Literary Analysis Frankenstein

1429 Words3 Pages

Sandra Walters
Character & Literature
Paper #2
Mr Porter

In the Analysis of Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein” I will compare the characters with their literary choices and reflect on how these choices influence and reflect their individual identities. The main character in “Frankenstein” is Victor Frankenstein the presumed “mad Scientist”. Victor spent his childhood reading about Cornelius Agrippa, a scientist who engaged on the occult and the supernatural. Victor’s childhood was regulated with studies and knowledge and the chance that he happened upon the works of Agrippa, lit a fire in his mind that intrigued him into Agrippa’s world. Agrippa studied the occult and the supernatural studies and his works were disclaimed by many as “sad trash” …show more content…

I feel that the earlier studies of Agrippa gave Victor the ideas to attempt to bring life to a lifeless being. Victor’s father and the other professors thought that Victor was foolish to waste his time on Agrippa’s unfounded theories and ideas, and that he should pay more attention to current science. Victor in this way was like and influential child, in that he believed what he read and tried to make it functional for his plans.
Elizabeth and Henry Clerval are other influential characters in the book “Frankenstein.” These characters are described through their love of poetry. Elizabeth is described as having a gentle and affectionate disposition. Elizabeth allowed herself to get “lost” in her poetry. According to Victor he describes his comparison to Elizabeth by saying:
“I delighted in investigating the facts relative to the actual world; she busied herself in following the aerial creation of the poets. The world to me was a secret which I desired to discover; to her it was a vacancy; which she sought to people with imaginations of her own.”(Frankenstein pg …show more content…

Created from pieces of bodies and then left by its creator, Victor, the creature is on his own in the country. The creature is so hideous that he frightens anyone who sees him. He stays in hiding while watching the people around him. He learns the language by listening to Safie and the others. The creature is distressed and only wants Victor to hear him out and let him describe what he feels being this creation, but Victor refuses. After the creature finds the copy of Paradise Lost and reads it he begins to relate to Adam in the story. He only wants a companion (Eve) so that he will not feel alone as everyone else has abandoned him. The story in Paradise Lost is a reflection of the creation of the creature and his road through life as such. The creature had to learn everything on his own and assumes all the he reads is truth. He tells Victor that in reading Paradise Lost “it excited different and far deeper emotions within him” (mtholyoke). The creature in reading the poem seems to feel that it reflects his feelings about his life so far. The creature thinks that he should be treated just like Adam and given all the same things that Adam is given by God. The story of Paradise Lost leads the creature to make a request of

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