frankenstein

• Did i request thee,maker,from my clay to mould me man? Did i solicit thee from darkness to promote me?'


  EPIGRAPH- similar to what the monster says later

  Adam (context=paradise lost) is the monster in the scenario

  Shelley shows from the start the ideas of unconventional parenting and responsibility
• "The sun became heatless,rain and snow poured upon me"


  THEME= NATURE

  creature- lack of excitement as weather is bland

  sun= creation of life

  Shelley depicts the sun as "heatless" - reader feels pity throught life doesnt exist around the creature (companionship)
• "The loveliness of the sun and the balminess of the air.. I felt emotions of gentleness and pleasure that long appeared dead, revived within me"


  THEME = NATURE

  creature-finds happiness through nature

  Shelley- reader feels pity for the creature only finding slight happiness in isolation --> staying away from people who judge him
• "travelled only at night, fearful of encountering the visage of a human being"


  THEME = NATURE

  creature- isolating himself from society--> will get discriminated if he exposes himself

  creature- only walks at night--> not visible in the dark--> mirrors how society views him

  darkness= depicts creatures existence --> yet to find companionship
• "we beheld, stretched out in every direction,vast and irregular plains of ice which seem to have no end"


  THEME = NATURE

  walton- in the middle of nowhere--> link to isolation

  imagery can reflect a persons feelings as well as general setting
• "feelings which bore me onwards,like a hurricane"


  THEME = NATURE

  Victor- "hurricane"--> foreshadows consequences

  Shelley- imagery highlights destructiveness of his actions
• "wind fanned the fire,and the cottage was quickly enveloped by the flames"


  THEME = NATURE

  creature- 'wind' helps the fire to grow stronger

  Nature--> used to describe creatures feelings of rage (fire)

  Shelley uses the theme to help understand characters feelings
• "I may there discover the wondrous power which attracts the needle..that requires only this voyage to render their seeming eccentricities consistent forever"


  THEME = AMBITION

  walton- curiosity is his ambition to gain the knowledge --> believes knowledge is power

  shelley- shows how ambition can encourage people to set unrealistic goals --> leads to consequences (warning)

  (cautionary tale)
• "i will pioneer a new way,explore unknown powers,and unfold to the world the deepest mysteries of creation"


  THEME = AMBITION

  victor- ambition to gain knowledge --> does it for pride

  Shelley --> consequential
• "to examine the causes of life,we must first have recourse to death... i must also observe the natural decay + corruption of the human body"


  THEME = AMBITION

  victor- ambition to discover secrets to life --> breaks law of nature

  shelley- how unhealthy ambition leads to bad consequences
• "he aimed a gun.. and fire. I sank to the ground, and my injurer, with increased swiftness,escaped into the woods"


  THEME = AMBITION

  creature- ambition to be accepted--> fails to achieve this

  Shelley- uses him as an example of failed ambition + uses the creature as a metaphor for 'us
• "lifeless and inanimate,thrown across the bed"


  THEME = REVENGE

  shelley = uses gothic convention--> Elizabeths death

  "thrown across"- little care --> mirrors death of female monster

  creature causes victor the same grief he felt
• "trembling with passion,tore to pieces the thing"


  THEME = REVENGE

  he destroys the female creature because of the fears it has brought up

  victor= cruel + revengeful

  shelley- criticises Romantic Genius by showing the suffering Victor faces because hes obsessed w/ glory + success
• "a darkness pressed around me: noone was near me who soother me with the gentle voice of love"


  THEME = REVENGE

  dark imagery, emotive language,personification

  "pressed around me"- darkness suffocating him--> lonliness

  monster- manipulative + crafty --> caused victor more hurt by isolation instead of physical
• "i must pursue + destroy the being to whom i gave existence; then my let on earth will be fulfilled and i may die"


  THEME = REVENGE

  victor- revenge overlapping w/ obsession --> monster uses this to control victor

  monster- uses victors desire for revenge to control him and cause suffering
• "you are my creator but i am your monster"


  THEME = REVENGE
• " abhorred monster, the tortures of hell are too mild a vengence"


  THEME = REVENGE
• "if i cannot inspire love, i will cause fear"


  THEME = REVENGE
• " no human being could have passed a happier childhood than myself"


  THEME = FAMILY,LOVE,COMPANIONSHIP

  shelley- focuses on victors idyllic upbringing in order to highlight his privileged background

  - fact that hes experienced love + support as a child encourages the reader to be more critical of his treatment of his own creation (nature vs nurture)

  - adult life completely opposes his childhood due to his own actions
• "remember that i am thy creature;i ought to be they adam; but instead i am rather the fallen angel"


  THEME = FAMILY,LOVE,COMPANIONSHIP

  link to paradise lost (context) --> romanticism + enlightenment

  monster- becomes aware of positive effects of companionship + sees it as a natural state of being

  shelley- attributes his fiendish behaviour to a lack of this --. humans need this in order to be good
• " my heart yearned to be known and loved by these amiable creature; to see their sweet looks directed towards me with affection was the utmost limit of my ambition"


  THEME = FAMILY,LOVE,COMPANIONSHIP

  monster- desires affection--> sees a simple thing as great ambition

  encourages reader to sympathise w/ him --.his aims extend only as far as companionship + love
• "you must create a female for me,with whom i can live in the interchange of those sympathies necessary for my being"


  THEME = FAMILY,LOVE,COMPANIONSHIP

  after being rejected by society - monster realises he needs a companion similar to himself --> 'necessary'- important to him
• "listen to me frankenstein, you accuse me of murder, yet you would, with satisfied conscience,destroy your own creature. oh praise the eternal justice of man"


  THEME = JUSTICE

  monster- trying to reason w/ victor --> says v. has responsibility as a creator

  victor- moved by this--> makes him a wife
• "unfeeling heartless creator. you had endowed me with perceptions + passions and then cast me abroad an object for the scorn and horror of mankind"


  THEME = JUSTICE

  monster- language is melodramatic--> reflects strength of feeling about the injustice he has suffered

  complex sentences- humanise the monster further--. being able to form a concise argument

  (personal justice)
• "he told me that he + his companions had been chosen by the other sailors to come in deputation to me to make me a requisition which, in justice, i couldnt refuse"


  THEME = JUSTICE

  (collective justice)

  walton abandons his journey and turns back

  shelley- says this to show the needs of a group must outweigh the desires of one person
• "suddenly i gazed on him, an idea seized me that this little creature was unprejudiced and had lived too short a time to have imbibed a horror of deformity"

  "let me go" "monster! ugly wretch"- william


  THEME = PREJUDICE

  william is young so the monster assumes he cant be influenced yet--> he needs a companion

  william- already influenced --> revolted by monsters outward appearence
• "i am alone and miserable; man will not associate with me; but one as deformed and horrible as myself would not deny herself to me"

  "my companion must be of the same species"


  THEME = PREJUDICE

  theme= isolation

  monster- wants a companion --> uses the theme of threat and personal appeal

  use of 'must' - shows monster is in control
• "I will revenge my injuries; if I cannot inspire love I will cause fear"

  "I will cause fear and chiefly towards you my arch enemy because my creator, do i swear inextinguishable hatred"

  " I will work at your destruction"

  "his face was wrinkled into contortions too horrible for human eyes behold"


  THEME = PREJUDICE

  (hatred + revenge)

  monster - uses melodramatic language to make his point

  very strong verbs and nouns - 'revenge','injuries','arch-enemy','destruction' --> highlights fury

  repetition of 'i will' - shows monsters determination and power

  inner rage is mirrored by more sinister changes outside
• "penetrate into the recesses of nature.. and show how she works in her hiding space"


  THEME = SCIENCE + ENLIGHTENMENT

  nature- portrayed as a woman being violated + 'penetrated' by silence
• "with unrelaxed + breathless eagerness i pursued nature into her hiding places"


  THEME = SCIENCE + ENLIGHTENMENT

  cont. metaphor of natures 'violation'

  victor 'pursues' her
• "from the midst of this darkness, a sudden light broken in upon me"


  THEME = SCIENCE + ENLIGHTENMENT

  victor- light of reason
• "chimeras of boundless grandeur"


  THEME = SCIENCE + ENLIGHTENMENT

  metaphor- victor wants 'classical' power + ambition--> arrogant
• "i at once... set down natural history and all its progeny as a deformed and abortive creature"


  THEME = SCIENCE + ENLIGHTENMENT

  victor- almost warned away from natural history as a child--> refers to it as 'abortive' --> like the creature
• Tabula Rasa

  CONTEXT

  blank slate- John Lockes theory

  human mind is at birth a 'blank slate' without rules for processing data + that data is added + rules for processing are formed solely by ones sensory experience.
• Nature vs. Nurture

  CONTEXT

  debate on the relative contributions of genetic inheritance + environmental factors to human development
• Polar Exploration

  CONTEXT

  was of great interest at the time with people searching for an open sea navigable across the North Pole to trade with the Orient - inspired Shelley
• The Life Principle

  CONTEXT

  1814- rift between scientists who saw life in purely material terms + those wanting to retain some metaphysical beliefs associated with the soul
• The French Revolution

  CONTEXT

  movement - (1787-99) replaced monarchy w/ the republic

  mob- frequently represented as a monster--> force out of control

  wanted liberty but ultimately ends worse and in destruction
• Romanticism

  CONTEXT

  growing movement surrounding the rejection of urban life (19th cent.)

  - prize intuition + emotion over rationalism, valued nature+ imagination

  shelley - criticises ideals whilst being heavily influenced by them
• Galvanism


  CONTEXT

  idea of bringing objects back to life using electricity--. Luigi Galvani (1791)

  - transgression--. going against Gods power (cautionary tale)