The Creature and the Cottagers
When you first open your eyes, take your first steps, or when you say your first words, these first encounters with the world were most likely observed or you were helped by another person. In the book Frankenstein by Mary Shelly the creature learns a lot about the world from the cottagers. The creature spends his first few months learning by himself but once he found the cottagers, he learned more than the basics of the world. The creature has conflicted feeling towards the cottagers because he thought of them as his “protectors” the one who taught him the ways of the world, but is afraid to show himself to them because he is afraid that they will not accept him due to the way he looked.
Due to Frankenstein's abandonment at birth he first learns how to do the basic “human” requirements to live all on his own. He learns how to see, feel, hear, walk, find food, sleep, and even make fire. He learned all of this from his environment and by how he felt. Later on the creature finds the cottagers and would “remain quiet in my[his]
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hovel watching, and endeavouring to discover the motives which influenced their actions.” (132) The most important thing he learned from the cottager was how to speak.
He could hear them “communicating their
experiences and feelings to one another by articulating sounds.”(134) This lead him a step closer to conversing with the “humans.” Learning how to speak would be the only way he could express his feelings to the humans. The creature thought that if he learned how to speak, “knowledge might enable me [him] to make them overlook the deformity of my [his] figure” (136). He also learns how to read. Which come in handy when he finds Frankenstein's journal. The creature reads the journal and was “sickened as he read” (156). He was angered that Frankenstein would form a monster so hideous that even you [Frankenstein] turned from me in disgust.” (156) He read other books that made him feel like he related to no one expect the books. In the books he “sympathized with, and partly understood them” (153) because they are not actual humans and it's just a book. Another concept of the world that he learned from the cottagers was emotions.He first saw how sad the cottager was due to poverty, but then he saw how that changed over time. The creature wasn’t able to comprehend the feelings at first. He had no idea why they were feeling this way. He would steal food from the cottagers , but then “I[he] found that in doing this I[he] inflicted pain on the cottagers, I[he] abstained” (133). He liked the way it felt to help these villager and continued doing so. Later he saw how happy Felix was with his female companion and that is what he wanted. That is all he ever wanted. He had “no father had watched his infant days, no mother had blessed me with smiles or caresses” (145), so the next best thing would have to be a wife. He learned from the cottagers that he is not like everyone else. He did not fit the ideals of man “he had not seen a being resembling me[him]” (145), so he knew that he could not just find a girl on the streets. He wanted some one just like him because they would ‘be more attached to one another” (174). Frankenstein has been watching these cottagers for a while now and he thinks that he is finally literate enough for them to meet. He thought that “they would be disgusted, until, by my gentle demeanor and conciliating words, I should first win their favour, and afterwards their love” (138). He saw how kind the cottagers were and thought that they would take care of him. He was very grateful that he was able to learn from them and wanted to express and tell them how he felt. He first meets DeLacey who is blind, but saw the truth in the creature. Delacey heard that something in the creature's speech and it “persuades me [him] that you are sincere” (161). He promised to help him, but when the others came it all turned around. Agatha fainted, Safie ran, and Felix beat him with a stick. He was angered that the cottagers did not accept him for who he was. After all the kind gestures that he has done for the cottagers and all he gets back is violence. He learns from this that he will never be able to be accepted by society. He didn’t even get to convince them with his words that he learned from them. All this effort for nothing. Shelly decides to add these cottagers to show how the creature learned and how he became “human.” He isn’t a “creature” the only reason that he got pushed away was truly because how he looked. He wanted to learn all these skills to be with the humans, but none of these skills he learned ended up help him be with them. He looked up to Frankenstein and the cottagers, but they both abandoned him. The way that we look shouldn’t be the reason that we don’t fit in. Many people today are not fitting into today's society because of the standards that are put up for beauty. We should learn to look on the inside and not the outside.
Nature is a dominant theme throughout the romanticism period, which was at its peak between the 1800s and 1850. The novel Frankenstein, which was written by Mary Shelly was written in 1818, and the poem A Cottage in Grasmere Vale written by Dorothy Wordsworth was written in 1805, both the novel and the poem were written during the peak of the romanticism era, which would enlighten the clear evidence of nature throughout both pieces. Dorothy was William Wordsworth’s sister, who was always close with her brother. Nature is described as ‘the phenomena of the physical world collectively, including plants, animals, the landscape, and other features and products of the earth, as opposed to humans or human creations’ In this essay I will discuss the key elements of nature and the natural world in Frankenstein and A Cottage in Grasmere Vale. Dorothy lived in Grasmere in the
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.
Frankenstein speaks fondly of his youth because his parents were “indulgent” and his companions were “amiable” (21). His parents’ policy in the education of their children is that there should neither be punishment nor “the voice of command” (26). Instead, they encourage their children to pursue their studies with vigor by “having the end placed in view”(21) and by having them discover the process by which to reach the end and not by making them learn tedious lessons. Frankenstein’s testimony to this is that he learnt better and retained his knowledge well. The approach to Frankenstein’s education in the home is strongly influenced by Rousseau, one of the most eloquent writers of the Age of Enlightenment. In his influential novel Emile, Rousseau expounded a new theory of education that emphasises the importance of expression rather than repression to produce a well-balanced and free-thinking child.
A first impression of Walton would be to say that he is extremely ambitious. He desires to go to the North Pole to "accomplish some great purpose". He has his own theories on what should be there, and will not rest until he has proved them. This is somewhat a 'Godlike' ambition, in that he wishes to be praised for discovering something new which will benefit everyone else in the world. The language used is also very much like Old Testament, Biblical; "Heaven shower down blessings on you". The image of Walton being 'Godlike' is enhanced by this.
In Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, the Creature executes extreme and irreversible acts due to his isolation from society. Although the Creature displays kindness, his isolation drives him to act inhumanely. The Creature, pushed away from his creator because he is an abomination, and indicates his isolation as the only one of his species. As the Creature gets more comfortable with the De Lacey ’s, he approaches the old man as his children are gone but before he can explain himself, the children come home and see the Creature, “Who can describe their horror and consternation on beholding me?
“I now hasten to the more moving part of my story. I shall relate events that impressed me with feelings which, from what I was, have made me what I am” (Shelley 92). Frankenstein’s Creature presents these lines as it transitions from a being that merely observes its surroundings to something that gains knowledge from the occurrences around it. The Creature learns about humanity from “the perfect forms of [his] cottagers” (90). Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein offers compelling insights into the everlasting nature versus nurture argument. Her husband, Percy Bysshe Shelley wrote, “Treat a person ill, and he will become wicked.” Shelley believes that the nurture of someone, or something, in the Creature’s case, forms them into who they become and what actions they take. While this is true for Frankenstein’s Creature, the same cannot be said about Victor Frankenstein.
...ime, such as reading, speaking, and how to find shelter. More importantly however, he learns something that affects his entirety of his short life: how humans truly are. Frankenstein learns that humans can be kind and moral, but more often are cruel, brutish, unfair, and unsympathetic. He learns that he will never be accepted, and learning this drives him to do rather evil human-ish acts. Even as he does these bad things though, he still experiences regret, longing for companionship, and the drive to do good things and be a good person. This inner conflict is present in all humans, as we struggle to do the right thing and avoid temptations and violence. This struggle is what causes the creature to truly be human, encompassing all of humanity’s aspects, including both the good and bad.
In the book Gris Grimly's Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein develops a creature with his bare hands who in my opinion even though has a non-human look is, in fact, a human. The two main reasons why I feel this way is because of the human-like emotions he conveys and show. As well as being able to speak English in a clear manner and the ability to learn like a human being. However, before I explain these two reasons more in depth I would like to give a bit of background information, as to the things the creature has done throughout the book and why he was created. First of all, the reason the creature was created was for Victor to test if it was possible to bring the dead back to life in order to bring his mother back to life after her death.
Analysis of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Analyzing a book can be a killer. Especially when it contains tons of subtle little messages and hints that are not picked up unless one really dissects the material. Mary Shelley's Frankenstein is a prime example.
Frankenstein by Mary Shelly is an old classic that has been enjoyed by many generations. Despite the fact that the novel was written over a hundred years ago, it is not only beautifully written but also enthralling and well composed. At the young age of eighteen, Mary Shelly raises questions about education and knowledge to which are answered through the well written characters in the novel. The Monster, who is a creation of another character, is highlighted as an individual who goes through an intellectual change.
Frankenstein has been interested in natural science since childhood and has described himself to “always have been imbued with a fervent longing to penetrate the secrets of nature”(Shelley 25), which foreshadows his future aspiration to create life, and
The greater detail about the monster’s experiences provided by the book is the first thing that allows a reader to sympathize with the monster better than an audience member. When the Frankenstein monster is retelling the story of the hardships he has endured, he mentions events that were overlooked in the play. One example of this is when the monster saved a young girl’s life. An act such as this would be praised with the greatest heroism if it was done by a human, but as a reward he is shot, receiving only “the miserable pain of a wound which shattered the flesh and bone.” (Shelley 135) The book also examines the months of hard work the creature put into learning about human nature and language in order to be fully accepted when he chose to reveal himself. The monster hid by the cottage for around a year, never leaving during the day and working to help the cottager’s at night in order to learn from them. The monster went ...
Victor Frankenstein spent months in his laboratory constructing a monstrous figure from discarded human remains. When the crack of lightening on this particular night deemed Victor a father, he proudly accepted his fate. Victor dreamed of producing an offspring but Elizabeth’s infertility posed a problem for biological children. His desire to be a father could have been satisfied through adoption or a surrogate, but Victor’s interest in the creation of life lead him to take matters into his own hands. The months of Victor’s hard work had finally come to a head when the creature calmly sat up from the operating table and stared, with deep-yellow eyes, into the optics of his creator.
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).
As Mendoza indicates, the creature's methods of indirect learning in Frankenstein are not particular to fictional works; indirect forms of learning such as observation, trial and error, and introspection have all played a crucial role in my intellectual development as well. I primarily spoke Gujarati during my early childhood, as my parents spoke it around me. As I was a child, I was unable to learn the fundamentals of English by reading a textbook. I learned the English language through many forms of both direct and indirect education. My mother taught me the fundamentals of the language, such as when to use "a" and when to use "an". However, as I began to speak more, indirect education proved to be substantially more helpful in learning the