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Frankenstein and rime of the ancient mariner
Elements of science fiction in Frankenstein
Elements of science fiction in Frankenstein
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“The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”, a poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge in 1798, portrays the consequences of negative actions, specifically of the Mariner, resulting in the physical manifestation of guilt. Frankenstein, a novel written by Mary Shelley in 1818 regarding the threat and consequences of the creation of a monster, dictates the necessity to assume responsibility for one’s actions. Similar to how many literary works inspire the characters, plot, and structure of others, Coleridge’s writing inspired Mary Shelley to create her work. These two literary works elucidate the significance of human actions through their similar structure, naturalistic emphasis, and comparable characterization.
“The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” and Frankenstein both consist of frame
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tales which emphasize their internal narratives. These internal narratives dictate the significance of warning others of the harm in attempting to act in the place of a creator, both giving life and taking it away. Frankenstein consists of an outer story comprised of Walton’s letters warning his sister of the creation of a dangerous monster. He informs “[his] dear sister of [his] welfare, and increasing confidence in the success of [his] undertaking” (Frankenstein Walton’s Letters 2). “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” depicts the Mariner warning the wedding guest of the guilt that can be caused by one single moment. The wedding-guest “cannot choose but hear” the consequences of murder of creation (Coleridge 17-18). The similar structure of these two pieces portrays the impact Coleridge’s writing had on Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein due to the fact that Coleridge mirrored his poem off her novel’s format. These narratives portray the consequences of guilt and the significance of decisions made by people in comparable characterization. In Frankenstein, Victor creates his monster and is met with a unsurpassable amount of guilt as he continues through life. Following the murders that the monster commits, Victor experiences a similar emotion that the mariner experiences after he shoots the albatross. Once Victor realizes that he “know[s] the murderer [and] Justine, poor, good Justine, is innocent” the guilt begins to manifest in anger (Frankenstein Chapters 7-9 Text 5). In “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”, the Mariner kills the albatross and continues to experience consequences for this act by both people and a greater power. Similar to Victor carrying around the guilt of being indirectly responsible for multiple murders, the mariner travels with “the Albatross / About [his] neck was hung” (Coleridge 141-142). Overall, “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” and Frankenstein both place emphasis upon the main character’s guilt and their manifestation of the anger that comes with it. Both “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” and Frankenstein include many references of nature and its significance to emphasize the unpredictability of human action and the severe effects that result from it.
The setting of “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” takes place on a boat which experiences and sees many different forms of nature such as the drought, extreme heat, and the rain that follows. There was “water, water, every where, / Nor any drop to drink” for the mariner and the members on board following the shooting of the Albatross (Coleridge 121-122). In Frankenstein, Shelley portrays many scenes of nature as Victor travels around Europe following and avoiding the monster. Following the first murder of Justine committed by the monster, Victor travels back home and sees the “Dear mountains! [his] own beautiful lake! how do you welcome your wanderer? Your summits are clear; the sky and lake are blue and placid. Is this to prognosticate peace, or to mock at my unhappiness” (Frankenstein Chapters 7-9 Text 5). Overall, the nature emphasis in both writings dictate the significance of the tie between nature and english writing as well as portray the sensory interaction of weather and
emotions. Overall, “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” influences the creation of Frankenstein by Shelley later in history portrayed by the common themes and structures mirrored in the previous work. The structure of a frame tale was replicated to place emphasis on the need to warn others about the danger of humanity. The common characterization of Victor and the mariner portray the hazardous reactions humans can have leading to harsh thoughts and decisions. The nature theme that is brought up frequently dictates the significance of the emotion and earth interaction that is common in both works. Mary Shelley tries to warn of the ultimate results that follow from a not thought out decision by humanity which is very similar to the warning message of “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”.
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.
Frankenstein, speaking of himself as a young man in his father’s home, points out that he is unlike Elizabeth, who would rather follow “the aerial creations of the poets”. Instead he pursues knowledge of the “world” though investigation. As the novel progresses, it becomes clear that the meaning of the word “world” is for Frankenstein, very much biased or limited. He thirsts for knowledge of the tangible world and if he perceives an idea to be as yet unrealised in the material world, he then attempts to work on the idea in order to give it, as it were, a worldly existence. Hence, he creates the creature that he rejects because its worldly form did not reflect the glory and magnificence of his original idea. Thrown, unaided and ignorant, into the world, the creature begins his own journey into the discovery of the strange and hidden meanings encoded in human language and society. In this essay, I will discuss how the creature can be regarded as a foil to Frankenstein through an examination of the schooling, formal and informal, that both of them go through. In some ways, the creature’s gain in knowledge can be seen to parallel Frankenstein’s, such as, when the creature begins to learn from books. Yet, in other ways, their experiences differ greatly, and one of the factors that contribute to these differences is a structured and systematic method of learning, based on philosophical tenets, that is available to Frankenstein but not to the creature.
Many times throughout history, one person has tried to prove themselves better than God or nature. Nature, however, always prevails in the end. The Romantics of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries believed that nature was a glorious and powerful force that was one with God, and emphasized this point in their works. Two such romantics were the couple Percy and Mary Shelley, who through their works Ozymandias and Frankenstein, showed the disastrous consequences defying nature could have. Both authors had experienced loss; the loss of some of their children and later Mary’s loss of Percy in a boating accident. These experiences showed them how powerful nature was, and how pointless it was to defy it. Both Mary and Percy’s belief in this showed through in their writing. So, despite how different Frankenstein and Ozymandias seem at first, both works reveal a common lesson: One should never believe themselves to be above nature, and if one does it will never end well.
The creations from both Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and Dean Koontz's Frankenstein: Prodigal Son are created by the hand of man, and are created human, therefore subject to the same propensities as any natural-born person. In both novels, the creators overstep their bounds as 'Modern Prometheuses,' a title assigned by Frankenstein creator, Mary Shelley. Victor Frankenstein of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and Victor Helios of Dean Koontz's Frankenstein: Prodigal Son assume that, as creators, they have the authority to control their creations, but as versions of Prometheus, they bestow the capacity for individualism that allowed their creations to escape control.
Since the original novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, to the multiple movie adaptations, the monster is almost always predicted as the monster of the story. It may be his physical appearance, from his tall, broad frame, to the signature screws in his neck. It may also be his unnatural upbringing and interpreted evil characteristics. We have grown to fear the monster, which ultimately, has masked the true monster, Dr. Frankenstein. With each coming movie, the good side of the monster is brought to light, while the real monster shows his true colors.
Frankenstein is a horror movie that tells the story of Dr. Henry Frankenstein’s experiment. In search for the fame and glory of playing to be god, he reaches a point where he is able to revive dead people. In this version of Frankenstein’s monster we see a selfish and careless scientist that created a creature with his intelligence. The way the character is shown reflects how ambitious someone can be to reach to be known in the world. This movie makes the people who are watching to feel empathy on the poor creature. This poor creature that did not want to live in a life where everyone is going to hate him for having a horrible aspect and not following rules that he has no idea about.
Paradoxically, the creation does not result in progress but manages to destroy more than what it was made from, in turn, causing more conflict and damage. Whale’s cynical view towards the war was especially exposed in “Bride of Frankenstein” which was made three years after Hitler came into authority. The technology used within this film was beyond its time as was the gender reversal and concept of re-animation after death. This could symbolize the people’s resistance to evolve and improve. The community and people who make it such are also part of the symbolic battlefield that is Dr. Frankenstein’s laboratory. It is in this community of regression that the re-born creature is thrust into and immediately rejected. Similarly the returning wounded soldier is not taken in by the community; rather he is shunned and unwelcomed as if he has been de-humanized by the war. The people of the community do not see the soldier as “re-born”, they see him more as an abnormality that was supposed to die in the war. Although many in the community claimed they would rather see dead heroes happy in their afterlife they were often rejected when they returned home. This war that was referred to as “the war to end all wars” produced more hardship for populations. It was at this time that the re-birth from death of the creature undermined the meaning of death and obligation of those who had sacrificed all for their country. In the film “J’accuse” by Abel Gance the town folk flee from the “reborn” soldiers. They are not at all excited or grateful to see their deceased war heroes one last time. The villagers know that they have not shown appreciation for the soldiers sacrifices. They have been living petty civilian lives, taking advantage of soldiers’ bu...
Both characters from the novels Prometheus and Victor Frankenstein were similar because they were both intelligent. Victor loved science, he sued to go on journeys to seek more information about life and death, because at home he had nobody to teach him.” My father was not scientific, and I was left to struggle with a child's blindness, added to a student's thirst for knowledge. (Victor Frankenstein quotes on education). And he even studied abroad to see more knowledge on his favorite subject. This created major conflicts with his professor at the university but also admiration among professors and peers.
Since the fall of Adam, humanity has always been keenly aware of the existence of good and evil, right and wrong, justice and injustice. Any person who has been betrayed or abused has felt the weight of injustice. Anyone who has been mistreated has experienced the desire for vengeance. However, opinions begin to differ when defining the boundaries of justified revenge. Varying perceptions prevents humans from viewing and validating the motives of others. In Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein, the two main characters were driven to madness by their desire for revenge against each other. In the book, Victor Frankenstein and his creature both relayed the same story; however their individual perspectives drastically shift the roles of the perpetrator and the victim. Mary Shelly’s brilliant juxtaposition between the Creature and his Creator demonstrated the relativity of justified revenge.
Remorse is a complex feeling; one that was not common in the period in which Mary Shelly’s novel Frankenstein was written. The literary work , written for a contest, shows the free thinking of the time and covers the danger of thinking too recklessly. Cadence was the name of the game. “’You seek for knowledge and wisdom, as I once did; and I ardently hope that the gratification of your wishes may not be a serpent to sting you, as mine has been,’” (p.31), Frankenstein says to Robert Walton, offering a clear warning that corresponds directly to the regret Victor feels for his sin. In the real world and in this particular piece of literature, remorse is incredibly powerful.
As time goes on, many things tend to change, and then they begin to inherit completely different images. Over the years, the character, created by Dr. Victor Frankenstein in Mary Shelley’s famous novel, has changed dramatically. The monster, regularly called “Frankenstein,” has been featured in numerous films, such as Frankenweenie and Edward Scissorhands. Although, the characters in today’s pop culture and the monster in the well-known 1800’s novel have similarities, they are actually very different. The many similarities and differences range from the character’s physical traits and psychological traits, the character’s persona, and the character’s place in the Gothic style.
Philosophers and scientists alike have debated for centuries whether a person’s character is the result of nature or nurture. In the writings of Thomas Hobbes, it is expressed that humans are endowed with character from birth, and that they are innately evil in nature. John Locke’s response to this theory is that everyone is born with a tabula rasa, or blank slate, and then develops character after a series of formative experiences. The idea that true character is the result of experiences and societal interaction is a theme deeply explored throughout Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Through different interactions with the monster, Shelley attempts to express that it is because of Victor’s failings as a parent and creator, because of the monster’s isolation, and because of society’s reaction to the monster that the monster has become evil. The monster’s character is a direct result of how he was nurtured, based on his experiences and circumstances, rather than his being innately evil from “birth.”
In gothic novels tragic figures are symbols of pain to the characters. Victor Frankenstein brings misfortune to his loved ones, which concludes to his overall tragedy. Ironically the monster in this novel is Frankenstein the creator not the creature. He has seven victims including himself and his fall is due to his ambition to be superior.
Gender inequality will always affect the way women are portrayed in society, the weaker, unnecessary, and other sex. It is not just a subject of the past, but still holds a name in society, however in the olden eras the way women were treated and are looked at, in a much more harsh condition. In Shakespeare’s Othello and Shelley’s Frankenstein women’s roles in the books are solely based on the way they are treated in their time period. The way women are portrayed in these books, demonstrate that they can never be in the same standing as men, considered the second option, and therefore will never have the same respect as men. In both Othello and Frankenstein women are treated as property, used to better men’s social standards, and lack a voice,
If someone were to ask people who Frankenstein is they would probably describe a tall, hideous monster with bolts sticking out of its neck. But long before movies reinvented their version of the monster, there was a novel by Mary Shelley entitled Frankenstein. In her novel, the monster is shown as child-like and uneducated. But what really makes someone a monster? Who is the true monster of Mary Shelley’s novel? Victor and the Creature present similarities and differences in their action and character throughout the novel.