Stephen King’s novel Pet Sematary pays reverence to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, encompassing and challenging elements from its characters, its plot, and the dissertations addressed in the novel. Pet Sematary is a huge interpretation of Frankenstein because how closely the characters relate, the countless similar imagery in each novel, and how each novel gives the aspect of cheating life. I plan to analyze from a comparative perspective just how much the novels parallel in storyline, characterization and intertexuality.
Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein and Stephen King’s Pet Sematary firstly compare in the matter of each novels main characters. Louis Creed is a decent father and loving husband to who is wife who made selfish, stupid and rash decisions
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For example Louis Creed’s vision of his recently departed patient Victor Pasco standing beside him is very similar to Victor Frankenstein’s first encounter with the creature he created. For example in Pet Sematary King states, “Then the moon sailed out from behind a cloud, flooding the room with cold white light, and he saw Victor Pascow standing in the doorway. The crash had been Victor Pascow throwing open the door. He stood there with his head grotesquely bashed in behind the left temple. The blood had dried on his face in maroon stripes like Indian war paint. His collarbone jutted whitely. He was grinning” (King 89). This explains how Louis Creed had a vision of Victor Pascow and somewhat gives readers a feeling that he feels very guilty which compares to Victor Frankenstein in Frankenstein. In chapter five of Frankenstein we get a very similar scene but instead with Victor Frankenstein and his creature which states, “I started from my sleep with horror; a cold dew covered my forehead, my teeth chattered, and every limb became convulsed: when, by the dim and yellow light of the moon, as it forced its way through the window shutters, I beheld the wretch – the miserable monster whom I had created. He held up the curtain of the bed; and his eyes, if eyes they may be called, were fixed on me. His jaws opened, and he muttered some inarticulate sounds, while a grin wrinkled his cheeks” (Shelly 59). Victor is not only feeling guilty but quite terrified when he finishes creating the monster. Victor Frankenstein’s scene with the monster standing over his bed and Louis Creed’s vision of Victor Pascow standing in the doorway makes each character realize that there is destruction and chaos waiting for
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
Frankenstein’s Cat, by Emily Anthes, takes the audience through multiple journeys of how science plays a role in the lives of animals. In chapter 3, Double Trouble, Anthes explores the concept of pet cloning and the pros and cons of it. The audience is introduced to many of the cloned animals and their stories such as Dolly and CC. Anthes informs us that the technology that cloning requires is far more advanced than our time and still needs time to evolve so that there are not as many failures or complications. Anthes brings up the point that many people worry about animal welfare and just how safe or dangerous cloning actually is. (56-79) Although we shouldn’t have to live without our four legged-family members, I believe that pet cloning is too risky based on the low success rates and the unknown outcomes.
When I entered the Gary C. Werths and Richard Frimel Gallery at the Saint Louis Art Museum, I was drawn to Glenn Ligon’s art piece, Study for Frankenstein #1.
The setting along with most of the plot are similar between the two. The settings are both in the same castle and they are both creating something that will change science. Both of their creations are similar in their appearance and both stories recite the story of a curious scientists who creates life from the remains of the dead. In both Mary Shelly’s noel along with the movie, Frankenstein is the main character and is a scientist whose obsessed with power and the creation takes over their lives. They both strive for scientific greatness but in the end, they both feel different towards their respected creatures. The parts of the story where the creature’s soul searching is similar in a few ways. In the book and the movie, the creature realizes on its own that it will always have the problem of being rejected by society and different from humans. Both versions experience similar human feelings where they conclude that they are in fact different from others. In both versions, we see that the fiancé is names Elizabeth, I find this weird since I would have trouble being with someone that had the same name as my grandmother. As you can tell there are not too many similarities that are out there between the two of them. Overall it is clear that the movie is loosely based on Mary Shelly’s original book, but is different in a lot of
Both stories share a central theme, that the acquirement too much knowledge is dangerous. Throughout Frankenstein, the reader is left with the feeling that Victor's obsessive desire to defeat nature, through the creation of another life, directly led to the many tragedies that befell him, "Learn from me, if not by my precept, at least by my example, how dangerous is the ac...
Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein is impressive, entertaining, and fascinating so is it no surprise there have been so many films and artworks influenced by her novel. Many of which have put their own spin to the horror novel, especially the character of the creature that remains one of the most recognized icons in horror fiction. However, there have been critics whom argue modern versions and variations have lost the horror and passion that is an essential to the creature. The start of the Creature is bound to one book. However, public impression of the Creature has changed severely since the publication of the original novel, leading to diverse styles and plot lines in its diverse film adaptations. People’s impression of the Creature have become so twisted and turned by time and decades of false film posters and article titles that most use the name “Frankenstein” to refer to the Creature itself, rather than the scientist who created him! It’s a shame! An understanding of literary history is a necessity to comprehend the truth of the Creature’s tragic history and how decades of film adaptations changed him into the hulking beast most people know him as today.
“Allure, Authority, and Psychoanalysis” discusses the unconscious wishes, effects, conflicts, anxieties, and fantasies within “Frankenstein.” The absence of strong female characters in “Frankenstein” suggests the idea of Victor’s desire to create life without the female. This desire possibly stems from Victor’s attempt to compensate for the lack of a penis or, similarly, from the fear of female sexuality. Victor’s strong desire for maternal love is transferred to Elizabeth, the orphan taken into the Frankenstein family. This idea is then reincarnated in the form of a monster which leads to the conclusion that Mary Shelley felt like an abandoned child who is reflected in the rage of the monster.
Mary W. Shelly’s classic book, Frankenstein, was written in the early nineteenth century. The setting that is taken place within the story has multiple locations. Amongst these multiple locations are Switzerland, Geneva, the home of Dr. Frankenstein, unknown villages/cottages, and the North Pole which was the exposition of the story to begin with. The style of the classic, Frankenstein, has a different style of writing due to not being written in the proper chronological nature. When Frankenstein, is adapted to motion picture film, the film focuses on the horror of Frankenstein’s monster, however the book is really about romanticism. Stephen Gould intertwines his opinion on the book Frankenstein. His opinion is
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus, explores the monstrous and destructive affects of obsession, guilt, fate, and man’s attempt to control nature. Victor Frankenstein, the novel’s protagonist and antihero, attempts to transcend the barriers of scientific knowledge and application in creating a life. His determination in bringing to life a dead body consequently renders him ill, both mentally and physically. His endeavors alone consume all his time and effort until he becomes fixated on his success. The reason for his success is perhaps to be considered the greatest scientist ever known, but in his obsessive toil, he loses sight of the ethical motivation of science. His production would ultimately grieve him throughout his life, and the consequences of his undertaking would prove disastrous and deadly. Frankenstein illustrates the creation of a monster both literally and figuratively, and sheds light on the dangers of man’s desire to play God.
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein or; The Modern Prometheus, published in 1818, is a product of its time. Written in a world of social, political, scientific and economic upheaval it highlights human desire to uncover the scientific secrets of our universe, yet also confirms the importance of emotions and individual relationships that define us as human, in contrast to the monstrous. Here we question what is meant by the terms ‘human’ and ‘monstrous’ as defined by the novel. Yet to fully understand how Frankenstein defines these terms we must look to the etymology of them. The novel however, defines the terms through its main characters, through the themes of language, nature versus nurture, forbidden knowledge, and the doppelganger motif. Shelley also shows us, in Frankenstein, that although juxtaposing terms, the monstrous being everything human is not, they are also intertwined, in that you can not have one without the other. There is also an overwhelming desire to know the monstrous, if only temporarily and this calls into question the influence the monstrous has on the human definition.
In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein and the monster that he creates are very similar. For example, Victor creates the monster to be like himself. Another similarity is that the anger of both Victor and the monster is brought about by society. One more parallel between Victor and the monster is that they both became recluses. These traits that Victor and the monster possess show that they are very similar.
Walter Scott’s critique in the 1818, Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine Review of Frankenstein, is that Frankenstein is a novel of romantic fiction depicting a peculiar nature that narrates the real laws of nature and family values. This review explains that Mary Shelley manages the style of composition, and gives her characters an indirect importance to the reader as the laws of nature takes course in the novel. In addition, Walter Scott appreciates the numerous theme...
Many critics have argued how much Mary Shelley’s personal life and background should be considered in the reading and interpretation of Frankenstein which contains many autobiographical references and experiences of her own. Analyzing the combination of a complex novel and biographical information readers find evidence that circumscribes her life produces a possible feeling and intentions that the author may have possessed. During the time period of writing Frankenstein, f...
“The doctor [Victor Frankenstein] and his monster represent of one another and their relationship mirrors that of the head and the heart, or the intellect and the emotion. In this context, the monster’s actions have been viewed as manifestations of the doctor’s—and Shelley’s—repressed desires” (Bomarito and Whitaker). The motif of doppelgänger is established when Victor created the creature. As Victor is alone and obsessed with science, he resorts to creating a “being of a gigantic stature, that is to say, about eight feet in height, and proportionally large” (Shelley 38). Whenever the creature comes to life, Victor is frightened and flees from the creature, even though he does not realize, that he has subsequently created a double of himself.
...their travel knowledge. Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein can be looked at as a monster in itself, formed by pieces of different character’s stories and letters just as Victor’s monster was formed by many different people’s limbs.