"Felix darted forward, and with supernatural force tore me from his father, to whose knees I clung; in a transport of fury, he dashed me to the ground and struck me violently with a stick." pg. 129
This novel is so much of a tragedy that Shakespeare could have written it! I think that this scene is the saddest in the whole novel. The monster spends months helping the De Lacey family, watching them, learning from them and loving them and the moment he tries to make contact, they reject him like every other person has. The poor monster has never had the human contact he craved and that has to be the most tragic of all. The novel doesn't stop there though. Of course the monster has to kill a little boy and frame a young woman out of fury and of course he has to kill Henry, Elizabeth, and the father. The tragic moments keep piling up until then end when Frankenstein dies and the monster stands over him and asks the body for forgiveness. The definition of a tragedy is when the heroic character dies, but in this novel, not only does the heroic character die, but almost everyone else does too. It is a depressing novel, but it also clearly show some truths about the human race.
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Frankenstein: Simile
"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." pg. 124
Throughout this novel, the monster is compared to Satan. Like Satan, he was created by his creator (duh!), and he fell from his grace. Satan fell because he tried to be like God, but the monster was not alive to even feel the good of Frankenstein. Frankenstein like the monster until be breathed and then he immediately hated him. However, since God is all powerful and good, he would have never hated his creation just because he lived, so that is a bothersome inconsistency. Anyway, moving on, the simile of the monster to Satan is carried out throughout this novel. It is a good comparison because it demonstrates how much the monster was abhorred. Satan was cast out of heaven to hell and the monster lived in his "hell" on earth for his whole life. Since the moment that he was cast out by Victor, he did not have a moment of rest until he died at the end.
Throughout this novel, the monster is compared to Satan. Like Satan, he was created by his creator (duh!), and he fell from his grace. Satan fell because he tried to be like God, but the monster was not alive to even feel the good of Frankenstein. Frankenstein like the monster until be breathed and then he immediately hated him. However, since God is all powerful and good, he would have never hated his creation just because he lived, so that is a bothersome inconsistency. Anyway, moving on, the simile of the monster to Satan is carried out throughout this novel. It is a good comparison because it demonstrates how much the monster was abhorred. Satan was cast out of heaven to hell and the monster lived in his "hell" on earth for his whole life. Since the moment that he was cast out by Victor, he did not have a moment of rest until he died at the end.
Frankenstein: Dynamic Characters
"That is also my victim. Oh, Frankenstein! Generous and self-devoted being! What does it avail that I now ask thee to pardon me?" pg. 207
The creation has to be one of the most dynamic characters that I have read about and I think that it has to do with the fact that the reader follows him from birth to death. We first see him as a helpless "newborn" who doesn't understand anything and who has a good heart, but is rejected. He then moves to learning and growing, but he still has a very pure heart because he had not had it broken irreparably yet. Then he changes when he is rejected by the De Lacey family and still more when Frankenstein refuses to create a wife for him. Then, finally at the end, he comes around full circle and repents for the pain he has caused and asks a dead Frankenstein for forgiveness. I cannot help but feel sorry for him, even when he murders multiple innocent people, because it was never in his nature to do so. I don't think that the monster, if cared for once in his life, would have caused the pain that he did and I saw that when he is upset over his creator's death. It is really sad actually, that someone who has gone through as much as the monster had, could still feel some affection toward the man who created him and caused his pain to a point.
The creation has to be one of the most dynamic characters that I have read about and I think that it has to do with the fact that the reader follows him from birth to death. We first see him as a helpless "newborn" who doesn't understand anything and who has a good heart, but is rejected. He then moves to learning and growing, but he still has a very pure heart because he had not had it broken irreparably yet. Then he changes when he is rejected by the De Lacey family and still more when Frankenstein refuses to create a wife for him. Then, finally at the end, he comes around full circle and repents for the pain he has caused and asks a dead Frankenstein for forgiveness. I cannot help but feel sorry for him, even when he murders multiple innocent people, because it was never in his nature to do so. I don't think that the monster, if cared for once in his life, would have caused the pain that he did and I saw that when he is upset over his creator's death. It is really sad actually, that someone who has gone through as much as the monster had, could still feel some affection toward the man who created him and caused his pain to a point.
Frankenstein: Double Standards
"Am I to be thought the only criminal, when all humankind sinned against me? " pg. 210
This passage really hit me because of the truth that it tells about human nature. There are so many double standards in life, but the moment that an outsider makes a mistake or causes a problem, the whole world is against him. This passage also reminds me of a scene in The Kite Runner where Amir's wife is upset because people won't forget the mistake she made as a teenager when she ran away with a boy. She says that if men make mistakes or make their girlfriends pregnant, then they are just being young men, but the moment a woman makes a mistake, she is shunned. Now, Soraya didn't make a mistake and kill a little boy like the creation did, but she made an egregious error according the community and she was shunned for it. The creation did kill the boy and I am having a hard time actually deciding whether he wanted to or whether it was a mistake, but the truth still holds the same. Frankenstein could not forgive or even bear to look at the monster, but he didn't stand up to save Justine which is on his hands. So, all the monster wanted was to be accepted and now he is seen as the most abhorred of criminals while others as pardoned.
This passage really hit me because of the truth that it tells about human nature. There are so many double standards in life, but the moment that an outsider makes a mistake or causes a problem, the whole world is against him. This passage also reminds me of a scene in The Kite Runner where Amir's wife is upset because people won't forget the mistake she made as a teenager when she ran away with a boy. She says that if men make mistakes or make their girlfriends pregnant, then they are just being young men, but the moment a woman makes a mistake, she is shunned. Now, Soraya didn't make a mistake and kill a little boy like the creation did, but she made an egregious error according the community and she was shunned for it. The creation did kill the boy and I am having a hard time actually deciding whether he wanted to or whether it was a mistake, but the truth still holds the same. Frankenstein could not forgive or even bear to look at the monster, but he didn't stand up to save Justine which is on his hands. So, all the monster wanted was to be accepted and now he is seen as the most abhorred of criminals while others as pardoned.
Frankenstein: A Role Reversal
"Slave, I before reasoned with you, but you have proven yourself unworthy of my condescension. Remember that I have power..." pg. 160
This passage interested me because it shows a trade of roles between Frankenstein and his creation. Before, the reader has seen Frankenstein in the role of power since he is the one who created life, but now the roles are reversed. The creation has been through so much in his short life that he is no longer the helpless creature that reached out to his creator. Instead, the creation is calling his creator a slave and lets him know how much power he actually possesses. I think that the creation was not born inherently evil, as we saw by his first moment of life, but I think that humans made him the way he is now. Whether it is him consistently being repudiated or whether the revenge comes from reading about humans in the books he picked up, the creation is very much in a place of power right now with Frankenstein. Victor has been through a lot in the years that he created the monster, but he has had moments of happiness. The creation was only ever happy watching the De Lacey family and that ended in ruins. I think the reason that the monster holds so much power is that he is obviously more superior in frame because that is how Frankenstein made him. Also, even more than physical superiority, I believe the monster is in a state of power because he has nothing in this world to lose, and Victor has everything to lose.
This passage interested me because it shows a trade of roles between Frankenstein and his creation. Before, the reader has seen Frankenstein in the role of power since he is the one who created life, but now the roles are reversed. The creation has been through so much in his short life that he is no longer the helpless creature that reached out to his creator. Instead, the creation is calling his creator a slave and lets him know how much power he actually possesses. I think that the creation was not born inherently evil, as we saw by his first moment of life, but I think that humans made him the way he is now. Whether it is him consistently being repudiated or whether the revenge comes from reading about humans in the books he picked up, the creation is very much in a place of power right now with Frankenstein. Victor has been through a lot in the years that he created the monster, but he has had moments of happiness. The creation was only ever happy watching the De Lacey family and that ended in ruins. I think the reason that the monster holds so much power is that he is obviously more superior in frame because that is how Frankenstein made him. Also, even more than physical superiority, I believe the monster is in a state of power because he has nothing in this world to lose, and Victor has everything to lose.
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Frankenstein: Sister, Cousin, Fiance?
"My children, my firmest hopes of future happiness were placed on the prospect of your union." So, the relationship between Victor Frankenstein and Elizabeth really bothers me. It might be just the time period and the style of writing, but I find the whole relationship really weird. First, the mother adopts a little girl, but teaches her son to call her cousin. Also, from the first moment she adopts her, she had the intentions of an "arranged marriage" between the two. The children grow up together as friends and playmates, but always with that undertone that there was always meant to be something more. As Victor grows older and goes to university, he still has that relationship with Elizabeth. The conversations and letters between the two have an intimate nature, but the letters and conversations between other characters also have that undertone, so the whole thing confuses me. I wonder what will happen between Victor and Elizabeth because we already know that Victor almost died chasing Jim (the monster- I named him) in the Arctic Circle and that he and Elizabeth were mourning the loss of William, but we do not know what happened in between.
Frankenstein: No Name?!
"Abhorred monster! Fiend that thou art!" pg. 95 I can't help but feel really sorry for the monster in this novel. Not only has he been rejected by every human he has met and has had to learn everything for himself, but he also has no name. A name is a person's identity and without one, the monster is just that... a monster. I think I am going to name him Jim because he really needs a name. Moving on, in the first twelve chapters of this novel, Frankenstein never called him a name. I think this led to the unidentifiable nature of the "monster." Frankenstein never thought to talk to him or even stay long enough to get a good look at him, so how could he even name him? Frankenstein doesn't seem to care much about the humanity of the monster and he never gives him a chance. It makes me wonder what caused Mary Shelley to create the monster and Frankenstein in this way. The introduction said it is a ghost story, which I understood to be a scary story, but this one is just sad because it says something about humans and those who are different.
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