The classic Frankenstein by Mary Shelley has many themes within it. These themes are both obvious and inconspicuous. These themes involve family and isolation; ambition and fallibility; secrecy; revenge; prejudice; lost innocence; and knowledge, wisdom, and discernment. Victor is the main person who deals with family, and isolation. Victor was close to his family and would talk to his father and Elizabeth. His mother died, so it caused him to create his monster to see if he could create life from nothing. Victor also isolates himself when he creates the monster and the female companion for the monster. He also isolates himself after the deaths of William and Justine. When he isolates himself he goes into nature, showing the aspect of Romanticism in the novel. Lastly he is isolated when he chases the monster. Robert Walton is another character that is involved with his family. The letters he sends at the beginning and end of the novel show his relationship with his sister. He is caring enough to tell her about how he is doing and does it often enough so she does not have to worry....
The main themes in 'Frankenstein' are the themes of Nature versus Nuture, in which we find out that the monster was not intentionally villainous and that it was the way that the villagers treated the monster that he became evil and bad-tempered. Another one of the main themes is Science versus religion. This is because Frankenstein goes against God by creating life illegally. One of the secondary themes is the stereotypical villain and the way in which both Frankenstein and the monster both have villainous characte...
Frankenstein: A Model of English Romanticism The literary world embraced English romanticism when it began to emerge and was so taken by its elements that it is still a beloved experience for the reader of today. Romanticism “has crossed all social boundaries,” and it was during the seventeenth and eighteenth century, it found its way into almost every niche in the literary world (Lowy 76). From the beginning of its actuality, “romanticism has forged its way through many eras including the civil war” (Hall 44). Literature such as “the famous Gone With The Wind was a good example of romanticism in that era because it had many of the required qualities” but there were others that were even more clear as English Romanticism pieces (Hall 44). There are very few works that have a more accurate portrayal and proof of the importance of English romanticism than Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. While later versions of the stories depicted a central theme of a helpless monster caught in the fears of society the actual depiction of the original work was based more closely on the English romantic that was so popular at the time. The importance of emotions and feelings were paramount during the era of English romanticism. In addition autobiographical material was extremely popular. All of these qualities were present in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein including a third and vital underpinning of romanticism, the innocence and exaltation of the common man. An important element of romanticism is the use of flowing feelings. During this time period, men as well as women were full of raw emotions in literary works. They would freely vent their most anguished thoughts and worries. This was evident in several of the chapters in Shelley’s portrayal of the life of the monster and the people he encountered. One of the finest examples of romanticism is when the monster who we must remember is only learning emotions for the first time runs from the cottage after startling the occupants. Cursed, cursed creator! Why did I live? Why, in that instant, did I not extinguish the spark of existence which you had so wantonly bestowed? I know not; despair had not yet taken possession of me; my feelings were those of rage and revenge. (Shelley 746) This passage demonstrates feelings that were a common theme during the Romanticist era, the monster was in pain and cursing the day he was created. Anothe...
This is how Mary Shelley advances the themes revenge, abandonment, and romanticism and nature in the novel Frankenstein. There are many different themes in the book however I chose three that I believed to be major themes. I feel these themes are a connection that Shelley makes from her personal life to the novel. The novel is an epistolary novel, and is the story Victor Frankenstein tells Robert Walton.
...became obsessed with his studies. He became very ill and created a monster. He then was nursed back to health and was getting better by his friend Henry. Just as you thought everything was getting better terror struck again. He lost his brother William to the monster. By creating this monster Victor became the monster himself. When he created the monster it killed his brother William, which led to the execution of his friend Justine. The monster later killed his old school mate Henry Clerval, and the love of his life Elizabeth which days later caused the death of his Father. Everyone around him that he loved was dying. The monster knew no better, the monster was lonely and had no place to go so it took revenge in Victor, and everything he loved. Victor was the real monster here by creating one. By creating the monster it caused much devastation throughout his life.
The science fiction genre is a genre of speculative fiction that is often considered to be unrealistic or unrelated to reality, it occurred due to time changing, the literature of change, as the world was developing in a specific era that the thinking and analysis of social aspects was in its early stages, which means that the elements and tropes of sci-fi are likely to be existed only within the frame of the plot, expanding the readers to reflect on themselves within their society, meaning no limitations to a specific frame. This essay will discuss the elements and tropes that are likely to be found in the sci-fi genre. Firstly, the effect of sci-fi genre elements and tropes, will be demonstrated. Secondly, the tropes and elements of the genre will be discussed as related to the indicated novel (Frankenstein).
Family is who you start your life with, they create the foundation of who you are and influence who you will become. Victor’s abandonment left his creation with no leading influence. This pushes the monster to fall into patterns of tragedy, murder and despair. “He might have spoken, but I did not hear; one hand was stretched out, seemingly to detain me, but I escaped and rushed downstairs” (p. 44 Shelley). We can infer that his creation was only trying to reach out to the only family he would ever know. Victor escaping at only the sight of his creation was bound to have a harsh effect. You can only imagine what his creation went through trying to understand the brand new world he was brought into, relationships with other living beings and walking the path of self discovery alone; Leading him to to a life of
There are many themes in the story Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. Some of them are abandonment, neglect, revenge, and scientific knowledge, which are all related to each other in this novel.
Victor is very obsessive in nature, just as the monster is, a prime example being his attitude towards his sister, Elizabeth. He treats Elizabeth as a treasure, saying, “I… looked upon Elizabeth as mine–mine to protect, love, and cherish.” (Shelley, 21). Showcasing his obsession with his sister, even at a young age, Victor eventually marries Elizabeth–this illustrates the true form of his obsession. Victor also spends two years creating the monster, purely to prove those who did not believe him wrong. Calling himself, “...engaged, heart and soul…” (Shelley, 36) in his work . This obsession affects his relations with his family, as he does not pay any visit to them during this time. “The monster’s obsessiveness is exhibited when he retaliates against Victor for destroying the companion he agreed to make, saying, “I will be with you on your wedding night,” (Shelley 156) and killing Victor’s friend, Henry Clerval (Shelley, 164). This reveals the monster’s obsession with making Victor’s life a living
Victor expresses his solemn feelings about his mother’s death and sister sickness by creating a companion for himself. Victor’s mother is helping her daughter back to health after she contracts scarlet fever. The mother then gets the fever and eventually dies because of it. This partner Victor creates, turns out to be a monster on the outside that intimidates society, but means well on the inside. In this quote, Mary Shelley describes her perspective on the monster, QUOTE. Shelley talks about how the monster is learning from the family in the woods and shows how he learns to be part of a family and do chores such as stacking the firewood to help heat the house. He chooses to do this to give him the feeling of being part of a family; he cares about the family and treats them as if they were his own, but when the family walks in and Felix sees him with the father he attacks the monster. Felix attacks not because he is with the father and he doesn’t recognize him, but from the look of him he is intimidating and not “normal” looking so Felix jumps to the conclusion that he is inferior...
Frankenstein's monster most strategically employs pathos to convince Victor to listen to his story. After escaping from Frankenstein’s lab and attempting to interact with other humans, the monster laments that “Everywhere I see bliss, from which I alone am irrevocably excluded. I was benevolent and good; misery made me a fiend” (Shelley 105). Through “irrevocably excluded,” the monster demonstrates to Frankenstein the pain that caused him to become “a fiend.” Even though “bliss” exists throughout the world, none of it can ever reach the inhuman monster, forcing him into his current despicable situation. The creature then demands that Frankenstein free him from the pain and make him “benevolent and good” again, crying out to his creator to
The two children, along with his younger brother, Will, who was born when Victor was seven, become extremely close and have an intense bond between each other. At seventeen, as he is to leave for the University at Ingolstadt, Elizabeth contracts scarlet fever. Nursed by Victor's mother, she recovers, but his mother soon dies afterward. Victor later departs for Ingolstadt, which is where his chemistry professor encourages him in the study of science where Victor determines to discover the secret of life, perhaps even how to create life itself: “to devote myself to a science for which I believed myself to possess a natural talent” (Shelley). This leads to the construction of the monster himself. At the end of his creation, Victor is horrified by what he has generated, and runs away. This however, was a horrible mistake; the monster murders Victor’s younger brother and a servant is blamed for the
Regardless of the actual meaning of the book, several major themes can be glimpsed in the text. Frankenstein delivers on a plethora of themes that exemplify the human tendency to commit evil deeds. For example, Doctor Frankenstein cannot even see the evil that he creates until it stares at him in the face. Once he realizes what he has done, he immediately tries to cover up the evil he has done to the world.
He also terminated the life of his beloved, Elizabeth. Mary Shelley depicts several themes throughout this novel. The theme that has stood out the most is to never run away from your problems. After creating his monster, Victor runs away and hides in fear from his monster. As soon as Dr. Frankenstein leaves, his monster travels to Victor’s hometown of Geneva and murders his father’s youngest son, Victor’s brother, William.
Frankenstein is a novel written by Mary Shelley. Frankenstein is about a man who had a strong urge to finish a scientific project and did not accept his consequences for his own mistakes. Mary Shelley’s work consists of Gothic elements and have great emotion that go along with them. Mary Shelley’s childhood may have affected her writing, she had a tough life growing up and her book shows this. Throughout the novel there are many Gothic elements that all contribute to the events in the book. Victor neglecting his own responsibility and disrupting the natural order of things ultimately leads to the death of the two major characters in the end of the novel.
Shelley’s novel Frankenstein emphasizes intense emotion, nature, and problems with scientific advancement to stress to the reader the importance of Romanticism. While conceived as a horror story, Shelley being a Romantic, Frankenstein has many instances of beauty and emotion. Lots of the story takes place in the amazing mountains of France and among the stunning castles of the Rhine River. Misery and terror in the midst of extreme elegance creates a very unique story for the reader. This novel represents Romanticism in that it utilized strong, powerful language, vivid scenery, and puts down scientific advancement.