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Analysis essay of frankenstein
Analysis essay of frankenstein
Literary analysis on frankenstein the creature
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Frankenstein Notes
Observations:
1. We commonly refer to the enormous monster as “Frankenstein”, when in fact he was never given a name.
2. Many references are made throughout the story to other famous literary works, such as Milton’s, Paradise Lost and Coleridge’s, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.
3. Victor is a seeker of knowledge; he seeks answers to what occurs in nature and the physical world.
4. Upon his arrival at the University, Victor puts all his time and energy into his studies; he even disregards his health and family.
5. Many gothic elements of the grotesque are found throughout this book.
6. The environment of the book is described as dark and eerie.
7. After the creation of his monster, Victor suffers a so-called “living torture” for the consequences of his actions.
8. The weather plays a big role in setting the overall tone of the book.
9. The idea that man is born good, but it is society and other pressures that create an evil in man is relevant and part of the romantic theme depicted in the story.
10. The central concern of the novel is the basic need for companionship. Humans seek other individuals for their mate, in which they can share a life-long relationship together.
Vocabulary:
1. capacious: able to contain or hold much; roomy; spacious.
2. paroxysm: a sudden outburst as of laughter, rage, or sneezing; fit; spasm.
3. chamois: a small goat antelope of the mountains of Europe.
4. galvanism: electricity produced by a chemical reaction.
5. chimera: an impossible or foolish fancy.
6. dogmatism: dogmatic assertion of opinion, usually without reference to evidence.
7. lassitude: state or feeling of being tired and listless; weariness; languor.
8. mien: a way of carrying and conducting oneself; manner.
9. ignominy: loss of one’s reputation; shame and dishonor; infamy.
10. aiguilles: a peak of rock shaped like a needle.
11. hovel: a small shed for sheltering animals or storing supplies.
12. offal’s: refuse; garbage.
13. viands: food of various kinds; especially choice dishes.
14. vestige: a trace, mark, or sign of something that once existed but has disappeared.
1. Robert Walton is the narrator of the novel. The time period in which the story is told is in the 1800’s.
2. The characters of the story are Victor Frankenstein, the “monster”, Robert Walton, Alphonse, Caroline, Ernest, and William Frankenstein, Elizabeth Lavenza, Justine Mortiz, Henry Clerval, M. Krempe, M. Waldman, M. De Lacy, Felix De Lacy, Agatha De Lacy, Safie, Mr. Kirwin, and Margaret Saville.
3. The setting takes place in Europe.
4. The general themes of the novel are use of knowledge for good and evil purposes, the use of new technology in modern life, the treatment of the poor and uneducated, and the powers of nature and the human physiology.
Despite popular belief, Frankenstein is not the name of the monster but instead its creator. Victor Frankenstein created the “tremendous and abhorred” (page 76) creature that is known as the Monster after he discovers how to give
A new species would bless [him] as its creator and source, many happy and excellent natures would owe their being to [him]” (Shelley 55). Life and death are natural things, but Victor thinks that he can “break through” them and create life. He alone would be the person to “pour a torrent of light into their dark world,” as if he was God, ruling over all of the world. This shows Victor’s lack of respect towards life and how he intends to overcome the boundaries set by nature.
Merriam Webster’s Encyclopedia of Literature highlights Frankenstein as the work of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, published in 1818, and it brought into the Western world one of its best known monsters. Elements of gothic romance and science fiction help in telling the story of young Swiss scientist Victor Frankenstein, as he creates a horrible monster by putting together limbs and veins, leading to destruction and his later regret. The creature is left alone in the world, even by his own creator, for his hideous appearance, and through watching humans he learns their ways of living. Haunting Victor due to his loneliness, he forcefully makes Victor agree to make him a female companion, but Victor’s regret and misery enables him to tear up his
Victor was born into a happy family and they lived in Geneva. His parents then adopted Elizabeth, whom he immediately felt a strong sense of possession towards. At a young age, Victor was always obsessed with alchemy and constantly divulged in experiments to prove the words of the mad men who wrote the ancient texts. When his mother died after her attempt to care for Elizabeth, Victor was sent to Ingolstadt where his interest swayed from alchemy to modern knowledge. In Ingolstadt, he became fascinated with the human body: “One of the phenomena which had peculiarly attracted [his] attention was the structure of the human frame, and, indeed, any animal endued with life” (36). Learning from his professor M. Krempe, he decided to delve into the discovery of “the secrets of heaven and earth” (23).
After Victor destroys his work on the female monster meant to ease the monster's solitude, the monster is overcome with suffering and sadness. These feelings affected his state of mind and caused him to do wrong things. He did not deserve to see his one and only mate be destroyed.
Victor’s lack of compassion and sympathy towards the monster causes him to become angry instead of guilty. His cruelness to his creation made the monster kill and hurt the people he did but “when [he] reflected on [the monster’s] crimes and malice, [Victor’s] hatred and revenge burst all bounds of moderation,”(Shelley 325). Without compassion Victor thinks that the only way to stop the monster is to get revenge on him, instead of just giving him the empathy and kindness that monster craved. Victor realizes that "if he were vanquished, [he] should be a free man...balanced by those horrors of remorse and guilt which would pursue [him] until death. ”(Shelley 731).
Victor Frankenstein created a creature that he abandoned after contemplating his faults and deemed them unacceptable. He renounced his creation and totally rejects it because of its size and looks that frightened everyone as they greeted Victor’s creature with fear and violent reactions. Shelly’s Frankenstein revolved on issues of Victor’s science and ambition, moral responsibility, psychological balance and social isolation that must very well remind each one of us that humans are God’s images, and humans as scientists in continuing to probe into the power of creation and attempt to understand it must perform as stewards of God’s creation. The attempt to create a new creature with extreme powers sums up how humans can be so conceited in recognizing human abilities and the ...
Duncan, Greg. "Frankenstein: The Historical Context." WSU.edu. Washington State University. Web. 07 Mar. 2011. .
Everything starts to change once Victors ambitions become his life. He leaves to study at Ingolstadt, where his destiny begins to unfold. This is when Victor’s isolation begins. The search for the secrets of life consumes him for many years until he thinks he has found it. For months, he assembles what he needs for his creation to come alive.
Because of Victor’s need for fame and desire for power leads to Victor becoming a monster. Victor begins his quest to bring life to a dead person because he does not want anyone to feel the pain of a loved ones death. At first he is not obsessed with his project. As he moves along in the project he thinks about what will happen to him. "Life and death appeared to me ideal bounds, which I should first break through, and pour a torrent of light into our dark world. A new species would bless me as its creator and source, many happy and excellent natures would owe their being to me." (Shelley 39) He realizes that he will become famous if he accomplishes the task of bringing a person back to life. The realization that he will become famous turns him into an obsessive monster. He wanted to be admired, and praised as a species creator. He isolates himself from his family and works on the creature. “I had worked hard for nearly two years, for the sole purpose of infusing life into an inanimate body. For this I deprived myself of rest and health. I had desired it with an ardour that far exceeded moderation, but now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart.” (Shelley 156) By spending most of his time inside on his experiment, he has no time to write or contact his family. He puts fear within his family because they fear for him.
A monster is usually viewed to be a supernatural creature that humans judge based on looks and not necessarily on personality. In the novel, Frankenstein written by Mary Shelley, the monster is a creature Victor creates but abandons immediately because he is horrified by his own creation. Due to the monster’s appearance, society does not give the creature a chance to show his true self. Therefore, the monster faces an external conflict because of Frankenstein’s and society's rejection, making it difficult for him to blend into his new life. Victor creates the monster because of his unusual compulsion of aspiring to be like God. However, Victor does not know how to treat or be responsible for his creature. Victor Frankenstein is the true monster
In his youth Victor spent his time secluded from nature, studying books. Victor spent every hour trying to learning how to "banish disease from the human frame and render man invulnerable to any but a violent death" (Shelley, 26). He was the perfect enlightenment hero, as he pursued education over everything else. He declared to Captain Walton that the:
The pursuit of knowledge is expressed through the alluring antagonist, Victor. Victors pursuit of knowledge lead him to a destructive future. It was his ambition and determination to animate a being lead him to a remorseful future. Victor ventured to go beyond human capabilities by ascertaining the elixir of life and attempting to outdo God, but it ultimately lead to his misery. Victor tells of his fascination with natural philosophy and works by Cornelius Agrippa, Albertus Magnus, and Paracelsus. Victor set off to college at Ingolstadt, he attended a presentation taught by M. Waldman which set the Victor on a path in which he would "pioneer a new way, explore unknown powers, and unfold to the world the deepest mysteries of creation." He was in the anatomy of a human Victor’s goal was to ...
Mrs. Margaret Saville is the woman to whom the narrator tells the story. Elizabeth Lavenza is the beloved of Victor Frankenstein. Justine Moritz is the heroine who is accused by mistake of murdering William and executed instead of the fiend. There is close connection between the female and male characters, and if we break it, Frankenstein will have no sense. The author of the novel, Mary Wollstonecraft Shelly, characterizes the women in the same way as the men, and shows that they are independent players.
Victor becomes more isolated as his guilt and paranoia rises. Victor feels that he is all alone in the world when the monster kills the last of his family members and friends. With nothing left to lose, Victor lets his anger consume him to the point that all he cares about is revenge. The monster had always wanted revenge on his creator, especially when Victor tore apart his bride-to-be.