Essay Review

The essay I read was,"Mary Shelley's Frankenstein; The Basic Role of Family"

In this essay it is shown that Shelley'snovel"Frankenstein" greatly reflects her own upbringing and family life. When she was born her mother died from the complications from child birth,meanign that Mary did not have a strong female role in her life. Although she had no time to spend with her mother she inheriteda determined personality and a feminist view.

The novel was written seemingly against the Romantic era, with bleak scenes and gruesome ideas. Being a rebel by nature it would also seem that the book was not only a rebellion against Romantics and radicals, but also a defiance against her indifferent father. Interestingly enough all radical thinkers in Shelley's book were either murdered or died showing her distaste for them. After her mother's death, Mary's father married a woman named Mary jane Clairmont. The relationship between step-daughter and step-mother was rough, and eventually her father sent Mary off to Scotland for schooling. Her father was absent not only physically but emotionally and was not there for her for nearly her entire life.

The lack of parental guidance that Mary Shelley experienced can be seen in the monster. Both of them had a lack of guidance and were very much left to theiur own devices to figure things out. It also clear in the case of Victor in this passage:

A new light seemed to dawn upon my mind, and bounding with joy, I communicated my discovery to my father. My father looked carelessly at the title page of my book and said, 'Ah Cornelius Agrippa! My dear Victor, do not waste your time upon this; it is sad trash'. If, instead of this remark, my father had taken the pains to explain to me that the principles of Agrippa had been entirely exploded and that a modern system of science had been introduced which possessed much greater powers...under such circumstances I should certainly have thrown Agrippa aside and have contented my imagination, warned as it was, by returning with greater ardour to my former studies. It is even possible that the train of my ideas would never have received the fatal impulse to led to my ruin. But the cursory glance my father had taken of my volume by no means assured me that he was acquainted with its contents; and I continued to read with the greatest avidity. (Shelley 37-38)

This shows a father's lack of support in their child's interests, which is very true in Mary Shelley's own life as he was indifferent to her and her needs.

The Narrarators

In the beginning of the novel we have letters written by Robert Walton to his sister that focuses around Victor. He speaks about how they came across an ill Victor Frankenstein while stuck in ice en route to the North Pole. Walton begins to forge what he sees as a strong friendship with Frankenstein, who while on his death bed, shares his life's story with Walton.

In a way Robert Walton is like Victor Frankenstein. They both are explorers that are searching for the "country of eternal light" (unpossessed knowledge). In the end however, Walton sees the mistakes made my Vicotor by pursuing the unknown leading Walton to give up.

You can take the role of narrartion from a feminist point of view as well. In the novel there is no female narraration, but only Walton retelling the story of Frankensten to his sister. This is symbollic because it is a man retelling a story to a woman, because it may be thought that the life of a man may not be understood by a woman unless it is explained to them. We can see through this the outrage that mary Shelley has towards sexismand the repression of women.

Frankenstein in Film

The video I watched was found on youtube, called "Mary Shelley's Frankenstein - Frankenstein".

In this video there are two sections, both being somewhat different from each other.

In the first part we see a very dingy, dark and eerie looking labratory with special effects like fake lightning. It has a very hectic feeling and plays very heavy music which gives this interperetation of Frankenstein a more modern feel. The man meant to be victor is also pictured MUCH differently then he was in the book. He's wearing no shirt and is rugged look with longer blonde hair, showing a very different idea of how to perceive the character. The actual creating of the monster is actually fairly accurate to the book, with Victor realizing afterwards what he has done and that there will be consequences to that. When the monster comes out he looks almost like a newborn only with cuts (and the age difference). He is nude and slimy and cannot stand at all. He grabs and feels around, holds onto Victor and stumbles, frequently pulling Victor down with him. A difference between this and the book of Frankenstein is that the creator at least helps the monster up to his feet and tries to help him.

In the second part of the video it's all rather generic and meaningless until the very end. After the show that Victor and Frankenstein put on is a perfect example of how Frankenstein wasn't accepted and was shunned for his differences. The result from the audiences behavior and his humiliation is that he gets defensive and violent, resorting to the only way that he knows how to deal with those feelings.

What it Means To Be Human

What it means to be human. What makes us people?
We could see it as a physical idea. We have legs, arms, feet, hands, fingers, fingernails, eyes, a nose, a chest, a heart, blood, veins. There is a general shape that makes us look like people. Our eyes see, our ears hear and our heart beats. But the monster, did he not have these things as well? This creation was able to feel pain, not only physically but emotionally as well. He had an instinctive need for love and affection, a hunger for knowledge, and a certain raw anger that festered inside of him as a result of lacking the things he needed.
The only thing that the monster did not have in common with others is that he was not born from a woman and not created by egg or seed. Is this what we think then? Since the only lacking piece to the puzzle of his human being was that he was not from an existing human body?
I will not say love is what it is to be human. I will not even say it is communication that separates the animals from the people.
It is not only the ability to feel that makes us what we are, but what we don't feel and acknowledge we are lacking. He did not feel love and although setback he pursued it. He felt anger and he killed. As humans we search for knowledge, closure, feelings.... did this "monster" not do just that?

Parenting

Mary Shelley was raised in a very open and honest family, which could be percieved as beneficial or not depending on what you think children should be exposed to. Through her novel she is able to communicate her views on what parenting should be and opinions on her own upbringing.
Men in Frankenstein play a very dominant role which is most evident in the character of Victor. he is the creator of the monster and own Elizabeth (not literally but he feels as though, and acts as though, she is his to keep like a possession). This shows that Shelley acknowledges the inequality between men and women (or father and mother) during that time period.
Women in the novel play a very passive role which is shown quite clearly through Elizabeth. She is very quiet and supportive and goes about her life without making an effort to play a larger part in any of the situations. it would also seem that she is alright with and accepts having no strong opinions.
Through these characters we can see how Shelley views most family situations and how she may be opposed to the way the family is unequal. After all, things did not work out for the characters living in that way.

Good vs. Evil

In Mary Shelly's "Frankenstein" there is the lingering question of what is considered good and what is considered evil. We have the "human" characters like Victor and the general population who would be considered normal or good, and then we have the monster who would be seen as an outcast or evil. From a simple outlook it would appear that the monster's acts of murder were in face evil, making him an undesireable figure. This would make society or the specific peope afcceted, the victums. However victor, in creating the knster defied nature for his own gain, sacrificing the well being of his creation. This shows an inhuman lack of regard for others, as well as recklessness regarding life. the generla pop may be seen as neutral or not a large factor, but they shunned someone because of physical difference and couldnt accept the monster as in indiv. in their society. by being unaccepting to him they feuled his acts, meaning thry were in face the cause behind the evil.

Of course murder cannot be condones, but we ust remember that the monster was only acting out of a truly human mindset and doing what he was driven to do by society. So although his acts were evil as a whole person he is good, with the people who shunned him and victor being essentialy bad.

Exploration of The Sublime

The dictionary definition of the sublime is :

sublime |səˈblīm|
adjective ( -limer , -limest )
of such excellence, grandeur, or beauty as to inspire great admiration or awe : Mozart's sublime piano concertos | [as n. ] ( the sublime) experiences that ranged from the sublime to the ridiculous.
• used to denote the extreme or unparalleled nature of a person's attitude or behavior : he had the sublime confidence of youth.

Of course we know that through the findings and ideas of people such as Edmund Burke and WIlliam Wordsworth, the sublime is much more complex than that.

Burke believed that "terror is in all cases whatsoever . . . the ruling principle of the sublime". His ideas were more focused around astonishment and violently emotional sublime than the people before him to study the concept. He said;

"The passion caused by the great and sublime in nature . . . is Astonishment; and astonishment is that state of the soul, in which all its motions are suspended, with some degree of horror. In this case the mind is so entirely filled with its object, that it cannot entertain any other." [Burke, On the Sublime, ed. J. T. Bolton. 58]

Edmund Burke also made the links of beauty to pleasure and sublimity to pain, saying that beauty from pleasure makes your bodies fibres relaxed while sublimity from pain does the opposite, tightening the fibres. He was the first English writer to look at the sublime from an aesthetic point of view, meaning he was able to explain it purely by perception.

William Wordsworth took a different approach to the sublime, looking at it from a very natural perspective. The idea is that we do not simply observe nature to feel the sublime but we must immerse ourself in it and share it's energy as well.

Some typical examples of physical sublime images would be mountains, waterfalls, natural energies, ruins, and deserts.

Quotes and Images

Ch.1
No word, no expression could body forth the kind of relation in which she stood to me--my more than sister, since till death she was to be mine only.

Ch.2
My temper was sometimes violent, and my passions vehement; but by some law in my temperature they were turned, not towards childish pursuits, but to an eager desire to learn, and not to learn all things indiscriminately.


Ch.3
She died calmly; and her countenance expressed affection even in death.


Ch.4
I paused, examining and analysing all the minutia of causation, as exemplified in the change from life to death, and death to life, until from the midst of this darkness a sudden light broke in upon me--a light so brilliant and wondrous, yet so simple, that while I became dizzy with the immensity of the prospect which it illustrated, I was surprised, that among so many men of genius who had directed their inquiries towards the same science, that I alone should be reserved to discover so astonishing a secret.


Ch.5
Mingled with this horror, I felt the bitterness of disappointment; dreams that had been my food and pleasant rest for so long a space were now become a hell to me; and the change was so rapid, the overthrow so complete!


Ch.6
When happy, inanimate nature had the power of bestowing on me the most delightful sensations. A serene sky and verdant fields filled me with ecstasy.


Ch.7
How much more a murderer, that could destroy such radiant innocence!


Ch.8
Thus spoke my prophetic soul, as, torn by remorse, horror, and despair, I beheld those I loved spend vain sorrow upon the graves of William and Justine, the first hapless victims to my unhallowed arts.


Ch.9
Before, I looked upon the accounts of vice and injustice, that I read in books or heard from others, as tales of ancient days, or imaginary evils; at least they were remote, and more familiar to reason than to the imagination; but now misery has come home, and men appear to me as monsters thirsting for each other's blood.



Ch.10
Yet you, my creator, detest and spurn me, thy creature, to whom thou art bound by ties only dissoluble by the annihilation of one of us.



Ch.11
How strange, I thought, that the same cause should produce such opposite effects!


Ch.12
If such lovely creatures were miserable, it was less strange that I, an imperfect and solitary being, should be wretched.


Ch.13
I wished sometimes to shake off all thought and feeling; but I learned that there was but one means to overcome the sensation of pain, and that was death--a state which I feared yet did not understand.


Ch.14
he Turk allowed this intimacy to take place, and encouraged the hopes of the youthful lovers, while in his heart he had formed far other plans.


Ch.15
They produced in me an infinity of new images and feelings that sometimes raised me to ecstasy, but more frequently sunk me into the lowest dejection.


Ch.16
"I gazed on my victim, and my heart swelled with exultation and hellish triumph: clapping my hands, I exclaimed, `I, too, can create desolation; my enemy is not invulnerable; this death will carry despair to him, and a thousand other miseries shall torment and destroy him.'


Ch.17
I compassionated him, and sometimes felt a wish to console him; but when I looked upon him, when I saw the filthy mass that moved and talked, my heart sickened, and my feelings were altered to those of horror and hatred.


Ch.18
I lay at the bottom of the boat, and, as I gazed on the cloudless blue sky, I seemed to drink in a tranquillity to which I had long been a stranger.


Ch.19
Its fair lakes reflect a blue and gentle sky; and, when troubled by the winds, their tumult is but as the play of a lively infant, when compared to the roarings of the giant ocean.


Ch.20
I had feelings of affection, and they were requited by detestation and scorn.

Ch.21
As the images that floated before me become more distinct, I grew feverish; a darkness pressed around me: no one was near me who soothed me with the gentle voice of love; no dear hand supported me.


Ch.22
The sun sunk beneath the horizon as we landed; and as I touched the shore, I felt those cares and fears revive which soon were to clasp me and cling to me for ever.

Ch.23
The murderous mark of the fiend's grasp was on her neck, and the breath had ceased to issue from her lips.


Ch.24
Blasted as thou wert, my agony was still superior to thine; for the bitter sting of remorse will not cease to rankle in my wounds until death shall close them for ever.