How the Absence of Favorable Interpersonal Exchange Leads to Disorder in Frankenstein
Garden Variety Devastation:
Nearly all of the scholarly criticism regarding Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein has dealt
with, to some degree, the relationships between its characters. Oftentimes, the characters’
relationships with, or to, one another are compared and contrasted in various ways, but rarely has
the nonspecific or universal role of relationships been analyzed in the context of the larger novel.
In other words, while the role of, for example, Walton with respect to Victor, is something
regularly discussed, the grander sense in which the interconnectedness of persons is important
and, I will argue, necessary (within the context of Frankenstein) seems peculiarly absent. In this
paper, I will investigate the remarkable nonexistence of healthy, active, interpersonal contact.
Though portions of my investigation will focus particularly on the role of friendship (or a lack
thereof), my scope is not limited to friendship; I will explore the apparent individual need for
any proper communication or meaningful exchange, be it between friends, strangers, siblings, or
the romantically involved. Beyond this, I will address a number of important potential
implications, as I see them, of such a narrative – that is, a narrative seemingly determined not to
allow any relationship that could be fairly deemed healthy or appropriate to blossom. Shelley’s
fictional world refuses to permit even a single genuine bond to transpire between individual
characters, and those few bonds of an otherwise hopeful nature are dramatically and unnaturally
corrupted or snuffed out. Such relationships contri...
... middle of paper ...
... in order to affect the world. Chaos becomes, by the end of the novel, nearly
synonymous with communion. And as Laura P. Claridge states neatly in a piece regarding the
absence of parental guidance in the novel and in which she explores the individual’s search for
communion brought on by that absence, “Shelley insists that man can live only through
communion with others; solitude, for her, represents death” (15).
Works Cited
Bentley, Colene . "Family, Humanity, Polity: Theorizing the Basis and Boundaries of Political
Community in "Frankenstein"." Criticism 47.3 (2005): 325-351. JSTOR. Web. 20 Apr.
2014.
Claridge, Laura P. "Parent-child Tensions in "Frankenstein: The Search for Communion"."
Studies in the Novel 17.1 (1985): 14-26. JSTOR. Web. 20 Apr. 2014.
Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. New York: Barnes & Noble, 2003. Print.
Often differences and similarities between people may be obvious but more often their relationships can be difficult to recognize. “The relationships of individuals to the societies in which they live vary widely with time and place”. (Blair Nelson from the syllabus for assignment Essay Exam 1).
Human companionship is one of the most basic needs of humans that can be seen in the Creation story. It is tricky for any human to find the perfect companion especially if one is one of a kind. In Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein two characters exemplify this need. Dr. Victor Frankenstein and The Creature are in search of companionship, and they will go to great lengths to achieve it.
This standard looks at whether or not the theory opens up a new perspective that is uniquely human. When trying to understand the laws that govern relationships, Baxter and Montgomery looked at many relationships and found that there were contradictions, different expectations, and several other misconceptions. This led the...
Object Relations Therapy is a psychodynamic theory that focuses on internal objects. This internal object is an emotional structure that is being formed when from an individual’s experience with their caretakers in earlier life. For example, their mother, father, extended family or community. Later in life, the individual’s personality tends to bare the trace of the earlier relationship. The internal object becomes an integral part of the individual. Moreover, the integral object also tends to be expressed in the form of interaction they have with others in their present life (Stiefel, Harris & Rohan, 1998). In a nut-shell, object relations therapy studies the individual’s relationships among people and how one’s early-life interpersonal relationships are brought forward from the past to the present through their behavior. Moreover, it also states that our lifelong relationship skills are strongly rooted in our early attachments with our parents, especially our mothers. There are four various categories under object relations ...
Reis, Harry T., and Susan Sprecher. Encyclopedia of Human Relationships. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, 2009. Print.
Human nature is not bound by the mind but is shown through the heart in friendship.
Frankenstein: Victor Frankenstein’s Empathy Is the loss of empathy justified by the sins of humanity against you? Both Victor Frankenstein and his creature are tormented by humanity and become criminals; but does this necessarily mean that both were unable to retain their humanity? By the end of Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein has lost most of his humanity. This is uniquely shown by comparing him to his own creation, his monster. The unnatural creature conceived in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, has enormous amounts of empathy, whereas his creator, Victor Frankenstein, has very little and therefore has lost touch with humanity.
In the novel "Frankenstein" by Mary Shelley, the relationship of external apperence and internal feelings are directly related. The creature is created and he is innocent, though he is seaverly deformed. His nature is to be good and kind, but society only views his external appereance which is grotesque. Human nature is to judge by external apperence. He is automatically ostracized and labeled as a monster because of his external apperence. He finnaly realized that no matter how elequintly he speaks and how kind he is, people will never be able to see past his external deformities. Children are fearful of him, Adults think he is dangerous, and his own creator abandons him in disgust. The creature is treated as a monster, therefore he begins to internalize societies view of him and act the like a monster.
often share a long history of past experiences with one another. These past experiences have a
...and through an unfolding of events display to the reader how their childhoods and families past actions unquestionably, leads to their stance at the end of the novel.
Everyone had influenced by their surrounding. Your personal identities and choices in life are based on the role of the relationship you have with others. This helps you to realize who you are and what you need in the life. The combination of all you learns come together to give you a clear idea of what your needs, values, and belief in this life. Finally, it is clear that the role of relationship play an important role in the framework of our personal identities.
Baldick, C. "Making Monstrous - 'Frankenstein', Criticism, Theory - Botting,F." Review Of English Studies 45 (1994): 90-99.
...rspectives and opportunities. It is friendship that has the power to keep a person close to home. And it is friendship that gives a person the support to leave their home.
In the novel Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, one of the key themes is loneliness. For many, most of their time is spent with people, whether it is friends, family, coworkers, or strangers. Many of the characters in this book break that norm and spend countless hours alone. Having time to reflect and think about everything. Sometimes, the characters are still lonely, even with people, and sometimes friends around them.
of trust can begin to shape. “We have to recognize that there cannot be relationships unless there is