Frankenstein is a novel written by Mary Shelley.
The Sorrows of Young Werther by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe is one of the literary texts interwoven in Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein. It talks of a story about a girl Lotte and a boy named Werther. The two fell in love although the girl was already engaged to an older man Abert. When Lotte marries the older man, Werther commits suicide because of rejection. The creature in Frankenstein finds this book and teaches himself to read from it. Shelley makes a reference to the novel The Sorrows of the Young Werther and Victor’s creature gets hold of the book and reads to practice language skills and pass time. Through this book, the creature learns a lot about feeling and emotions. The creature says "As I read, however, I applied much personally to my own feelings and condition" (Shelley 114). This shows how much the creature leant from the book because Victor created it and left it all alone without any teachings on how to speak and act like a woman.
The sources of Werther’s sorrows are similar to the sources of the creature’s suffering in Frankenstein. This is because, both the Creature and Werther were rejected by the people they love. They all wanted to be apart of the people’s lives and day to day activities but fate did not allow it. Werther was left alone when the girl she loved got married to al elder man. Comparably, the creature in Frankenstein was abandoned by his creator and left all alone in a world whereby he does not even know how to speak and relate with the people around him. Werther had wished to spend his entire life with the girl she loved and when it turned out impossible, he took away his life by committing suicide so as to escape the pain he was going through....
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...ng. He says "Cursed, cursed Creator! Why did I live?” He hated himself for being alive and all the things that were happening to him. This is a reflection of the dejection the creature discovered through reading The Sorrows of Werther. He contemplates what he could have done so as not to face the humiliations he received from the people around him. These humiliations created a lot of suffering and anger in him and he wishes that he could have ended his life just like Werther so as not to suffer any more.
In conclusion, The Sorrows of Werther opened the creatures eyes to the immediate world around him and the pains associated with life especially when one is rejected by the people they love.
Works Cited
Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. New York: Bantam, 1981.
Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein or the Modern Prometheus. The 1818 Text. New York: Oxford UP, 1998.
Works Cited Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. 1818. Ed. J. Paul Hunter. Norton Critical Edition. New York: Norton, 1996.
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein is filled with death and sorrow. They occur in almost every aspect of the book. The four "squares" of the book, Walter, Victor, the monster, and the cottagers, all suffer from them at one time or another. Some perceive Frankenstein as a horror story; however, in actuality it is a book of tragedy and despair. Every page reveals more misery than the page before. Thus, death and sorrow are inevitable in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.
An idea becomes a vision, the vision develops a plan, and this plan becomes an ambition. Unfortunately for Victor Frankenstein, his ambitions and accomplishments drowned him in sorrow from the result of many unfortunate events. These events caused Victors family and his creation to suffer. Rejection and isolation are two of the most vital themes in which many dreadful consequences derive from. Victor isolates himself from his family, friends, and meant-to-be wife. His ambitions are what isolate him and brought to life a creature whose suffering was unfairly conveyed into his life. The creature is isolated by everyone including his creator. He had no choice, unlike Victor. Finally, as the story starts to change, the creature begins to take control of the situation. It is now Victor being isolated by the creature as a form of revenge. All the events and misfortunes encountered in Frankenstein have been linked to one another as a chain of actions and reactions. Of course the first action and link in the chain is started by Victor Frankenstein.
Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft, and Maurice Hindle. Frankenstein, Or, The Modern Prometheus. London: Penguin, 2003. Print.
In Goethe's novel, Werther died a very slow, excruciatingly painful death. He refused to conform to life as it was; refused to move further away from the nature he so cherished. By doing so, Werther was in denial of adulthood. Werther saw suicide as the only escape from adulthood, and his only chance at eternal happiness. Anything was worth happiness, "certainly, whoever is sick will not refuse the bitterest medicines, in order to restore the health he longs for."(July 1) Werther uses this analogy to prove his point that a person will go far to rid themselves of unpleasantness. Werther's source of unpleasantness is Lotte, for he cannot have a claim to her. To be an adult is to be able to say no to oneself. Werther was incapable coming to an understanding that Lott...
creatures... [he] thought (foolish wretch!) that it might be in [his] power to restore happiness to these deserving
Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein: A Norton Critical Edition. Ed. J. Paul Hunter. New York: W. W.
Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein or the Modern Prometheus. Edited by: D.L. Macdonald & Kathleen Scherf. Broadview Editions. 3rd Edition. June 20, 2012
Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein or the Modern Prometheus. Edited by: D.L. Macdonald & Kathleen Scherf. Broadview Editions. 3rd Edition. June 20, 2012
Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein or the Modern Prometheus. Edited with an Introduction and notes by Maurice Hindle. Penguin books, 1992
Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein: A Norton Critical Edition. ed. J. Paul Hunter. New York: W. W. Norton, 1996.
Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. Ed. D.L. Macdonald and Kathleen Scherf. Orchard Park, NY: Broadview Press, 1999.
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, Mary. Frankenstein or the Modern Prometheus. Edited with an Introduction and notes by Maurice Hindle. Penguin books, 1992
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley’s Frankenstein (sometimes also known as The Modern Prometheus) is the classic gothic novel of her time. In this eerie tale, Dr. Victor Frankenstein – suffering from quite an extreme superiority complex – brings to life a creature made from body parts of deceased individuals from nearby cemeteries. Rather than to embrace the Creature as his own, Frankenstein alienates him because of his unpleasant appearance. Throughout the novel, the Creature is ostracized not only by Frankenstein but by society as a whole. Initially a kind and gentle being, the Creature becomes violent and eventually seeks revenge for his creator’s betrayal. Rather than to merely focus on the exclusion of the Creature from society, Shelley depicts the progression of Dr. Frankenstein’s seclusion from other humans as well, until he and the Creature ultimately become equals – alone in the world with no one to love, and no one to love them back. Frankenstein serves as more than simply a legendary tale of horror, but also as a representation of how isolation and prejudice can result in the demise of the individual.