The Last Man and the Plague of Empire
I find myself in easy agreement with Alan Richardson's perceptive account of The Last Man as a novel written in the service of British colonial interests and of Mary Shelley as an individual swept up in the collective arrogance of nineteenth-century imperial England.
In one striking example of the novel's
colonialist complicity, Lionel Verney presumptuously declares that England's
prime resource is its people (its "children" [323]) whereas the greatest assets
of the equatorial regions are their commodities--their spices, plants, and
fruits. Verney further sentimentally recalls Britain's history of unshrinking
exploration (read colonization and economic exploitation) of foreign nations
under the crown's sponsorship, as he grieves for lost "times when man walked the
earth fearless, before Plague had become Queen of the World" (346). It appears
crystal-clear that The Last Man contains fewer sites of resistance than are
present in Frankenstein and more moments of racism, jingoism, and religious
contempt; therefore, in order to facilitate conversation, I will address here
primarily the possible meanings of the novel's few heteroglossic moments,
including the "ironic twist or two towards the end" that Alan Richardson
mentions, in addition to posing some suggestive, or polemical, questions.
The horror of The Last Man may for Shelley lie in its revelation that the
operations of nature obliterate both civilized and barbaric, Christian and
Mahometan, with the same moral neutrality. In the end, Adrian, the sophisticated
"blue-eyed boy" (27), a stand-in for Percy Shelley, s...
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...e United States, 1898-1935.
http://www.accinet.ent/~fjzwick/ail98-35.html (December 2003).
Greenblatt, Stephen Jay. Learning to Curse: Essays in Early Modern Culture.New
York: Routledge, 1990.
Holmes, Richard. Shelley: The PursuitLondon: Penguin,1974.
Kipling, Rudyard. "The White Man's Burden." McClure's Magazine 12 (Feb.1899).
http://www.accinet.net/~fjzwick/kipling.html In Jim Zwick,ed., Anti-Imperialism
in the United States, 1898-1935. http://www.accinet.ent/~fjzwick/ail98-35.html
(January 2004).
Richardson, Alan. Romantic Circles: "The Last Man and the Plague of Empire."
http://prometheus.emory.edu/RC/mwsprogram.html (September 2003).
Shelley, Mary W. The Last Man. Betty T. Bennett and Steven E. Jones, eds.
http://www.rc.umd.edu/editions/editions.html#mws September 2003
The Eleventh Plague is one of those books you MUST finish in 4 days or less because the story sticks like glue to your mind and you won’t stop theory-crafting until you give in and read it to the end these are reasons why. Eleventh Plague has a well-written plot which is essential to any story and it is back up by the fascinating character development and detailed writing. Eleventh Plague has a great plot. At the start, it shows Stephen and his Father trekking along an abandoned road when suddenly, they spot a Canadian military airplane. It then leads on to show the two of them living in the plane for a few days until a group of slavers also find this plane. Stephens father has a fight with the slavers
As the monster carries on with his life, he understands that he is not in control of his future, and in his mind, the De Lacey family are, "Superior beings who would be the arbiters of my future destiny" (Shelley 115). He has acknowledged his disengagement and comprehends his dismissal, which compels the readers to feel pity and remorse for the Creature, inevitably making his fall into abhorrence more sensational and shocking. " When I looked around, I saw and heard of none like me. Was I then a monster, a blot upon the earth, from which all men fled, and whom all men disowned? I cannot describe to you the agony that these reflections inflicted upon me. I tried to dispel them, but sorrow only increased with knowledge." (Shelley
‘[The] characters and plot of Frankenstein reflect . . . Shelley’s conflicted feelings about the masculine circle which surrounded her.’
Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein, illustrates the Romantic idea of the sublime naturalworld as an emotional experience for the characters of the novel. Within the text, Shelleyutilizes an allusion to the John Milton’s biblical story, Paradise Lost, to make a parallel betweenthe characters. Within the passage, the monster compares himself, as well as his creator, Victor,to the characters Adam and Satan. He comes to realize that he is more similar to Satan;ultimately, leading him to his reign of terror and the revenge he wishes to impose on Victor. Themonster realizes that he is similar to Adam in Paradise Lost in that they both do not want to bealone. The monster also realizes that there is good in the world that is deeply contrasted with
Shelley, Mary "Frankenstein". The Presence of Others. Comp Andrea A. Lunsford and John J. Ruskiewicz. New York: St. Martins, 1997 230-235.
Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein, has captured people’s attention since it was first written. People often wonder how much of Mary Shelley’s life is documented in her novel. From the theme of parental abandonment, to the theme of life and death in the novel, literary scholars have been able to find similarities between Frankenstein and Shelley’s life. The Journal of Religion and Health, the Journal of Analytical Psychology, and the Modern Psychoanalysis discuss the different connections between Shelley’s life and Frankenstein. Badalamenti, the author of “ Why did Mary Shelley Write Frankenstein?” in the Journal of Religion and Health, primarily discusses the connection between Victor
... good, but can be turned to evil by society’s narrow-minded view of what is normal, and the corruption of the mind through knowledge and education. The repercussions of Victor’s and others alienation of the creature turned a caring individual to an evil one. Shelley succeeds in bringing Rousseau's theory to life, that one is born good, but he can be turned to evil through civilization and education. This story still has a great meaning for us today. Millions of people are outcast by society, not only because of physical appearance, but also because of sexual orientation, social status, and religion. Once people quit looking so narrow-mindedly at one another, the world will be a much better place, and Frankenstein's "monster" will rest in peace!
... difficult to avoid. At any rate, the whole movie has already begun to wind down at this point, and a death for the monster at the hands of the angry mob is invented for the film at the expense of the story. It is tragic that the amazing ending of Shelley's novel was left entirely out of the film, but it is also easy to understand because of budget and production limitations.
Therefore it’s hard to believe that Shelley, a daughter of one of the leading feminists of the day was responsible for presenting women as the submissive role to their male counterparts. How ironic it is that that she was not subservience to her male counterparts in her own life, because although of her father’s disapproval of her partner Percy Shelley, who was already married and to his pregnant wife. She fled to France with him, and disowned herself from her family.
Shelley’s allusions display the creatures anguish of being alone in the world and how it causes him to feel: “ Like Adam, I was apparently united by no link to any other being in existence… I was wretched, helpless, and alone.” (93-94), this allusion is crucial because it shows the reader just how awful the influences of solitude are on the creature and how his circumstances have caused him to become grieved and destitute. Another illusion similar to before take place when the monster compares himself to Satan: “Many times I considered Satan as the fitter emblem of my condition; for often, like him, when I viewed the bliss of my protectors, the bitter gall of envy rose within me.” (94), the monster now resents the people of the cottage because they are able to converse and associate with others while the creature is forced to stay secluded from all contact. Allusions such as these enforce Shelley 's purpose of depicting the calamitous effects of solitude on the mind. By now the reader should understand that men need to be around others like themselves because all creatures desire to have a group into which they
Think of a North America without electricity, no running water, no government, almost no buildings left intact, and ravaged by a Chinese manufactured plague, even though it’s hard to imagine that's what happened in Jeff Hirsch’s The Eleventh Plague. In Jeff Hirsch’s Eleventh Plague a family made up of the Dad, Mom, Grandfather, and son are trying to survive in a North America ravaged by a Chinese Plague , But then the mom and grandpa die and dad and Stephen are left on their own, but when the dad gets injured running away from some slavers, A Town named Settlers Landing that seems too good to be true takes them in. Then Stephen befriends a girl named Jenny, and when they play a prank that sends Jenny, and when they play a prank that sends the town into chaos. A war is started and it is up to them to help stop it. I thought that The Eleventh Plague was a believable piece of Speculative Fiction because of Hirsch's use of elements of Conflict, Theme, and Red Herrings.
Frankenstein is among one of the most iconic novels written during the early 19th Century. This novel was written by a distinguished Mary Shelley and first published in the year 1818. Shelley’s story is considered to written before its time as it challenged many themes and ideas of humanism, natural science, ambition, abortion, etc. The novel itself sparked many controversies and debates as numerous different topics are challenged and discussed throughout the novel. Shelley flawlessly executes the story as she writes in a dramatic gothic drama tone and allows the reader to step into different views of the story by changing perspectives.
We are shown that this ‘monster’ is a ‘creature’ and more of a human than we think. It is in the complex structure of the novel that Mary Shelley creates sympathy. We shift from Robert Walton to Victor Frankenstein to the monster and finally back to Walton. With each shift of perspective, the reader gains new information about both the facts of the story and the reliability of the narrator. Each perspective adds pieces of information that only they knows: Walton explains the circumstances of Victor’s last days, Victor explains his creation of the monster, the monster explains his turn to evil.
Society strives to feel a sense of belonging. We want to be a part of something that shares the same beliefs as us. We spend our time trying to place ourselves in a group to satisfy these needs, whether it is in a hobby club, a group of friends, or religion. Some people go to more extreme measures and find this in what we call a cult. According to Henslin, a cult is a new or different religion whose teachings and practices put it at odds with the dominant culture and religion. (2013:405) Cults are often identified with the ideas of mass murder, deviant behaviors, unusual beliefs, and extremely devoted members. Cults are also highly known for their leaders. The leaders of cults usually are the ones that portray the image for the entire group. Successful cults take a strong-minded and, according to Max Weber, charismatic leader.
The novel itself was a product of Shelley taking up a challenge to write a ghost story, which was her chance to give a dire warning to society (through the didactic tone throughout the novel) that, embraces experimenting and questing for the unknown which so much part of her culture but at the same time playing on the fears of the middles classes' lack of knowledge as at the same time graves were being dug up and bodies used which made this tomb quite fearful to its readers and intriguing as Shelley brings many ethical issues on the ... ... middle of paper ... ... how important knowledge is here. I personal think Shelley wrote this novel to voice her opinions the only way she could in such a strict society that did not allow women to have opinions. Shelley took many things from her own life which she criticised through the novel to make it more realistic and the only way she could criticise her own up bringing especially how her father took her own education.