Frankenstein essay - please help!

I have to write a 1,500 essay on Frankenstein which discusses the significance of father-figures within it.

Ok, I have written 1000 words and I think I am doing pretty well. However, it also asks me in the notes to discuss the use of realist and non-realist conventions. I'm not too sure what this means or how to link this in? I know that Frankenstein is obviously non-realist as it is not beleivable that anyone can give life to dead matter but how can I link this into my 'father-figure' essay??

Can anyone help me please and get me on the right track?

Much appreciated,

Kelly

It is confusing, but if you mean as realist the influences of society, Mary Shelley had just lost a baby and Her family are follwoers of Rousseau, the "father" of modern pedagogy.

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Originally Posted by kellyb

I have to write a 1,500 essay on Frankenstein which discusses the significance of father-figures within it.

Ok, I have written 1000 words and I think I am doing pretty well. However, it also asks me in the notes to discuss the use of realist and non-realist conventions. I'm not too sure what this means or how to link this in? I know that Frankenstein is obviously non-realist as it is not beleivable that anyone can give life to dead matter but how can I link this into my 'father-figure' essay??

Can anyone help me please and get me on the right track?

Much appreciated,

Kelly

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well the maker of frankenstine would have to be his dad because he made him so he is his that makes him his dad.

Would you say that commonly held convention would be one that says any creature as horrifying as Frankenstein could not be a gentle creature? Would a father see only the inner beauty as would a blind man?

Hi Kelly, I have to write the same essay. Realism is 'a style of writing that seeks to convey the impression of accurate recording of an actual way of life in a recognisable time and place'.

Many things in the novel convey the impression of accurate recording; thinking of Frankenstein as a father figure - responsibility maybe? (Frankenstein felt responsible for William's death; same for Justine's death; responsability for the monster too - obligation to create a female companion)

I'd love to share ideas!

One dominant characteristic of Romantic fiction is its LACK of realistic detail. The whole notion of re-animating lifeless tissue is unrealistic.

Victor does not want to be a father; if he did, he would build a child (or sire one in the conventional way). He wants to be God. The creature is his creation, not his offspring. This is why he can so easily abandon it. It is ugly, and Victor has been conditioned by society to abhor ugliness, so he runs away from his "child" and is actually glad when it disappears. This is NOT a fatherly way to behave.

Might be worth focusing on the epistolary device, used as a framing tool for gothic texts to add realism.

I think you could consider Frankenstein as the ultimate 'father' or creator- a sort of divine usurper. He also, conversely, could be viewed as a subverter of the maternal role.