Writers of the Romantic Movement often expressed a spontaneous outpouring of feelings through nature-related symbols and imagery. In “Mutability”, Percy Shelley was no exception to other Romantic writers; he used these impulses of powerful feelings to express the inevitable change that everything in the universe undergoes. Ironically, Shelley claims that the only thing that will remain the same forever is mutability itself. While Shelley claims that everything is changing, he focuses on the mutability of the human species and its individuals. To illustrate humans as mutable, Shelley makes use of poetic elements such as imagery and specified diction. Therefore, “Mutability” ironically shows that the universe, specifically mankind, is changing while mutability itself remains the same.
In “Mutability”, Shelley uses imagery such as clouds and lyres to convey that humankind is always changing. In the first stanza, Shelley metaphorically relates humans to clouds in an attempt to express an outflow of powerful feeling about mutability, “We are as clouds that veil the midnight moon; / How restlessly they speed, and gleam, and quiver, / Streaking the darkness radiantly!---yet soon / Night closes round, and they are lost for ever:” (Shelley, 1734). Clouds reflect the lunar light; they also move quickly across and shine with this reflected light taking away the complete darkness. Similarly, the text suggests that humans are ephemeral and all of their actions are eventually forgotten; in comparison, the sun rises and the daytime erases any traces of the darkness and the night clouds. The example of the midnight moon can also be inferred as a cyclically changing entity because the appearance of the moon changes every day. As such, the night...
... middle of paper ...
... resist change that nothing else can. The text suggests that the poem places mutability and god on a similar level; since Shelley was an atheist, he had not supreme power to observe, but the idea of mutability replaces God in fulfilling such a role. Thus, Shelley’s powerful word choice and his capitalization of such words help express underlying thoughts about mutability and its context to his biography and the Romantic movement.
The natural imagery and specified strong diction present in “Mutability” work in service to express humans and human nature as protean. Shelley uses imagery to metaphorically compare humans to clouds and lyres that undergo change. His intent is to convey the rationale for mutability specifically to humans though. Shelley’s diction in relation to his biography and the Romantic period also illustrate underlying thoughts about mutability.
Clouds are an archetypal symbol for mystery as they can obfuscate and hide things within their shadows. Similarly, in Frankenstein, clouds are characterized for their ability to conceal. As Victor tries to discard of the chunks and members of the torn apart female creation, “Clouds hid the moon, everything was obscure” (210). The moon can serve as a symbol of light in the midst of darkness; light is intrinsically tied with the illuminating qualities of truth. By extension, the ability of a character to see through clouds is a measure of the character’s ability to see past physical constructs that hampers one’s ability to see truth that is shrouded in mystery. Victor has a strange fixation with the eagle that is capable of, “[soaring] amidst the clouds” (110). The creature’s fascination with eagles is linked to their ability to soar among clouds. Shelley uses the juxtaposition of positive and negative diction to emphasize an eagle’s ability to break through the physical. While soar indicates ascension, clouds denote mystery and confusion, two opposite forces: a one-way movement (ascension) and a multitude of directions (mystery). Yet, the eagle is able to break through the confusion and fly upwards, toward the sun - toward truth and knowledge. Mary Shelley’s description of clouds and
‘[The] characters and plot of Frankenstein reflect . . . Shelley’s conflicted feelings about the masculine circle which surrounded her.’
Both Percy and Mary Shelley had written a different interpretation of the Prometheus myth; with Percy’s Prometheus Unbound and Mary’s Frankenstein. Both of these works had examples that showed how the characters projected themselves into other beings. It could be interpreted that Mary had the intention to criticize the way a strong feeling of wishing something that is beyond the laws of the natural world to happen is without regard for the consequences that could occur as a result. These outcomes cannot be planned or controlled. Despite the outward appearance or aspect of the emphases on knowledge and creation—traits that are often considered virtues—Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and Percy Shelley’s Prometheus Unbound revealed the ways in which humans, in their desire for these virtues, can triumph over the unpredictability of nature. The visually descriptive and figurative language that each author utilized helped to show the advantage of the power of narrative as a means of expressing the characters’ egos which drove them to overreach for the dominance over nature and relate to real people.
Upon completion of this novel, a clearly prevalent and outstanding motif is that of religion and biblical reference. The frequent references to religion come in varied forms from that of biblical role-playing, to that of the fate of our current society. Another related argument that occurs can be the relationship of biblical role-playing and character domination. When all are combined appropriately, a very strong and prominent key motif in this novel is produced. Mary Shelley might have used religion reference as a method of showing us how something that happened during the creation of the earth can be related and brought to us via modern day fantasy creations. It is important for us to realize this connection because it will help us to understand an important deeper meaning of this work.
“I was departed on none and related to none. The path of my department was free, and there was none to lament my annihilation”(Shelley 114). Due to the Creature’s isolation the only influence present was the world around him. Throughout the novel Shelley “illustrates that several factors can impose limits and bounds on one’s nature.” These limits and bonds consist of “Physical appearence and consequent social alienation”. Although the imposed limits do have an effect on one's attitude, Shelly demonstrates that the nature of man consists of “both circumstance and personal choice”. In the novel the question ;“Was man, indeed at once so powerful, so virtuous and magnificent, yet so vicious and base?”(Shelley 80) is posed. Through this Shelley is distinctly referencing a humans ability to possess both good and bad qualities. As the creature must surpass “The unnatural hideousness of [his]person" (Shelley 89) Shelly emphasizes the correlation between how society perceives the creature and how that perception eventually affects the Creatures view of himself.“ It is only upon being rejected because of his appearence that the creature becomes the monster that Frankeinstein sees him as ” The creature is shown to have good qualities such as empathy such as when he states;“wh...
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.
Once he begins his work on the creation of the monster he is often left sleepless and grows weaker because of the long hours of work he commits himself to. He states, “Every night I was oppressed by a slow fever, and I became nervous to a most painful degree” (Shelley 42). The reader has now witnessed his appetite for scientific breakthrough morphing into a self-obsessed yearning for acclaim and recognition. This gives a perfect example of his obsession as he is so focused on his work that he begins to ignore his family as well as his declining mental and physical well being. He knows that the religious and scientific communities would frown upon his experiment; this creates nervousne...
Romantic writer Mary Shelley’s gothic novel Frankenstein does indeed do a lot more than simply tell story, and in this case, horrify and frighten the reader. Through her careful and deliberate construction of characters as representations of certain dominant beliefs, Shelley supports a value system and way of life that challenges those that prevailed in the late eighteenth century during the ‘Age of Reason’. Thus the novel can be said to be challenging prevailant ideologies, of which the dominant society was constructed, and endorsing many of the alternative views and thoughts of the society. Shelley can be said to be influenced by her mothers early feminist views, her father’s radical challenges to society’s structure and her own, and indeed her husband’s views as Romantics. By considering these vital influences on the text, we can see that in Shelley’s construction of the meaning in Frankenstein she encourages a life led as a challenge to dominant views.
The Web. The Web. 9 May 2012 Hogsette, David S. "Metaphysical Intersections In Frankenstein: Mary Shelley's Theistic Investigation Of Scientific Materialism And Transgressive Autonomy." Christianity And Literature 60.4 (2011): 531-560. MLA International Bibliography.
The idea of duality permeates the literary world. Certain contradictory commonplace themes exist throughout great works, creation versus destruction, light versus dark, love versus lust, to name a few, and this trend continues in Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. The pivotal pair in this text however, is monotony versus individuality. The opposing entities of this pairing greatly contrast against each other in Frankenstein, but individuality proves more dominant of the two in this book.
Mary Shelley’s husband had a “fascination with the power of science to give life”. As her husband, Percy Shelley’s views obviously were ...
This poem describes a story told you by a passing traveler of a ruined statue of a king, Ozymandias, seemingly in a desolate desert. On the statue in is inscribed, “‘My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!’/Nothing beside remain” (“Ozymandias” 10-12). Upon examination of the surrounding land, we realize that the once vast kingdom around the statue has been taken back by the desert, leaving the ironic message on the statue. This poem shows Shelley’s ideas of how all is temporary, especially mankind and our achievements. Showing romantic values, Shelley believed nature is much greater than man and no matter how big your kingdom, mather nature will always take back what was always
“Nothing beside remains. Round the decay / Of that colossal Wreck,” wrote Percy Bysshe Shelly in his poem, “Ozymandias.” This theme of destruction also forms the basis of Lord Byron’s poem, “Darkness.” Although each poem has a very different narrative, tone and plot, they reflect fears about the legacy of human influence and the destruction of civilization. The common theme of destruction, found in Percy Bysshe Shelly’s poem “Ozymandias” and Lord Byron’s poem, “Darkness” reflects the poets’ shared fears about the future by writing about ideas of civilization, the fall of mankind due to nature and natural instincts, life and death.
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.
Bloom, Harold and Golding, William. Modern Critical Views on Mary Shelley. Edited with an introduction by Harold Bloom. Chelsea House Publishers, New York, 1985.