Narrative Voices in Shelley's Frankenstein and Fathers and Sons by Ivan Turgenev
I have chosen to compare the narrative voices of Frankenstein and
Fathers and Sons, as the perspectives in these two novels differ from
one another. Frankenstein’s narrative voice contains tales of three
characters within one narrative, none belonging directly to the
author, whereas the narrative voice of Fathers and Sons, is that of
the author alone.
Examples I will be using are taken from ‘The Realist Novel’ (TRN),
and from the novels of Frankenstein (F) and Fathers and Sons (F&S).
Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein is an example of first- person
narrative, with Walton describing his encounters in letters to his
sister Margaret, in England. He includes his meeting Victor
Frankenstein, of Victor’s experiences with his creation of
Frankenstein the monster, and the monster himself and his experiences.
This narrative is written in the form of letters, with the use of this
epistolary style of writing novels giving verisimilitude to the
events, as Walton writes of them as he is told. He is the narrative
voice of the whole novel; enveloping the characters of Victor and the
monster, the characters of whom, develop as the story progresses. This
narrative perspective structures the novel, portraying events as true
to life, resulting in its realistic theme. The confession of Victor
nestles within Walton’s narrative, with that of the monster nestling
within that. This technique of having one story nestling within
another follows a Gothic convention, (P.63 TRN). There are many
narrative perspectives, which make it a Gothic novel, another example
showing this is the atmosphere of mystery and horror, when Victor is
creating his mo...
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... sharp towards the tip, with large greenish eyes and
sandy-coloured droopy sideburns,’ (p.7) and of the monster as
described by Victor in Frankenstein, ‘His yellow skin scarcely covered
the work of muscles and arteries beneath; his hair was of a lustrous
black, and flowing; his teeth of a pearly whiteness.’ (P.56).
In Fathers and Sons, Turgenev reflects the theme of fatherhood, with
love and affection shown between Bazarov and his father Ivanovich,
Arkady and his father Nikolai and also Nikolai and his small son
Mitya. In comparison, Shelley in Frankenstein labours on the
abandonment of the monster by his creator. In effect, Victor is the
father of his ‘son’ the monster and he has abandoned him at his
‘birth’. This showing of paternal love in Fathers and Sons and the
abandonment of it in Frankenstein shows an important comparison
between the two novels.
In Lisa Nocks article appropriately titled “Frankenstein, in a better light,” she takes us through a view of the characters in the eyes of the author Mary Shelly. The name Frankenstein conjures up feeling of monsters and horror however, the monster could be a metaphor for the time period of which the book was written according to Nocks. The article implies that the book was geared more towards science because scientific treatises were popular readings among the educated classes, of which Shelley was a member of. Shelley, whose father was wealthy and had an extensive library, was encouraged to self-educate, which gave her knowledge of contemporary science and philosophy, which also influenced Frankenstein as well as circumstances of her life.
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 as a Complex Character "Frankenstein" is a gothic horror novel which was written by Mary Shelly in 1818. It was inspired by a biological scientist named "Luigi Galvani". He had experimented with electricity and deceased frogs, and discovered that a charge passing through a inanimate frog's body will generate muscle spasms throughout its body. Frankenstein is about a man on a pursuit to create a perfect being, an "angel" however his experiment fails and his creation becomes an atrocity compared to an "angel". The creature is created using Luigi Galvani experiments of electricity and dead corpses of criminals, stitched together to form this creature.
Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein is a thought provoking story to read because the subject matter speaks to me. Dark, supernatural and gothic is exactly the style of reading I would choose in my own reading choices. It was only one step from my Victorian Vampire reading to Frankenstein therefore my choice to read the novel was almost a given to me. Several areas that I as a human can relate to are the human nature of each character, the unrelenting revenge the monster feels, and betrayal in the pursuit of self-preservation Victor bestows on his monster, his family, and mankind. The story speaks of betrayal, a strong an intense emotion that hurt the monster to the core so deeply he commits unspeakable acts. Frankenstein outlines Victor’s betrayal of his son, the monster. Victor literally created a child, a rebirth of flesh in his own design but he felt no love or sense of responsibility for the monsters well-being. This betrayal of the preverbal parent over their “child” is felt greatly by the monster and Frankenstein suffers at his own cost, unwilling and incapable to see he was his own destructor. A notable act of betrayal is when Victor can but does not save Justine from death. His own brother was dead and he was
Victor Frankenstein: The Real Monster. & nbsp; Science is a broad field that covers many aspects of everyday life and existence. Some areas of science include the study of the universe, the environment, dinosaurs, animals, and insects. Another popular science is the study of people and how they function. In Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, Dr. Victor Frankenstein is an inspiring scientist who studies the dead. He wants to be the first person to give life to a dead human being. He spends all of his Frankenstein is to blame for the tragedy, not the monster he has created, because he is the mastermind behind the whole operation, and he is supposed to have everything under control, working properly as a good scientist should. & nbsp; Although some critics say that the monster Victor has created is to blame for the destruction and violence that followed the experiment, it is Victor who is the responsible party. First, Victor, being the scientist, should have known how to do research on the subject a lot more than he had done. He obviously has not thought of the consequences that may result from it such as the monster going crazy, how the monster reacts to people and things, and especially the time it will take him to turn the monster into the perfect normal human being.  something that would take a really long time and a lot of patience which Victor lacks. All Victor really wants is to be the first to bring life to a dead person and therefore be famous. The greed got to his head and that is all he could think about, while isolating himself from his friends and family. In the play of Frankenstein, when Victor comes home and sets up his lab in the house, he is very paranoid about people coming in there and & nbsp; I had worked hard for nearly two years, for the sole purpose of infusing life into an inanimate body. For this I deprived myself of rest and health. I had desired it with an ardour that far exceeded moderation; but now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart. (156) & nbsp; Victor is saying that he has isolated himself for two years and in the end, he is not at all happy because of the bad outcome. He also adds, "Winter, spring and summer passed.so deeply was I engrossed in my occupation" (156). By spending most of his time inside on his experiment, never going out, but mostly worrying about his success, he has got himself crazier. This has made him lose sight of his surroundings and judgment & nbsp; Moreover, the monster should not be held responsible for killing Victor's family members and friends as shown in the book and movie, because it is Victor who has brought a dead creature back to life. He expects the monster to know everything when he wakes up cool, calm, and collected. But when the monster is awakened, he does not know anything. He sees a world different from what he is used to, which makes him get nervous and scared, so he&nb has removed him from dead. With the dawning of life, the monster has to learn about his new environment. In the play of Frankenstein, the monster starts to gradually get used to things. The problems he encounters are with Victor's assistant, Peter Krempe, Victor's friend, Henry, and other family members, including Elizabeth, and these are reactions to how these people treat him. These reactions are clearly shown in the movie of Young Frankenstein, where Victor tries to teach the monster how to live like to show off the monster to an audience in a dance routine of sorts. But then people start to scream, panic and throw things at the monster, so he reacts by attacking them to defend himself. In this case, it is clear that Victor tries to push the monster too hard because he wants to be famous.
Many authors have different ways of building characters and how they look. It is up to the reader to build their perspective from the descriptions given by the author in order to understand books. Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein, sculpts the readers’ perspective of her monster through powerful diction and emotional syntax. After Dr. Frankenstein finally accomplishes his goal of re-animating a lifeless human, Shelley uses her strong word choice to fully express the extent of horror that Frankenstein had felt, describing his monster as a “demonical corpse to which I had so miserably given life.” (Shelley 45). Frankenstein’s horror is shared with the reader simply from a well descripted sentence. The detail Shelley put into Victor Frankenstein’s perspective is gradually shaping our own, as the reader’s, perspective. Furthermore, the diction being used adds a more definitive appearance to the monster. It helps us imagine what the monster looks like and additionally, how Frankenstein feels about his success.
Frankenstein, although well-educated himself, is a very closed-minded individual. He soaks in the information that he first learns from a young age and refuses to examine the perspectives of other scientists or educators. A later omitted text from Mary Shelley’s original draft of Frankenstein states that (when Frankenstein visited Oxford) “We found that the regulations of this university were much improved since the days of Gibbon, but there is still in fashion a great deal of bigotry and devotion to established rules that constrains the mind of students and leads to slavish and narrow principles of action” (Bugg 657). Not only does this briefly touch on Shelley’s belief that discrimination was actively being taught at universities in England,
The Concepts of Creation and Nurture in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. When Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein in 1818 she had lost her own. mother and three children. It is against this background of loss that Many chose to explore the possibility of bringing the dead back to life. It is a good thing.
Smith, Johanna M. Introduction: Biographical and Historical Contexts. Frankenstein. By Mary Shelley. 2000. 2nd ed. Bedford/St.
These chapters focus mainly on Victor Frankenstein's back-story as he was growing up. He describes his cousin Elizabeth, who he later becomes married to, and about how they came about finding her. Later we are introduced to Victors best friend, Henry Clerval. We also learn that Frankenstein became fascinated with the sciences by the 16th century author Cornelius Agrippa. This along with many of the other philosophers of that time inspired him to become a scientist. Later he also witnesses the power of electricity when a bolt of lightning strikes a tree nearby where he is staying. At the start of chapter three we learn that Victor is in the process of leaving for college when Elizabeth gets sick. In an effort to save her Victors mother nurses Elizabeth back to health yet manages to contract her disease. As she dies she continues her dream about Victor and Elizabeth getting married and passes that on to Victor just before she dies. Victor then goes about leaving to his college and after spending his last days hanging out with his friends finally departs. In his first days there however he meets the teacher of Natural Philosophy at the school M. Krempe, who informs him that all that Frankenstein had learned from his 16th century hero's was rubbish and should be thrown out the window. Although saddened by this information he attends a lecture of chemistry and decides to become a scientist. Yet throughout these chapters we see the seeds of Victors downfall. His unwillingness to take others opinion and experience into account becomes evident when he call Mr. Krempe a "little squat man with a gruff voice and a repulsive countenance; the teacher, therefore, did not prepossess me in favour of his pursuits." (...
Mary Shelley’s use of a frame story in her novel “Frankenstein” generates the problem of reliable narration as many narrations do. However unlike most novels, this story is told through three different narrations allowing much room for bias and a slight change in the tale. The title character, Victor Frankenstein, is not trust worthy due to his deep personal loathing for his monster or another narrator. This narrator cannot be taken as an accurate depiction due to its lack of empathetic behavior and constant vying for pity but also acts in a manner that is gruesome. The last narrator proves to be most reliable because he has the least amount to do with the actual story other than to pass along Victor’s story and to carry on what happens when one is tainted by science and the pursuit of too much knowledge.
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.
In Frankenstein, Mary Shelley combines three separate stories involving three different characters--Walton, Victor, and Frankenstein's monster. Though the reader is hearing the stories through Walton's perspective, Walton strives for accuracy in relating the details, as he says, "I have resolved every night,...to record, as nearly as possible in his [Victor's] own words, what he has related during the day" (Shelley 37). Shelley's shift in point of view allows for direct comparison and contrast between the characters, as the reader hears their stories through the use of first person. As the reader compares the monster's circumstances to those of Victor and Walton, the reader's sympathy for the monster greatly increases.
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).
Mary Shelley discusses many important themes in her famous novel Frankenstein. She presents these themes through the characters and their actions, and many of them represent occurrences from her own life. Many of the themes present debateable issues, and Shelley's thoughts on them. Three of the most important themes in the novel are birth and creation; alienation; and the family and the domestic affections.