...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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...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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...Feminism within the Novel and the Creation of Frankenstein In “Frankenstein” by Mary Shelley, one can undoubtedly see how the female characters have less importance than the male characters. The reason these sex differences in status occurred because of the period that she wrote the novel. Shelley, during the first half of the nineteenth century, was writing in a time in which a woman “was conditioned to think she needed a man’s help” (Smith 275). In “Frankenstein”, Mary Shelley devotes three male characters to narrate the story, Victor Frankenstein, Robert Walton, and Frankenstein’s creation. No woman throughout the entire novel speaks directly as the three narrators do. Mary Shelley also constructs the story to follow the main character,...
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...Main Characters Revelation: Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein “imprisonment” seems to be an interesting point to discuss. The main characters represented by Frankenstein, the Monster and Robert Walton seek to break free of the rules imposed upon them by hierarchical societies. Moreover, each character is obsessed by its idee fixe: their inability and unwillingness to cope with it makes them “imprisoned” in their own egos. Speaking about Victor Frankenstein one can say he is imprisoned in several ways. Starting with his workshop which is more likely a prison cell where Victor stays for months leaving only by perforce: “My cheek had grown pale with study, and my person had become emaciated with confinement” (Shelley, 1818). Hence, Victor is obsessed by an ambition to create a living monster out of dead body parts, and this is how he becomes a prisoner of his own conscience. Hence, Victor’s death becomes a release from the “prison” in some way. The Monster is associated with his monstrosity; that means he has no option but to be a monster, to hurt people and even to kill. Hated by all mankind Monster accuses Victor of giving him life and making him horrifying: “Shall each man find a wife for his bosom, and each beast have his mate, and I be alone?” (Shelley, 1818). From this point of view he is obsessed with the idea of revenge, especially after Victor denying his promise to create a companion for the Monster. After that the Monster proves his obsession...
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...photographed the first three of Whale's quartet of horror films: Frankenstein (1931), The Old Dark House (1932), and The Invisible Man (1933)” (Wikipedia). Edeson’s cinematic technique can be seen elsewhere in film like The Maltese Falcon (1941), Sergeant York (1941), Casablanca (1942), The Mask of Dimitrios (1944), and Three Strangers (1946). The excellent cinematography in Frankenstein evokes a surreal and mysterious quality, perfectly matching the thunder and lightening storm above the gloomy castle in classic black and white imagery, and capturing that German Expressionism completely, from acting to set design, everything is wonderfully filmed, but as film critic Leonard Matlin mentions in his book Leonard Maltin's Movie and Video Guide 1994, “It’s creaky at times, and cries for music score, but it’s still impressive” (Maltins 441). Historians will point out,...
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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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...The final sentence of the Frankenstein has become very famous – why could that be? The last sentence in ‘Frankenstein’ by Mary Shelley is significant in many ways, as many different conclusions can be drawn from it, which gives different readers different views about the novel and creates controversy about the fate of the monster. The sentence describes the monster, having sprung “from the cabin window” onto an “ice raft” outside the boat, being “borne away by the waves and lost in darkness and distance”. This ending can be seen as being particularly dramatic, as out of context it can be seen as negative that Victor is dead and the monster is leaving to die alone. However, after reading the rest of the novel and putting it into context, one can understand the positive connotations from this passage – it is emphasised to the reader that these two beings who have both “suffered miserably” have at last found peace. This is backed up by previous phrases in the text which highlight how both Victor and the creation welcome death. Victor sees his “beloved dead” and “hastens to their arms”, and the creation describes how he shall die “with sad and solemn enthusiasm” and how his “spirit shall sleep in peace”. Furthermore, the monster takes control of the narrative from Walton for the last few pages of the novel. This helps the reader to understand the thoughts of the monster, but we know that he can be persuasive and hide his true feelings. Therefore even after he has supposedly...
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...General 1. Title: Frankenstein 2. Author: Mary Shelley 3. Date of publication: Jan 1, 1818 4. Novel type: horror, Gothic, science fiction and tragedy Structure 1. Point of view: Throughout most of the novel it is a first person narrative. The main narrator s victor Frankenstein however there are 2other narrators too; Walton and the monster. Walton’s narration is through letters. 2. Relationship to meaning: The first person narration helps the reader see things from the character point of view and also helps create doubt over what really happened or why something really happened. 3. Plot structure: A. exposition: Walton narrates how he has encountered a man named Victor Frankenstein while on his voyage through ice caps. The reader also sees the creature for the first time here. B. inciting incident: The stories conflict starts of here, Walton explains to Victor how his search for knowledge is worth any amount lives and this is where victor realizes Walton will lead the same path as he did in life and he decides to tell Walton his life story. C. events contributing to rising action: Victor begins to start his research to create a monster and then is finally successful in creating his monster. The monster runs away and begins to live in a forest right by the De ‘Lacey family and he learns to read and speak. The monster begins to feel lonely because most of society and his creator have shunned him. D. climax: The monster goes into the De...
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...Throughout Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Shelley uses the characters Walton, Victor, and the creature all to emphasize the common war of passion vs responsibility. Each characters plights and struggles show how human nature can distract one from carrying out what they need to accomplish. Victor lets his passion for the creation of life consume him and it drives him away from a normal life. Walton blindly follows his dream in search of the fame related to its key discovery. Finally the Creature is blinded in his plot for revenge against Victor for his wrong doings against him. Shelley traces the story of all three men to show that it is in human nature to fight one's responsibility to pursue passion. “Who shall conceive the horrors of my secret...
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...do not necessarily involve magic but often invoke science fictional methods such as radiation, mental diseases, viruses, scientific accidents, etc.[1][2] The English word "zombie" is first recorded in 1819, in a history of Brazil by the poet Robert Southey, in the form of "zombi".[3] The Oxford English Dictionary gives the origin of the word as West African, and compares it to the Kongo words nzambi (god) and zumbi (fetish). One of the first books to expose Western culture to the concept of the voodoo zombie was The Magic Island by W.B. Seabrook in 1929. This is the sensationalized account of a narrator who encounters voodoo cults in Haiti and their resurrected thralls. Time claimed that the book "introduced 'zombi' into U.S. speech".[4] Zombies have a complex literary heritage, with antecedents ranging from Richard Matheson and H. P. Lovecraft to Mary Shelley's Frankenstein drawing on European folklore of the undead. In 1932, Victor Halperin directed White Zombie, a horror film starring Bela Lugosi. Here zombies are depicted as mindless, unthinking henchmen under the spell of an evil magician. Zombies, often still using this voodoo-inspired rationale, were initially uncommon in cinema, but their appearances continued sporadically through the 1930s to the 1960s, with notable films including I Walked with a Zombie (1943) and Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959). A new version of the zombie, distinct from that described in Haitian folklore, has also emerged in popular culture...
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...Frankenstein exhibits the negative effects of what isolation can do to a person or character. There is three characters who contribute to Frankenstein’s overall theme of depression and isolation. More specifically, the three characters who appear as narrator's experience the greatest distress and isolation. Robert Walton, Victor Frankenstein, and Frankenstein’s creation. Each of the three characters experience their heartache in different ways and for differing reasons, but they can all relate because of the problems they go through in the novel. In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, three of the main characters experience isolation, which causes them emotional instability and depression that leads to their awful and distressful lives. Frankenstein’s...
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...Frankenstein Notes ------------------------------------------------- Some Interesting Points * There is a chilling logic in the creature's arguments. Why should he not respond in kind to the way that he has been treated by both his maker, who should have cared for him and looked after him, and by mankind as a whole? If the creature is inhuman, it is only because he is imitating the inhumanity of the human species. Therefore, I think that the novel presents Victor as being more inhuman. * Victor is alien in his society in the way that he removes himself from others, for example when he goes about creating the daemon/creation. Victor is very secretive and seems to like it that way... he doesn't really try to understand people like the creation does. The creation tries again and again to belong in the community, its his greatest desire. With Victor, on the other hand, there seems to be a gulf between him and the rest of society. * Justine’s trial testifies to the inhumanity of man. What is important to note is the way this links in to a vital theme of the novel, which is the presentation of the creature himself. He starts off innocent and wanting a relationship with his maker. It is the way that he is shunned by his maker and by humanity and treated cruelly that forces him into cruelty, but this cruelty is only paralleled by the monstrous nature of humanity as displayed in incidents such as the trial of Justine. We cannot expect the creature to be good when...
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...OLD ENGLISH LITERATURE • Palaeolithic nomads from mainland Europe; • New inhabitants came from western and possibly north-western Europe (New Stone Age); • in the 2nd millennium BC new inhabitants came from the Low Countries and the middle Rhine (Stonehenge); • Between 800 and 200 BC Celtic peoples moved into Britain from mainland Europe (Iron Age) • first experience of a literate civilisation in 55 B.C. • remoter areas in Scotland retained independence • Ireland, never conquered by Rome, Celtic tradition • The language of the pre-Roman settlers - British (Welsh, Breton); Cornish; Irish and Scottish Gaelic (Celtic dialect) • The Romans up to the fifth century • Britain - a province of the Roman Empire 400 years • the first half of the 5th century the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes (N Germany, Jutland) • The initial wave of migration - 449 A. D. • the Venerable Bede (c. 673-735) • the Britain of his time comprised four nations English, British (Welsh), Picts, and Scots. • invaders resembling those of the Germans as described by Tacitus in his Germania. • a warrior race • the chieftain, the companions or comitatus. • the Celtic languages were supplanted (e.g. ass, bannock, crag). * Christianity spread from two different directions: * In the 5th century St Patrick converted Ireland, in the 7th century the north of England was converted by Irish monks; * in the south at the end of the 6th century Aethelberht of Kent allowed the monk Augustine...
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...critical theory today critical theory today A Us e r - F r i e n d l y G u i d e S E C O N D E D I T I O N L O I S T Y S O N New York London Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business Routledge Taylor & Francis Group 270 Madison Avenue New York, NY 10016 Routledge Taylor & Francis Group 2 Park Square Milton Park, Abingdon Oxon OX14 4RN © 2006 by Lois Tyson Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis Group, an Informa business Printed in the United States of America on acid‑free paper 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 International Standard Book Number‑10: 0‑415‑97410‑0 (Softcover) 0‑415‑97409‑7 (Hardcover) International Standard Book Number‑13: 978‑0‑415‑97410‑3 (Softcover) 978‑0‑415‑97409‑7 (Hardcover) No part of this book may be reprinted, reproduced, transmitted, or utilized in any form by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying, microfilming, and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without written permission from the publishers. Trademark Notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. Library of Congress Cataloging‑in‑Publication Data Tyson, Lois, 1950‑ Critical theory today : a user‑friendly guide / Lois Tyson.‑‑ 2nd ed. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0‑415‑97409‑7 (hb) ‑‑ ISBN 0‑415‑97410‑0 (pb) 1. Criticism...
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...SECOND DRAFT Contents Preamble Chapter 1 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Background Rationale Aims Interface with the Junior Secondary Curriculum Principles of Curriculum Design Chapter 2 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 1 Introduction Literature in English Curriculum Framework Strands and Learning Targets Learning Objectives Generic Skills Values and Attitudes Broad Learning Outcomes Chapter 3 5 7 9 10 11 11 13 Curriculum Planning 3.1 Planning a Balanced and Flexible Curriculum 3.2 Central Curriculum and School-based Curriculum Development 3.2.1 Integrating Classroom Learning and Independent Learning 3.2.2 Maximizing Learning Opportunities 3.2.3 Cross-curricular Planning 3.2.4 Building a Learning Community through Flexible Class Organization 3.3 Collaboration within the English Language Education KLA and Cross KLA Links 3.4 Time Allocation 3.5 Progression of Studies 3.6 Managing the Curriculum – Role of Curriculum Leaders Chapter 4 1 2 2 3 3 13 14 14 15 15 16 16 17 17 18 21 Learning and Teaching 4.1 Approaches to Learning and Teaching 4.1.1 Introductory Comments 4.1.2 Prose Fiction 4.1.3 Poetry i 21 21 23 32 SECOND DRAFT 4.1.4 Drama 4.1.5 Films 4.1.6 Literary Appreciation 4.1.7 Schools of Literary Criticism 4.2 Catering for Learner Diversity 4.3 Meaningful Homework 4.4 Role of Learners Chapter 5 41 45 52 69 71 72 73 74 Assessment 5.1 Guiding Principles 5.2 Internal Assessment 5.2.1 Formative Assessment 5.2.2 Summative Assessment 5.3 Public Assessment 5.3.1 Standards-referenced...
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