began to look green … I felt emotions of gentleness and pleasure… and I even raised my humid eyes with thankfulness towards the blessed sun which bestowed such joy upon me”(98). Mary Shelly used nature to describe feelings and emotions throughout the novel. As an example, after a dreadful winter of cold and rejections, Tim the monster feels his heart ease as spring arrives. Also, another writer during the romanticism was William Blake. Blake makes powerful emphasis on imagery throughout his poems, and might used few stanzas about nature. In the The Tyger he does not specify where the setting is but in line 2 he writes “In the forest of the night”. In his poem he writes about the Tyger which is the main focus of the poem. Since the Tyger is a wild creature, he might refer to nature and makes the setting a little bit clearer. Also he uses a lot of fire imagery. As an example line 1 “burning”, which refers back then in line 6 “Fire”.The author means the Tygers eye that are powerful fearfulness. He doesn’t really refers to nature as Mary Shelly did in Frankenstein. In the poem The Tyger the setting might be in the forest because...
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...epitomizes the darkest sides of our nature in his simple lack of morality or concern for human life. Perhaps Frankenstein has remained so popular for the many pieces of human nature that it shows...
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...How could a Titan God mould mankind out of clay? This is something Prometheus was capable of; he was someone very similar to Victor Frankenstein. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley is the story of a man, Victor, who is far more intelligent than others and fascinated with the creation of life. After much time, he creates his monster that rejected by Victor and society. From his rejection, he plans to get revenge on Victory and mankind alone. There are many thematic ideas that arise during this novel. However, the two main themes are risky knowledge and secrecy which makes the novel easier to identify with. The consequences of arrogance are portrayed through the intelligent person which is seen mostly through Victor who goes above and beyond what the average person. The value of technology and invention is obviously observed through Victor’s creation “the monster”. Lastly, the loss of relationships is a main issue that not only Victor experiences. In Frankenstein, there is much value still alive today through the issues of risky knowledge and secrecy which is revealed by arrogance of intelligence, value of technology, and loss of relationships. The issue of arrogance through the intelligentsia is developed in several places throughout the novel. Victor is most easily identified with this issue because of his starvation for knowledge which he satisfies at the University of Ingolstadt. “My departure was therefore fixed at an early date; but, before the day resolved upon could arrive...
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...ESSAY CONFRONTATION IN FRANKENSTEIN. Frankenstein is a novel that was written in 1818 by Mary Shelley. It deals with a young science student named Victor Frankenstein, who gives birth to a being in a scientific experiment. The novel revolves around the conflict between two characters : Victor Frankenstein and the creature, who are linked in a complex, multidimensional relationship. In fact, the creature and its creator become enemies the first time they meet and battle against each other through the entire story. Moreover, it is easily noticeable that their confrontation has several aspects to it. First, we will study their confrontation to each other through the story. Then, we will see how these two characters are involved in a confrontation with the human kind. Finally, we will ponder on the way the characters and their conflicts mirror the confrontation between nature and science. First of all, by reading Mary Shelley's novel, we can see that Frankenstein and the creature are struggling with each other until the end of the book. Actually, we have on one hand the Frankenstein monster who is dependent on his creator because he is the only man with enough knowledge to create another of his kind. On the other hand, we have Frankenstein who is dependent on his creation, because it is physically stronger than he and able to murder his family and friends. For these reasons, each of these two characters is able to blackmail the other, and so they...
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...Jacob McKinnis Professor Bess Fox Major Women Writers 3 November 2015 Romanticism in Frankenstein Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein, is well known throughout the world as a classic piece of gothic literature with elements of disturbing and macabre imagery. It is easy then to overlook the many ways in which Frankenstein is a primary example of Romanticism due to the characteristics of the way it was written and the time period in which Mary Shelley lived. Shelley’s Frankenstein is not meant to be looked at as a purely gothic piece of literature but rather a literary work of Romanticism that masquerades as a horror story. To start with, the monster created by Frankenstein is paramount to the representation of Romanticism in the novel. The monster is a Romantic hero because of the rejection it must bear from normal society. Wherever he goes, the monster is chased away because of its hideous appearance and its huge size. Shelley makes an effort explaining how often that people in conventional society reject that which is out of the ordinary or that which is unnerving and disfigured treading on the borders of our society. It’s hard to blame the monster for what happens to him, and Shelley provokes from the reader a sympathetic response for a creature that has been established as a misunderstood and lost soul in a world it was never meant to live in. The monster tries to fit into a regular community, but because it is grotesque to look at and does not know the social norms...
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...The theme of supernatural events and hideous beings encompasses Frankenstein. Over eight feet tall and uncharacteristically dreadful, the Creature is abandoned by his creator and shunned by society. He develops negative emotions in response to this rejection. Those feelings are furthered through his exposure to Paradise Lost, Plutarch’s Lives, the Sorrows of Young Werther, and Ruins of Empires. Ultimately, these experiences and works of literature foreshadow the ultimate downfall of the Creature and his creator, Victor Frankenstein. The Creature is not only the product of various body parts stolen from cemeteries but is also a product of the dark and supernatural. “Resurrected” on a dark, stormy night, the Creature immediately reveals himself as a monstrous being equipped with elementary emotions and reasoning. Victor Frankenstein, the Creature’s creator is shocked by his creation. Living a nightmare, Victor seeks rehabilitation and thus prepares to return home to his family. Unlike a relationship of father-to-son, Victor abandons the Creature in a futile attempt to rid himself of the nightmare he created. However, just before Victor leaves to go back home he receives news of his younger brother’s death. As he walks through the woods where his brother was killed, he catches a glimpse of the Creature and knows that he murdered his brother. As the novel progresses, more of Victors’ loved ones die at the hand of the Creature – even his fiancée. One day, Victor takes a vacation...
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...Monstrosity and heroism are extremely complex matters as both are in the human nature, and one cannot be without the other. Although most people have a definition for hero and one for monster, and they think the two terms are always clearly distinct, that is never the case. Monstrosity and heroism are not clear cut, as authors like Mary Shelley and Harper Lee have tries to convey. In her novel Frankenstein, Shelley tells a story of a man who, in his dangerous pursue of knowledge, creates a being that will lead his life to ruin. Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird is a bildungsroman narrated by a girl whose father attempts to challenge their racist society by defending a black man in court. These two stories discuss heroism and monstrosity through the ordinary heroism of a monster, the courage of those disapproved by society (Atticus and Boo Radley), the behaviour of Victor, a character that initially appears to be benevolent. The theme of heroism is little evident in Frankenstein. The being that is also monstrous is one of the most heroic characters in the novel, for he is, until a certain point in his life, an ordinary hero. One can note such ordinary heroism in the help he constantly provides the cottagers: “(…) during the night, I (…) brought home firing sufficient for the consumption of several days” (Shelley 82). Although what he does is not extremely significant in the eyes of an outsider, the creature provides help in the best way he can, and his help does have a positive impact...
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...The role of science is the modernization of the world, thus possessing a lot of power. The outcome and use of scientific progression depends solely on the scientist’s intentions of its use. Humanity should fear the power of the creator or the creation’s behavior due to its social, physical, mental and environmental health effects, if it is not used for the better of the community. In Frankenstein, Mary Shelly argues that the beast is dangerous because it symbolizes scientific technology; implying that the beast can impose threats to civilization. The author warns, that the beast can form independent consciousness and then turns upon society in an apocalyptic rage. Society becomes afraid of the monster and as a result, rejects it. This fear...
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