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Tension in Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein" and Susan Hill's "The Woman in Black"
Tension is created in both Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein" and Susan hills "the woman in black" but in a different way. In Mary Shelley's novel "Frankenstein" tension is created by the settings, most horror story's are. Both novels create tension in there settings by using the power of imagination and the unknown. Central to both the plots is the idea of dreams and nightmares.
Both Frankenstein and the women in black were set at night and both in isolated areas.
Frankenstein was set in an isolated building in Ingolstadt,
Switzerland "on a dreamy night of November" "as the rain pattered dismally against the panes". This creates tension as she is using the horror of the unknown in the isolated building. "Candle was nearly burnt out."
Mary Shelley also creates tension in her novel by using the description she does when the creature has just been created,
"His yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath his hair were of a lustrous black and flowing".
The way he describes this creature clearly gives you the impression it is evil.
In the novel Frankenstein after the creature is created the man takes pity and is disgusted with what he has created,
"The beauty of the dream vanished"
For creating a creature that will have to live his life knowing that he was a creation.
This is where the tension starts to build and the creature decides to take revenge on the one who created him,
"Evil will have its revenge".
However in "the woman in black" her appearance is not described very much. Susan hill does however describe the look on her face as 'as a desperate, yearning malevolence; it was as though she was searching for something she wanted, needed- must have, more then life itself, and which had been taken from her. This helps prepares the reader in
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley introduces the change from good to evil with the attention that guardians give a child. William Crisman, in his critique of Mary Shelley’s work, identifies the “sibling rivalry” between Victor and the rest of his family. Crisman remarks that Victor feels as if he is the most important person in his parents’ lives, since he was Alphonse’s and Caroline’s only child. The Frankensteins adopt Elizabeth and Victor sarcastically remarks that he has a happy childhood. This prompts Victor starts to read essays about alchemy and study natural science. Anne Mellor, another critic of Frankenstein, proposes that Frankenstein’s creature was born a good person and society’s reaction to him caused him to turn evil. Victor’s makes the creature in his own perception of beauty, and his perception of beauty was made during a time in his life when he had secluded himself from his family and friends. He perceived the monster as “Beautiful!”, but Victor unknowingly expressed the evil in himself, caused by secluding himself from everybody, onto the creature (60). In this way, the creature is Victor’s evil mirrored onto a body. The expression of Victor onto the monster makes the townspeople repulsed by the creature. The theory of the “alter ego” coincides with Crisman’s idea of sibling rivalry (Mellor). Mary Shelley conveys that through Crisman’s idea of sibling rivalry, Victor isolates himself from society. Mellor describes the isolation during his creation of his creature leads to him giving the creature false beauty that causes Victor to abandon him and society to reject him.
raw to and a yellow fog, a filthy fog, evil smelling fog, a fog that
I had the opportunity to read Frankenstein by Mary Shelley several years ago and it became one of my favorite books. My initial feeling was sorrow, what a wonderful story that has been slowly destroyed by Hollywood through the years. We think of Victor Frankenstein as a mad scientist trying to destroy mankind, and the monster having bolts in his neck with very little intellect. Mary Shelley’s book is completely different from the Hollywood version we are accustom to. The monster is intelligent and has emotions, the mad scientist or Victor was scared of his own creation due to his appearance. The monster initially showed no signs of evil in the novel, but where did he learn it from? Who is the real evil monster
"What can stop the determined heart and resolved will of man?" This question, posed by Captain Robert Walton on page 22 of Mary Shelley's immortal Frankenstein, lies susceptible to interpretation to mean the ambition of man in one sense, but in another, the collective persecution and prejudice inherent in mankind.
Imagine a world where discoveries in science appear to have one of two outcomes: either they are beneficial or catastrophic for human beings. This is the world described by Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein as well as Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel “The Birthmark”. In Shelley’s novel, Victor Frankenstein strives to gain knowledge about physiology, the causes of life, and the purpose of death to be able to give life to inanimate objects. Victor decides that he must make the perfect creation to join human beings on earth after discovering how to do this, but he realizes that his creation is imperfect after it is completed and tries to abandon it. Victor’s creation eventually finds him and becomes his tormentor since the creation, as an act of revenge
The obsessed search for knowledge, fame and fortune can often undervalue one’s life and become the main focus of their existence. In Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein, she proves that obsession is a dangerous aspect of the human behavior, which always results in a negative outcome, this is mainly portrayed through the protagonist of the story Dr. Victor Frankenstein, because of Dr. Frankenstein’s obsessive personality he fails to recognize the affects of his scientific experiments which eventually lead to his and his family’s death.
Evil features in both ‘Dracula’ and ‘Frankenstein’ but the personification of this evil is different in both novels. A feeling of menace and doom pervades ‘Dracula’ because of his supernatural powers. One feels that he has control of the evil and he has the power to manipulate the environment and people for his own ends. ‘Frankenstein’ centres on the creation of a monster made from parts of dead bodies and the fear created by the monster due to circumstance and the ignorance of society. Also, one feels a certain amount of apprehension that the monster is deserted by his creator and loses control without his support and guidance.
Shelley utilized a plethora of literary devices to establish a ubiquitous atmosphere of horror in Frankenstein. The key to her success was her ability to depict the monster’s appearance through imagery, express Frankenstein’s thoughts through diction, and create events in uncanny settings. Because of this ability, Shelley opened a portal to a horrific place where technically one should not want to go but cannot refuse the
Women’s role in Frankenstein Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, is a famous novel about a scientist named Victor who creates a monstrous creature in a scientific experiment. It is easy to realize that men seem to be dominant throughout the story, and that all the main characters are male. As a result, women’s role in the book seems to be less important and significant to the story. Why did Mary Shelley, a daughter of a leading feminist who wrote the book A Vindication of the Rights of Women to express her belief that women should be treated equally, create such a book as Frankenstein, which portrayed women as inferior to men? The explanation lies behind the roles of those female characters in the book: Caroline Beaufort, Elizabeth Lavenza, Justine Moritz, and other women in the story.
For centauries, women have been forced to live life in the outskirts of a male dominated society. During the 1800’s, the opportunities for women were extremely limited and Mary Shelly does an excellent job in portraying this in her gothic novel, Frankenstein. Furthermore, in this novel, Mary Shelly shows how society considers women to be possessions rather than independent human beings. In addition, the female characters rely heavily on men for support and survival, thus proving their inability to do it on their own. Lastly, the female characters in this novel are in many ways victimized by the male characters. In conclusion, in Mary Shelly’s novel Frankenstein, the female characters always fulfill the limited and archetypical roles that are set for them by society.
Shadowing and contrast between the colors was used greatly in the photos, especially towards the monster. Exposing it’s body to it’s creator and attracting attention towards the monster’s body and showing darkness to represent Victor’s fear. Frankenstein had the desire to kill his creator due to the perceptions of society and his entire existence, “Unfeeling, heartless creator! you endowed me with perceptions and passions, and then you cast me abroad an object for scorn and horror of mankind” (138 Shelley). The colors within the illustration represent the exposure of Victor’s monstrous creation and Victor’s regret and fear are represented through the darkness everywhere, but the monster. The body of the monster is being defined through the light and Victor has fallen, on the floor due to fear of his death and what power the monster possesses. In the illustration, the monster’s face is shown, but the Victor’s face is not shown. Interpreting the artwork, the hidden face of the creator creates the idea that the monster’s face is the center of attention and Victor should be left unidentified. Everyone did not hate Victor for creating the monster, but only the monster itself for terrorizing the villages. Like in the illustration, Victor was hidden away and was not revealed, just another human that is scared of the monster. Although Frankenstein is of his
During the 1700s, the Enlightenment period in Europe was at its highest peak. It was at this time that author Mary Shelley decided to create her most famous novel, Frankenstein. Amidst a rainy day on Lake Geneva, author Mary Shelley was stuck in a house with a few Romantic poets, so in order to pass the time Lord Byron suggested that they each compose a ghost story to entertain each other. Promptly, Shelly began to conceive a horrific tale that demonstrates the detrimental effects of isolation on the mind and soul. In the novel Frankenstein, author Mary Shelley delineates the theme of isolation and its destructive power using evolution in tone, allusions to the Bible, and symbolism.
Emotional isolation in Frankenstein is the most pertinent and prevailing theme throughout the novel. This theme is so important because everything the monster does or feels directly relates to his poignant seclusion. The effects of this terrible burden have progressively damaging results upon the monster, and indirectly cause him to act out his frustrations on the innocent. The monster's emotional isolation makes him gradually turn worse and worse until evil fully prevails. This theme perpetuates from Mary Shelley's personal life and problems with her father and husband, which carry on into the work and make it more realistic.(Mellor 32) During the time she was writing this novel, she was experiencing the emotional pangs of her newborn's death and her half-sister's suicide. These events undoubtedly affected the novel's course, and perhaps Shelley intended the monster's deformed body to stand as a symbol for one or both of her losses. There are numerous other parallels to the story and to her real life that further explain why the novel is so desolate and depressing. Emotional isolation is the prime theme of the novel due to the parallels shared with the novel and Shelley's life, the monster's gradual descent into evil, and the insinuations of what is to come of the novel and of Shelley's life.
From the beginning of time in history, women have always been portrayed as and seen as the submissive sex. Women especially during the time period of the 1800s were characterized as passive, disposable, and serving an utilitarian function. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is a prime example displaying the depiction of women. The women in Frankenstein represent the treatment of women in the early 1800’s. Shelley’s incorporation of suffering and death of her female characters portrays that in the 1800’s it was acceptable. The women in the novel are treated as property and have minimal rights in comparison to the male characters. The feminist critic would find that in Frankenstein the women characters are treated like second class citizens. The three brutal murders of the innocent women are gothic elements which illustrates that women are inferior in the novel. Mary Shelley, through her novel Frankenstein, was able to give the reader a good sense of women’s role as the submissive sex, through the characters experiences of horrific events including but not limited to brutal murder and degradation, which is illuminated by her personal life experiences and time period of romanticism.
When reading Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, one cannot help but notice that the women characters seem to have little substance compared to the male characters. This may have been caused by the time period in which she wrote: one in which females were considered inferior to males. This difference between the sexes can be looked at using a variety of different perspectives. Johanna M. Smith, a professor at the University of Texas at Arlington, discusses this issue using feminist eyes in her essay entitled "'Cooped up': Feminine Domesticity in Frankenstein." The main points in Professor Smith's essay are that the female characters are there only to reflect the male characters, and that the Frankenstein family has a weird style of living, which she describes as a "bookkeeping mentality" (Smith 279).