Death and Sorrow in Frankenstein
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.
Walter has an interesting turn of events towards the end of the book. He is forced to abandon his quest to the North Pole, he is faced with the monster and must hear the monster's plans for self-destruction, he has to watch idly as his new friend, Victor, passes from this world. He has such noble dreams and aspirations, but they are all brought to a halt because of his chance meeting with Frankenstein. Or, was his expedition doom from the start because of the nature of wanting to do what no other man had done? Was it his ambition that led him to untimely failure? The evidence from the text proves that possibly he was never meant to surpass his peers and obtain the glory that he pursued.
Victor experiences very little joy at all after the creation of the monster. He suffers from numerous bouts of depression, he most tolerate the deaths of his brother, best friend, and wife, all of which were murdered at the hands of the monster. His friend Justine is executed because of the death of William, for which she is falsely accused and convicted. His father also dies after the murder of Elizabeth, Victor's ill-fated bride. With so much death surrounding his life, how is it possible that Victor could still be cognizant of his actions when he decides to pursue the monster and end its violent fury? He can't. Victor's mind is so clouded by the sorrow and pain of his past that he is blinded to the fact that he is attempting to destroy a creature with far greater physical strength and speed than any mortal. Much of his conflict appears to be created by the monster, when in fact the torment comes from Victor's own hands because he himself created and gave life to the monster.
The monster lived in a world of eternal turmoil and strife.
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.
In his novel, Thomas King plays on stereotypes and expectations that occur in our society on the portrayal of Native Americans. He show us the bias image that we have of them by describing what is an indian from a colonizers point of view, how the genre of western movies has an effect on our perception in society. In the novel, Nasty Bumppo, who represents modern society, explains that :
If Victor had stayed around and showed the monster the real world, he might have not have went on to perform violent actions. This portrays Victor as a selfish character and gives more of an insight on his personal life. As a child, Victor is only interested in furthering his own knowledge and not worried about anyone else. He spent much of his time “drawing the picture of [his] early days... when [he] would account to [himself] for the birth of that passion which afterwards ruled [his] destiny” (Shelley 34), or otherwise a magnificent creation that would change his future. When constructing the Monster, he put all of his relatives in the back of his mind, and only focused on his own success and victory. This further explains the theme of being selfless and only doing certain things that will benefit
It is scientifically proven, that people prefer attractive people. Appearances help millions of good-looking men and women across the country advance in their careers, get free drinks, and receive more opportunity. But, Mary Shelley juxtaposes the physical deterioration of Victor as her novel, Frankenstein, progresses and the creature ’s ugly physical appearance and the motif of clouds juxtapose with birds to argue that appearances may be deceptive. She argues through the juxtaposition of Victor and the creation’s death that ultimately it is through death, one of nature’s devices, that allows us to see the character of a person.
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.
“Revenge alone endowed [him] with strength and composure; it modeled [his] feelings, and allowed [him] to be calculating and calm” (145). Victor gained new purpose and even on his deathbed holds to the principle that he is justified in desiring the death of his enemy. Moment before his death he turns to Captain Robert Walton and says, “I feel myself justified in desiring the death of my adversary. During these last days I have been occupied in examining my past conduct; nor do I find it blamable” (156). He even begins to lose the small amount of compassion he had for the creature’s struggle. When visiting his family’s graves he cries that, “they were dead, and I lived; their murder also lived” (145). Previously in the novel he blamed himself for the deaths of Mathew, Justine, and Henry, claiming to be their murderer and lamenting on the evil he had set forth into the world. Victor now places the weight of these deaths solely on the monster’s shoulders and believes it is his god given burden to cleanse the world of this evil. He had been “assured that the shades of [his] murdered friends heard and approved [his] devotion… rage choked [him]”(146). The death of the monster would not even weigh on his conscience since it is god’s
self-centered. His life is the mirror of a Greed Tragedy. In his case, the flaw
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.
The creator of the monster, Victor Frankenstein is a man full of knowledge and has a strong passion for science. He pushes the boundary of science and creates a monster. Knowledge can be a threat when used for evil purposes. Though Victor did not intend for the being to be evil, society’s judgement on the monster greatly affects him. As a result he develops hatred for his creator as well as all man-kind. Victor’s anguish for the loss of his family facilitates his plan for revenge to the monster whom is the murderer. While traveling on Robert Walton’s ship he and Victor continue their pursuit of the monster. As Victor’s death nears he says, “…or must I die, and he yet live? If I do, swear to me Walton, that he shall not escape, that you will seek him and satisfy my vengeance in his death…Yet, when I am dead if he should appear, if the ministers of vengeance should conduct him to you, swear that he shall not live-swear that he shall not triumph over my accumulated woes and survive to add to the list of his dark crimes” (pg.199). Victor grieves the death of William, Justine, Clerval, Elizabeth and his father. Throughout the novel he experiences the five stages of grief, denial/ isolation, anger, bargaining, depression and finally acceptance. Victor denies ...
The novel investigates topic about loneliness and dismissal. The creature made by Victor Frankenstein is dismisses by human culture in view of his appearance. Mary Shelley investigates the emotions of creature completely disregarded and misused by the general public. The novel turned into an impression of the inward condition of Mary Shelly. It reflects sufferings and loneliness of the creature.
Obesity is a growing trend that is affecting individuals significantly in the U.S. and throughout the world. “As of 2013, Kentucky ranks 42 in the U.S. for obesity and over the past year the rate of obesity has risen from 30.4 percent to 31.3 percent among its population.”1 Many factors contribute to the rate of obesity in Kentucky, but, in my opinion, the most significant contributing factor to this trend is physical inactivity. I am a resident of a very rural and underdeveloped community in Eastern Kentucky, where a significant portion of the population lives with a triage of comorbidities (diabetes mellitus, dyslipidemia, and hypertension). I feel that these disease states that plague individuals could be improved significantly with a life style intervention of increasing physical activity. Several barriers that decrease physical activity for our community must be overcome to improve the health of our community, among the most significant of these barriers includes the built environment due to lack of infrastructure, poverty from lack of jobs, and a negative cultural perception on exercise. I would like to lobby to school board members of Johnson Central High School to allow public access of local community members to use school facilities during non-school hours to increase physical activity to improve the health of its community.
Emotional intelligence refers to an ability to recognize the meanings of emotion and its therapeutic relationships, and to reasons for problem-solving in nursing. This is involved in the capacity to recognize emotions, adapt emotion-related to feelings, understand the information of those emotions, and manage it. Reflective practice is a process by which one stops and think about their practice, knowingly analyse ones decision making and clarifying ones thoughts and doubts. As a result, one may modify ones actions, behaviour, treatments and learning needs. Therapeutic relationship, also known as the helping team, refers to the relationship between a healthcare professional and a client. It is the means by which the professional interact with the client. This relationship is central to the patient's oriented approach to health care, and will displays some of the skills that are developed by the practitioner, to enhance the healing relationship with their patients. Nursing is the defences, campaign, and optimization of health and abilities, prevention of illness and injury, improvement of suffering through the diagnosis and treatment of human response, and advocacy in the care of individuals, families, communities, and populations. Thus emotional intelligences is the ability to manage emotions which is very important in nursing.
To begin with emotional intelligence and reflective practice are two most very important and essential components of nursing. In this practice it acquires self-awareness and a good state of therapeutic relationship to build up securely. In order to create a peaceful and calm environment in the hospitals and any nearby health centers it is very important for nurses to handle different situations with proper thinking and through better analysis. Nursing includes the promotion of health, prevention of illness and the care of ill, disabled and dying people. Due to the nature of the work nurses do and the ongoing commitment it has increasingly achieved the highest esteem by the community. The future of nursing promises dynamic changes and continual challenges. This essay mainly seeks to discuss on emotional intelligence and reflective practice to build a therapeutic relationship in nursing.
In Frankenstein, Mary Shelley highlights on the experiences her characters undergo through the internal war of passion and responsibility. Victor Frankenstein lets his eagerness of knowledge and creating life get so out of hand that he fails to realize what the outcome of such a creature would affect humankind. Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein, highlights on how Frankenstein’s passion of knowledge is what ultimately causes the decline of his health and the death of him and his loved ones.
Kotler, J., & Keller, K. (2012). A framework for marketing management. Essex: Pearson Education Ltd.