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My Critical Analysis of Chapter 4 of Frankenstein
I am choosing to analyze a passage in Chapter 4. I am looking at two paragraphs, of which the first starts with “The astonishment which I had first experienced....” and following starts with “I see by your eagerness...” As with the whole book, this passage is written beautifully. By that I mean it holds the readers interest and uses unusual words. 'After so much time spent in painful labor, to arrive at once at the summit of my desires was the most gratifying consummation of my toils” The use of the words 'summit,' 'consummation' and 'toils' caught my attention in this sentence. They are not very common words and this brings the sentence to life. What I find to grasp my attention when reading is the use of words I don't see everyday- ones that make me think and the author does a great job at that. Using the word 'consummate' instead of 'complete' turns the sentence around for me as well as using 'toils' instead of using another phrase such as 'exhausting task.' I like the metaphor Mary Shelley used at the end the first paragraph “I was like the Arabian who had been buried with the dead, and found a passage to life, aided only by one glimmering, and seemingly ineffectual, light” That sentence really paints a picture. Describing it the way she did made it more understandable, easier to sense what Victor was feeling. There were enough adjectives to describe, but not too many to make the sentence not flow. I liked the use of 'seemingly ineffectual' which made the sentence much more interesting than if she were to write 'undesirable.' I included this second paragraph because I like the way it shows that Victor is talking to someone. Not us, the reader, but we are instead overlooking his conversation with someone else (who we later find out to be Walton). This is a narrative yes, and it is a story he is clearly telling to someone in retrospect. I question why Shelley decided to take this route. I think that is brings a curiosity to the writing. We are encouraged to keep reading to find out who he is talking to. “how dangerous is the acquirement of knowledge” is a great phrase. I have heard this before, and like that it was in this passage. In a lot of cases, knowledge definitely does become dangerous, for example, knowing things you aren't supposed to know. Victor continues on “and how much happier that man is who believes his native town to be the world, than he who aspires to become greater than his nature will allow” This is the classic cliché of saying ignorance is bliss, and a person who tries to take on more than he can handle often ends up miserable. “listen patiently until the end of my story, and you will easily perceive why I am reserved upon that subject.”This sentence makes the reader want to get to the end of the story to find out what the secret is that he is t is mentioning. This passage has a sort of morose feeling to it. As with a lot of the book, you get the feeling that some drama is headed Victors way. That he has continued down a path of destruction. You can tell he is happy he accomplished something, something he has worked very had at, but perhaps had the wrong motives to do so. To me this passage suggests yes, he succeeded at something he had been trying to do for a long time, but looking back he may regret it. This passage also makes me question what it is he has done to make him feel the regret he does. He makes it seem like he was happy then, but is not now.
Posted By ithinkpurple at Thu 26 Apr 2012, 8:38 AM in Frankenstein || 0 Replies
I need help understanding the book Frankenstein by Mary Shelley?
I am supposed to describe an “illuminating” episode or moment in Frankenstein and explain how it functions as a “casement,” a window that opens onto the meaning of the work as a whole. I was going to use the creation of the creature as this "moment" since the galvanization made it "illuminating" but I'm not so sure as to what meaning Shelley wanted to create. I thought she just wrote this novel as a gothic horror story for amusement purposes only.
Posted By pnovln4life at Wed 21 Dec 2011, 7:41 PM in Frankenstein || 9 Replies
Frankenstein in Film
Has anyone done a comprehensive comparison of Frankenstein as represented in film versus the source material? Thank you.
Posted By LeeHere at Thu 17 Nov 2011, 10:42 AM in Frankenstein || 6 Replies
frankenstein
Dear friends. I have finished Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, it is really an amazing book and made me think a lot about how cruel society can be.Kindest regards from Spain. Juan
Posted By jfv666 at Mon 14 Nov 2011, 11:58 AM in Frankenstein || 0 Replies
Books similar to Dracula...
I'm currently re-reading Dracula (one of my favourite novels) and would love some ideas of what else to read in a similar vain. It isn't so much the vampire aspect of the novel that appeals, although I do like the supernatural element, but the more gothic elements and Stoker's writing style (one of the most accessible I've read from a 19th Century author) that I really enjoy. Would Frankenstein be worth a read? Any ideas?
Posted By Cropduster84 at Mon 26 Sep 2011, 12:36 PM in Frankenstein || 3 Replies
The Tragedy of Lookism as Seen in Mary Shelly's Frankenstein
The Tragedy of Lookism as Seen in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein A judge sentences and imprisons someone for a crime; a society judges and imprisons others to lives of loneliness and torment because of prejudices. One prejudice, known as lookism, can become so intense it can reshape a person’s future. Lookism is a preconceived notion as to who someone is based off of their looks (Cresap and Tietje 31). This prejudice is one of the main themes in Mary Shelley’s book Frankenstein, and demonstrates how communities as a whole redirected the entire history of Frankenstein’s monster through how they perceived and treated him. Lookism became the judge and jury, condemning Frankenstein’s creature to a life of torment and loneliness, while transforming him into a demonic being full of hate. From the monster’s first breath, he tasted scorn from his creator. His creator, Victor Frankenstein, could not look upon him due to his hideous looks. The monster was formed by combining body parts from a variety of corpses, making the monster a being with skin color not common to the population of that time. Victor Frankenstein describes the skin color of his creation with these words, “… I saw the dull yellow eye of the creature open …” (Shelley 58; vol.1, ch.5), “his yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath …” (Shelley 58; vol.1, ch.5). Mary Shelley’s era was one of civil unrest, with abolishment of slavery in question (Winter 83). Could the special emphasis placed on the yellow skin and eyes of the monster be a racial gesture showing discrimination based on skin color? For Victor Frankenstein, such imperfections as the monster’s yellow and watery eyes, yellow skin, black hair, white teeth, thin black lips, and monstrous height and build (58; vol.1, ch.5), made an everlasting picture of a demon in his mind. Frankenstein reveals his biased opinion of the being he created when he exclaimed, “Oh! No mortal could support the horror of that countenance. A mummy again endued with animation could not be so hideous as that wretch” (Shelley 59; vol.1, ch.5). Such rejection was just the beginning of numerous discriminations this creature was to endure. The monster, abandoned by his creator, was left to survive and learn life on his own as an outcast of society. This creature felt society’s persecution every time he encountered a human being. A renowned author, Sarah Winter, describes society’s perception of the monster when she wrote, “… those who encounter the monster either run away or attack him out of fear because they cannot tolerate a being that defies formal and categorical boundaries” (83). Such a statement speaks of the prejudice of lookism and how biased minds react. Each encounter with the human race pushed the monster further into isolation for fear of what reaction he might receive. After being struck by stones when seeking shelter in a village (108-109: vol.2, ch.3), the creature found refuge in a hut in the woods, where he observed the De Lacey family he longed to befriend. At this point, the monster had developed a kind and benevolent heart, doing kind deeds when he saw the opportunity (114; vol.2, ch.4). After seeing his own reflection in a pool of water, this deformed being was horrified and angry at his creator, but kept his good spirit (116-117; vol.2, ch.4). He thought humanity would still accept him for who he was. He felt the thrill of acceptance when he met the blind De Lacey. However, when the rest of the family looked upon him, he was beaten and despised (135-137; vol.2, ch.7) -- another judgment passed on him by society due to his deformed appearance. Feeling defeated, the monster still showed compassion for humanity when he saved a young girl from drowning. His reward for this kind deed was being shot by the young girl’s male friend, who assumed the evil-eyed monster was hurting her (142-143; vol.2, ch.8). A partial turning point for the creature was when he attempted acceptance from a young boy he encountered in the woods near Geneva. The monster kidnapped the boy with the intent of making the boy his companion to gain society’s favor. The boy kept calling him “monster” and an “ugly wretch” (Shelley 144; vol.2, ch.8) threatening punishment from his father. When the creature found out the boy was Victor Frankenstein’s younger brother William, he choked and killed the boy out of revenge towards his creator (144; vol.2, ch.8). Frankenstein illustrates what the monster had become when he stood at the murder scene of his brother and exclaimed, “I considered the being whom I had cast among mankind, and endowed with the will and power to effect purposes of horror, such as the deed which he had now done, nearly in the light of my own vampire, my own spirit let loose from the grave and forced to destroy all that was dear to me” (78; vol.1, ch.7). Frankenstein’s creation had become a murderer, retaliating against his creator for being abandoned and persecuted. Even after this rage of revenge against his creator, the monster saw one last chance for companionship within such a hateful society. He begged Victor to create a fellow monster in female form with all the same deformities so that he might have a chance of some happiness (148; vol.2, ch.9). Victor agreed but with one condition; that the monster and his companion move far away from any human, to live life in isolation (150; vol.2, ch.9). This ultimatum portrays the ultimate form of prejudice and hate. When Victor failed on this promise, the creature knew he would never have a chance of compatibility among mankind. From this point forward, the monster was completely transformed from a benevolent creature to one of hate, hostility, and revenge. His main purpose in living changed from co-existing peacefully among man, to inflicting pain and suffering upon those that caused him so much misery and pain (Lancaster 132). Mary Shelly wanted her readers to understand the extent of how society can transform a person by how they perceive and treat that person. Percy Shelley conducted his own review of Frankenstein, with these reflections of how society’s treatment of an individual can reshape that person’s destiny: Treat a person ill and he will become wicked. Requite affection with scorn: let one being be selected whatever cause as the refuse of his kind – divide him, a social being, from society, and you impose upon him the irresistible obligations – malevolence and selfishness. It is thus that too often in society those who are best qualified to be its benefactors and its ornaments are branded by some accident with scorn, and changed by neglect and solitude of heart into a scourge and a curse. (Rohrmoser) Percy Shelley is telling us that Frankenstein’s society fell short on their moral obligations to the monster, using preconceived judgments against him. The monster had the benevolence and desire to be a benefit to society with a potential of greatness -- due to his massive build and physical strength. Being scorned and abandoned by his creator and the people, this creature was transformed into the devilish monster he was called. Mary Shelley wrote her classical novel, Frankenstein, in the year 1818, during the growth of an appearance-based society. She brings to life biases and character flaws of people during her era, and shows the repercussions of these flaws for readers to ponder and analyze. Vivid details of events, encompassed by an array of emotions, uncover the narrow limits of a generation’s basic understanding for those who were different. These social injustices drove the course of events throughout the book. Society shapes and molds each of us into who we are. A society’s ignorance and narrow mindedness changed a kind-hearted creature into a murderous demon; his fate dictated by an appearance-led society.
Posted By srose49 at Tue 3 May 2011, 11:55 AM in Frankenstein || 0 Replies
Frankenstein Paper. HELP PLEASE!!!
I have to write a paper using this prompt: Thesis Statement / Essay Topic #3: The Modern Prometheus: The Meaning of the Subtitle of "Frankenstein" The subtitle of Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein, is “The Modern Prometheus.” Prometheus was a figure from Greek mythology who stole fire from the gods and used it to create humans. Based on your knowledge of this myth, construct an essay in which you defend or refute the idea that Victor is the modern Prometheus. Incorporate specific, concrete evidence from the novel to support your arguments. Be sure to dig beneath the surface similarities between the myth and Shelley’s novel in order to identify latent symbols and their significance. I was wondering if someone could lead me in the right direction. Thanks.
Posted By GermanBorn68 at Sun 24 Apr 2011, 3:28 PM in Frankenstein || 0 Replies
The Forbidden Histories of Frankenstein: Bad Parenting, Bad Politics, Bad Faith
It happens before you know anything. Like a perfect eye removed by a deranged surgeon as delighted in finding it as damaged as he is himself, for the deed, as for having then handed you the bill, that which you need the most is wrenched from you. In time, you “grow” into accepting the theft as a thing never to be mentioned. It becomes ...unutterable. All you can do to keep what remains of your sanity is to join in the madness. One having been kept for two hundred years, the other since the dawn of civilization, The Forbidden Histories of Frankenstein expose two explosive secrets. In revealing these, their explorations into bad parenting, bad politics and bad faith help undo the damage caused by the Unutterable Theft. Using only history and literature but like you’ve never known those before they empower readers, each one, to reclaim The Deed to One’s Own Soul. EXCERPTS: "Often, things lost are not just lost but are buried, by others, deep and in the land of the taboo. It just so happens that Frankenstein’s celebrity—its clout—makes here an outstanding pickaxe. Centered, as the novel authentically is, on the saga of the common individual, it generates in the Forbidden Histories a virtual eruption of facts and conclusions as yet undiscovered, unacknowledged, and often fiercely resisted. Together, these speak of and to those who see in oneself a thing re-engineered, at and from birth, to suit the taste of carnivorous Government and cannibalistic Society." "Except that the science involved is a metaphor for POLITICAL science, Frankenstein turns out to have about as much to do with mad scientists as a Coke has to do with its can. The difference between and on the one hand, all this misunderstanding and misrepresentation, and the lie it effects on the other, can be summed up in one word: consciousness." “The Forbidden Histories are written for those who have lost something and, despite knowing that what they are looking for is unidentifiable, still sense that they will know when they have found it. Following in the footsteps of Aeschylus, Mary Shelley, Golding, and Salinger, the series takes the next step in the Reformation of Human Social Consciousness.” “We say we love our kids. They say that’s not the question. In an endless row over what love is and how it differs from control, over who is the subject and who the true object of that love, they want to know what we love them for!” _________ So. You say you want to know what Frankenstein is REALLY about? Can you face it, when the whole truth of the novel is much worse than the fiction? Welcome—to the war between the generations. {edit}
Posted By DookAlion at Thu 13 May 2010, 1:51 PM in Frankenstein || 0 Replies
Representative Quote of the WHOLE novel - HELP!
I must complete these project in which we have to extract 10 quotes from Frankenstein and one of them must capture the essence of the whole book, if someone could tell me one it would be awesome. Thank you!
Posted By cuevasp at Mon 30 Nov 2009, 5:47 PM in Frankenstein || 1 Reply
An activity.
An interesting and perhaps somewhat challenging activity for some of you. :) Analyse the following three passages from Frankenstein and draw out parallels, common themes, significant pieces of recurring language, motifs, symbols etc. What connections can you make between the passages, and the wider text as a whole? Enjoy. I wrote an essay on this recently. I'm curious to see what you may all be able to come up with. But I have one want which I have never yet been able to satisfy, and the absence of the object of which I now feel as a most severe evil, I have no friend, Margaret: when I am glowing with the enthusiasm of success, there will be none to participate my joy; if I am assailed by disappointment, no one will endeavour to sustain me in dejection. I shall commit my thoughts to paper, it is true; but that is a poor medium for the communication of feeling. I desire the company of a man who could sympathize with me, whose eyes would reply to mine. You may deem me romantic, my dear sister, but I bitterly feel the want of a friend. I have no one near me, gentle yet courageous, possessed of a cultivated as well as of a capacious mind, whose tastes are like my own, to approve or amend my plans. How would such a friend repair the faults of your poor brother! I am too ardent in execution and too impatient of difficulties. But it is a still greater evil to me that I am self-educated: for the first fourteen years of my life I ran wild on a common and read nothing but our Uncle Thomas' books of voyages. At that age I became acquainted with the celebrated poets of our own country; but it was only when it had ceased to be in my power to derive its most important benefits from such a conviction that I perceived the necessity of becoming acquainted with more languages than that of my native country. Now I am twenty-eight and am in reality more illiterate than many schoolboys of fifteen. It is true that I have thought more and that my daydreams are more extended and magnificent, but they want (as the painters call it) KEEPING; and I greatly need a friend who would have sense enough not to despise me as romantic, and affection enough for me to endeavour to regulate my mind. No human being could have passed a happier childhood than myself. My parents were possessed by the very spirit of kindness and indulgence. We felt that 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. When I mingled with other families I distinctly discerned how peculiarly fortunate my lot was, and gratitude assisted the development of filial love. My temper was sometimes violent, and my passions vehement; but by some law in my temperature they were turned not towards childish pursuits but to an eager desire to learn, and not to learn all things indiscriminately. I confess that neither the structure of languages, nor the code of governments, nor the politics of various states possessed attractions for me. It was the secrets of heaven and earth that I desired to learn; and whether it was the outward substance of things or the inner spirit of nature and the mysterious soul of man that occupied me, still my inquiries were directed to the metaphysical, or in it highest sense, the physical secrets of the world. Meanwhile Clerval occupied himself, so to speak, with the moral relations of things. The busy stage of life, the virtues of heroes, and the actions of men were his theme; and his hope and his dream was to become one among those whose names are recorded in story as the gallant and adventurous benefactors of our species. The saintly soul of Elizabeth shone like a shrine-dedicated lamp in our peaceful home. Her sympathy was ours; her smile, her soft voice, the sweet glance of her celestial eyes, were ever there to bless and animate us. She was the living spirit of love to soften and attract; I might have become sullen in my study, through the ardour of my nature, but that she was there to subdue me to a semblance of her own gentleness. And Clerval--could aught ill entrench on the noble spirit of Clerval? Yet he might not have been so perfectly humane, so thoughtful in his generosity, so full of kindness and tenderness amidst his passion for adventurous exploit, had she not unfolded to him the real loveliness of beneficence and made the doing good the end and aim of his soaring ambition. "You must create a female for me with whom I can live in the interchange of those sympathies necessary for my being. This you alone can do, and I demand it of you as a right which you must not refuse to concede." The latter part of his tale had kindled anew in me the anger that had died away while he narrated his peaceful life among the cottagers, and as he said this I could no longer suppress the rage that burned within me. "I do refuse it," I replied; "and no torture shall ever extort a consent from me. You may render me the most miserable of men, but you shall never make me base in my own eyes. Shall I create another like yourself, whose joint wickedness might desolate the world. Begone! I have answered you; you may torture me, but I will never consent." "You are in the wrong," replied the fiend; "and instead of threatening, I am content to reason with you. I am malicious because I am miserable. Am I not shunned and hated by all mankind? You, my creator, would tear me to pieces and triumph; remember that, and tell me why I should pity man more than he pities me? You would not call it murder if you could precipitate me into one of those ice-rifts and destroy my frame, the work of your own hands. Shall I respect man when he condemns me? Let him live with me in the interchange of kindness, and instead of injury I would bestow every benefit upon him with tears of gratitude at his acceptance. But that cannot be; the human senses are insurmountable barriers to our union. Yet mine shall not be the submission of abject slavery. I will revenge my injuries; if I cannot inspire love, I will cause fear, and chiefly towards you my archenemy, because my creator, do I swear inextinguishable hatred. Have a care; I will work at your destruction, nor finish until I desolate your heart, so that you shall curse the hour of your birth."
Posted By bboynexus at Thu 8 Oct 2009, 5:04 AM in Frankenstein || 0 Replies