Grave Expectations: A Brief History on Grave Robbing
“One man's life or death were but a small price to pay for the acquirement of the knowledge which I sought…” (Letter 4.21). If you are familiar with the story of Victor Frankenstein, then you probably already know that he procured stolen body parts in order to construct his famous monster. This form of grave robbing is an appropriate nod to similar events taking place at this time in history. The 18th and 19th centuries saw a fierce dispute between advancements in medicine and the morally skeptical. Such an issue plagued select regions of both North America and Great Britain, most prominently the United States and England, respectively.
To begin with, medical theory had advanced considerably
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without risking life or limb had proved too tempting for several of the more barbarous resurrectionists” (Nuland). As the public became steadily more aggressive, surgeons and anatomists grew desperate; thus, enter the infamous duo of William Burke and William Hare. These two poor Irishmen employed an unconventional method to the typical body snatching: murder. In other words, they purposely killed people in order to sell the bodies to a renowned anatomist known as Dr. Robert Knox. Their ingenious process for obtaining victims was quite horrific. “Friendless people were enticed into their house, stupefied with drink and then smothered so that there would be no marks on the body to suggest a violent death” (Magee). Within a year’s time, “[a]t least sixteen people were dispatched in this way before the pair were apprehended in 1828, when the body of the last of these victims was found in Dr Knox’s rooms” (Magee). “Hare turned King's evidence against Burke, who was hanged in a riotous ceremony witnessed by more than twenty thousand...onlookers” (Nuland), and, in a twisted sense of karma, Burke’s body was ordered by the court to be publicly dissected by a professor of the University of Edinburgh. Interestingly, for their cooperation with the authorities ,“Burke’s accomplices...avoided punishment. Robert Knox... also went unpunished, although his reputation and career were damaged”
As a response to the Enlightenment movement in 18th century Europe, Romanticism gradually began to undermine the way people thought about human consciousness and nature itself. Appreciation of the natural beauty of the world and pure, human emotion bloomed in Europe as Romanticism’s influence grew ("Topic Page: Romanticism”). Romantics valued Individualism and thought that being close to nature would make them closer to God (Morner and Rausch). People also searched for solace in nature to overcome the adversities and cynicisms that followed the French Revolution ("French Revolution."). Romanticism and Romantic ideals influenced Mary Shelley, and that influence can be seen throughout her novel Frankenstein. The two main characters, Victor Frankenstein
‘wholly’ evil, but his experiments become quite dangerous. ‘The Body Snatcher’ is about two old friends, Fettes and Doctor. Macfarlane, who studied under someone who was famous, but unorthodox, anatomist. They would collect bodies for this person but they soon regret collecting one body. The confession of William Burke.
Victor Frankenstein may be the leading character in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, but a hero he is not. He is self-centered and loveless, and there is nothing heroic about him. There is a scene in Chapter twenty-four where Captain Walton is confronted by his crew to turn southwards and return home should the ice break apart and allow them the way. Frankenstein rouses himself and finds the strength to argue to the Captain that they should continue northwards, or suffer returning home "with the stigma of disgrace marked on your brows." He quite obviously has alterior motives and if he were not the eloquent, manipulative creature he so egotistically accuses his creature of being, he might not have moved the Captain and the men so much that they are blind to the true source of his passion. Unfortunately for Frankenstein, the crew, (however "moved") stand firm in their position. Yet the things he says in his motivational speech are prime examples of the extent to which Frankenstein is blind to his own faults and yet will jump at the chance to harangue others. He is so self-centered that his lack of interaction and love for others after his experiment has been completed, would barely qualify him as a person, if the difference between being human and being a person lies in the ability to have relationships with others.
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.
Throughout the novel Frankenstein, Mary Shelley chose to have her protagonist Victor Frankenstein create a being out of human parts and give it life without the natural conception, in a futile attempt to create a human free of original sin, because when sin entered the world through our own choosing we became like the creature at birth, flawed. In the course of the novel, the creature learns the same truth that Victor Frankenstein discovered in the end. It is impossible to self create a divine purpose in one’s own life.
In the novel Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, the main theme revolves around the internal and external consequences of being isolated from others. Being isolated from the world could result in a character losing his/her mental state and eventually causing harm to themselves or others. Because both Victor Frankenstein and the creature are isolated from family and society, they experienced depression, prejudice, and revenge.
At first, Victor views his monster as a beautiful creation but later when he first lays eyes on the monster he starts to fear and rejects the monster and no longer took interest in the monster. Frankenstein pays no attention to the Monster what so ever, and the Monster becomes jealous and angry at his creator. The Monster starts to take action and starts to go crazy/ berserk and later on in the novel begins to kill Victor’s family. The Monster kills Victor’s little brother William out of jealousy and confusion. The quote on page 58 states,” William is dead!
Throughout the novel Frankenstein the structure of writing and perspective changes greatly. Through a deep timeline of Imagery and Information, Mary Shelley proposes the idea of a what if scenario. What if a man could create life? What would happen to this idea of life and death, would this be good or bad in the hands of a single man. In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein structure is the most important aspect of her writing, how does this shape the perspective of the novel?
Throughout history, many have debated whether an individual's behavior is a result of DNA inheritance or developed through the environment they have grown to experience. One side believes that an individual inherits their behavior through nature which is DNA just like how it determines the child’s eye color, type of hair and the possibility of diseases. The other side argued behavior is developed through the environment in which they have experienced through the years. John Locke explains that at birth, a child is born with a blank slate and as they grow their mind is filled with experiences. The question arises whether the creatures’ horrendous behavior was a result being born a monster or his experience of being abandoned constantly.
terror but I couldn’t understand why my creator was horrified at my sight I was devastated all I remember was charging at him My farther was running for his life when my farther thought I was dead he left town without me keeping his secret in his attic.
Nature is a controlling force that can sway an individual in multiple directions. It can be used descriptively to describe a feeling of emotion that someone is trying to portray. In the book Frankenstein written by Mary Shelly the main character and narrator Victor Frankenstein uses nature and the natural world to his advantage. Victor builds a relationship between him and nature that binds him together in order to tell the story of his life and the creation he gave life too. Through out the text Victor seems to have a few skeletons in his closet that make him a nervous wreck. He was devoted to creating another human being and finding away to create a man bigger than anything anyone has seen. With those intentions and determination he succeeded but regretted his creation in the end. From then on he was a troubled individual. Nature in the text became his way out from the beginning to his end in order to convey his emotions to the reader. Victor uses nature to build a connection that allows the reader to pick up on the troubles he is experiencing through out the book. Without nature Victor Frankenstein would be nothing.
beings that he felt that his creation was not perfect, and decided to just get rid of it. The
The theme in a piece of literature is the main idea or insight on characters. Most pieces of literature do not limit itself to one but many other themes all collected into one. This is just like in Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. This horrifying story was produced in 1818 and has several themes that she portrays throughout. The theme of dangerous knowledge is unmistakably seen theme in Frankenstein. In Frankenstein we see this theme through three of the main characters, Victor Frankenstein, Robert Walton and the creature. We can see how their desire for knowledge can take them places and show them eventually what they are looking for. Sooner or later it will take them to dangerous and unwanted places. The desire for knowledge can eventually lead one to its grave. Victor Frankenstein’s scientific endeavor, Robert Walton’s search for the North Pole, and the creature’s kind heart but scary features creates this theme of dangerous knowledge.
Frankenstein is a name that many people know. It is also one of Mary Shelley’s most famous works that has managed to stay in the public eye for almost two hundred years. After many years Mary Shelley finally released an introduction to the story stating how she came about the origin of Frankenstein. It began one very late night; she was listening to a conversation between Lord Byron and her husband, Percy Shelley, about the experiments that Dr. Erasmus Darwin had conducted. The reported experiments were about how Darwin was challenging life itself, by using electricity to cause a piece of vermicelli to move on its own accord. Byron then proposed that each of them should write a ghost story to share with one another. Finally, after many
Mary Shelley in her book Frankenstein addresses numerous themes relevant to the current trends in society during that period. However, the novel has received criticism from numerous authors. This paper discusses Walter Scott’s critical analysis of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein in his Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine Review of Frankenstein (1818).