...Frankenstein was written by Mary Shelley and published in 1818. This novel contains notions about the roles of nature and nurture in the upbringing of living things. Is someone condemned by their DNA, or are they forced to reap the ideas their parents sowed in them when they were young? In Frankenstein, nurture, or lack of nurture plays a larger role than the nature of the creature; this idea can be seen by the relationship of Victor Frankenstein and his creation, and is also evident in the life of Mary Shelley and her child. In Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein creates a creature who isn't human but resembles one; he is very large and an alarming sight to most people. After Victor creates this thing out of dead body parts, he brings it to...
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...Frankenstein Critical Reading Portfolio Section I: Significance of Title The title is significant because Frankenstein is the man who had created something beautiful that no one else has ever done before. One may think that the title Frankenstein sounds like something destructive. In this, Frankenstein symbolizes God and a parent to the monster because he saw himself as creating life from scratch and creating something that has never been done by anyone else. He sees himself as a parent because to him, the monster is his son. Even though the monster isn’t genetically Frankenstein’s son, he still sees him as that because he created him and invested so much time into creating him. Section II: Author The author of this book is Mary Shelley. In this story, Mary Shelley clearly expresses that the monster had trouble getting to know people because of his looks. One may say that her major theme was appearances because of how she puts the monster into talking about the way he looks and the way he sees other people. This is expressed a lot throughout the story. Another thing that one may have noticed is that there weren’t really any mother figures in this book and she kind of made it a male based story. The reason why one may point this out is because of how Victor creates a “son” without a wife in the picture and how the story goes on with this. Section III: Plot The plot exposition is within the letters written between Walton and his sister. They are telling the story of Victor...
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...Frankenstein was published during the beginning of the literary movement which abolished previously-held ideas of structure and form that occurred in novels beforehand. The author embodies the Romantic literary movement by the use contrasting emotions of terror and beauty to emphasize the inspiration that nature could provide. The use of lightening symbolized a nearing revelation. During the commencement of the novel Frankenstein witnesses his first thunderstorm and the force lightening enchants him, “...As I stood at the door, on a sudden I beheld a stream of fire issue from an old and beautiful oak…and nothing remained but a blasted stump…The catastrophe of this tree excited my extreme astonishment.” The power that the lightening held and...
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...who the real monster is. With judgment comes pity, a universal human characteristic that determines a person in a unstable situation looking for help. Analyzing an individuals isolation from society, having parents with poor parenting skills, and manipulation of character can all have an influence of who we pity. In Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein she allows us to make our own choices based on details she presents from various characters. Mary Shelley uses the motif of Isolation in exploring the idea of humanity. Both Victor Frankenstein and the Creature suffer from isolation physically and mentally. Shelley emphasizes what the Creature lacks when he says, “ I learned and applied the words, fire, milk, bread, and woods. I learned also the names of the cottagers themselves. The youth and his companion had each of them several names, but the old man has only one, which is father. The girl was called sister, or Agatha; and the youth Felix, brother, or son”. (112) Shelley purposefully uses those words because they are exactly the first words a baby would learn, showing that the Creature is similar to a helpless infant. Clearly, Victor Frankenstein is the primary cause of his creature to feel rejected, lonely, and determined to seek revenge. Shelley has the Creature realize the rejection he feels from society when he says, “ I possessed no money, no friends, no kind of property. I was, besides, endowed with a...
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...demonstrated in the comparison of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner? The concerns that composers challenge in their texts not only reflect the ideals and perceptions of their time, but the same issues are also found to transcend through the decades. This has been demonstrated through the comparative study of Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein and Ridley Scott’s feature film Blade Runner in which their 150 year contextual difference could not create a barrier in exploring related issues. Despite Shelley’s Frankenstein being written in the early 19th century Romantic era, while Blade Runner was created in the period of late 20th century America influenced by Reaganomics, both texts delve into the concerns of the overpowering need for glory, the dichotomy between humanity and monstrosity, and the lack of parental responsibility. Through Frankenstein and Blade Runner, the desire for ultimate success is represented through the pursuit of knowledge and the application of science and technology. The underlying intention behind the project is of utmost importance as there will be dire consequences if the purpose of the creation is of a superficial motive. Through Victor, Shelley has portrayed humans as deeply ambitious yet also deeply flawed. Victor dreams of transforming society and bringing glory to his name through his scientific achievements yet his desire also makes him fallible. In writing Frankenstein, Shelley had challenged the Enlightenment ideal...
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... The constant attention and focus on physical appearances are apparent not only in our society but in Mary Shelly’s novel, Frankenstein. Victor Frankenstein, a modern scientist unleashes a creature constructed of dead body parts. The creature’s social acceptance relies heavily on its hideous features, starting with his own creator, Victor Frankenstein. Throughout the novel Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein’s lack of ethics spurs problematic situations which are the consequences of his...
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...Frankenstein This is an extract from a roman, written by a woman named Mary Shelly. The story is about a man named Victor Frankenstein who is trying to develop a new scientific discovery. He completes his mission and creates a monster. This monster is getting ostracized because of his looks. When Mary Shelly started writing “Frankenstein” she was only 19 years old, and she had just lost an unborn child. That made her think about scientists, who were able to regain life. In this essay I will focus on Victor, as a mad scientist, his responsibility, his self-confidence and my own opinion on Victors morals and personality. In this extract of Frankenstein written by Mary Shelly, she shows us that Victor Frankenstein is a mad scientist by using long descripting sentences to describe how Frankenstein get’s sick in his passion to accomplish his mission. For example “Every night I was oppressed by a slow fever, and I became nervous to a most painful degree;” By writing this, she gives us a chance to understand Victor’s eagerness to complete what he thinks is his duty for mankind. He works while he is sick. A part from that, Mary Shelly also describes how Victor get’s and furnished his materials from a slaughterhouse and a dissecting room. “The dissecting room and the slaughter-house furnished many of my materials;” once again by writing this, she shows that he will do almost anything to complete his duty. All from breaking in to a slaughterhouse and steel and use materials, to...
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...In Mary Shelly’s epistolary Frankenstein and Franz Kafka’s novella “The Metamorphosis,” the authors explore the dangerous impact of society and rejection. Both creatures are rejected and isolated by their families have been defined as monsters. But, the authors force the reader to look past physical appearance to uncover who the real monster is, society; it defines what make us human. Society defines others solely based on what they see, disregarding any humane characteristics they may possess. To fully understand how society impacts the creatures in each story the reader must look at their actions before they were defined as monsters. Frankenstein’s creature wanted affection, love and attention from none other than his own creator and father, Victor. He even wanted a mate, someone to love and care for him; neither of these did he receive from Victor. The creature also possessed the curiosity as that of a small child. In chapter twelve, he describes how he learned language from the family in the woods; this is the same family that society labels as poor. But, this family serves as an example for Frankenstein’s creature; they provide the creature’s education on communication and basic values. The creature thought himself to be no different from others and he wanted nothing more than to be accepted. Similarly, before Gregor Samsa’s transformation in “The Metamorphosis”, he was a hard-working son who wanted to please his family. He worked every day, never calling...
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...In the novel Frankenstein, Victor infuses life within a motionless body with God’s power, not knowing that just as life was given, it can surely be taken away. Since a young child, Victor was fascinated by science, and highly influenced by alchemy nd the old science. “The raising of ghosts and devils was a promise liberally accorded by favorite authors, the fulfillment of which I must eagerly sought”.This was proof that Victor’s focus was on making the dead live again. His interest was sparked when Victor saw an oak tree get struck by lightning. Along with a visit from a natural philosopher, who influenced Victor to take upon the study of electricity and galvanism. From here, he started studying at the University of Ingolstadt as a student of chemistry. With the knowledge he received, Victor went on to pursue the secret of life. His obsession with the project turns Victor from a healthy, happily family...
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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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...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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...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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...Texts can transcend the time in which they are written and evolve to be applicable to a new time and a new social content by facing everlasting human concerns. Human concerns that transcend the decay of time include the influence of science, the influence of consumerism and what it means to be human. Mary Shelleys’ 1818 epistolary novel, “Frankenstein” show the early 19th century fears of the advances of both science and technology as well as what makes someone human. Ridley Scott also faces these issues as well as the influence of consumerism in a modern context in his 1991 Film “Blade Runner” These composers lived centuries apart and both critique these humans concerns. Mary Shelleys’ “Frankenstein” introduces us to the ideas of Galvanism,...
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...Throughout classic literature, a common theme is a sense of isolation in the universe; of being alone, without a single kindred spirit or companion. This theme is never better illustrated than by The Monster of Mary Shelly’s “Frankenstein.” In “Frankenstein” the monster embodies isolation both literally and figuratively. Created by Dr. Frankenstein, The Monster is quite literally the only one of his kind, a freak assembly of body parts collected from assorted cadavers. He is forced into life as an assembly of those who were no longer fit to live it, leaving him devoid of any sense of identity, as even his own body is not his. He is not wholly human, but not wholly beast, built rag tag from the pieces of whichever was the most convenient. Likewise,...
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...sympathy is used throughout the novel ‘Frankenstein’. Mary Shelley has used it in order for us as the reader to feel sorrow for both Victor Frankenstein and the monster. A reason why Mary Shelley used sympathy repeatedly could be connected to the fact that she had such a tough life, she had been surrounded by death and sadness; her mum died giving birth to her, 3 of her 4 children died, her half sister committed suicide and her sons first wife drowned herself. This pain and suffering that she has gone through her whole life is very similar to what Victor Frankenstein went through, and Shelley could have related parts of it about her. This is seen when she emphasizes the pain Victor feels for Elizabeth and William, when they are murdered by the monster. When the monster first comes to life, Frankenstein says “but now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and the breathless horror and disgust filled my heart.” this is the first point, where the reader sympathise for the monster because his creator, his “father” detests him, and neglects him, he receives no instruction or assistance at helping himself blend into a normal society. Later on in chapter 5, Victor meets up with his old friend Henry Clerval for the first time in ages, Henry comments on his health saying “I did not before remark how very ill you appear so thin and pale; and look as if you had been watching several nights” this makes us feel sympathy for Frankenstein because he is a mess and even if he does...
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