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Tragic hero definition by aristotle
Aristotelian definition of tragic hero in othello
Aristotelian definition of tragic hero in othello
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In his Poetics, Aristotle defines the tragic hero as a man of high social status who invites
the gods to punish him through overbearing pride and/or presumption – hubris. It would be
simple to assign the label of hubristic tragic hero to Victor Frankenstein, but such assignment of a
label would be an oversimplification. The gods in Greek drama punish, albeit harshly, in an
outright manner. The tragic figure is aware that the gods have forsaken him, and he resigns to
live his life under the demands of retribution. Victor Frankenstein’s fate is not so simple; fate is
crueler to Victor and more spiteful than he could ever be to the heavens. The question that
precedes all others, however, is who is or what acts as god in Frankenstein.
It is safe to assume that Victor Frankenstein’s god is that of the Christian tradition,
although interestingly, he never truly mentions it as such. Instead, he invokes the spirits of nature
and swears by the “sacred earth on which [he] kneel[s]” that he will get his revenge (Shelley
173); so it is only fitting that it is nature or the laws of nature that feel offended by Victor’s
transgression and his vulgar presumption that he can emulate its force. What drives Victor to do
so is a complicated issue, but what is rather clear is that the setting of the novel is ideal for such a
crime.
The distinction between nature’s powers and godly powers is a relatively new concept.
For many ancient cultures, nature was inexorably tied to the ultimate spirit; and although men
could speak to the spirits, they were in no way like the spirits. Before altering any object in
nature, one needed permission from these spirits. This changed with the growth of Christianity:
“Christian...
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...Ecocriticism Reader: Landmarks in Literary
Ecology. Ed. Cheryll Glotfelty and Harold Fromm. Athens: University of Georgia Press,
1996. 15-29.
Mounce, H.O. Hume’s Naturalism. New York: Routledge, 1999.
Reich, Lou. Hume’s Religious Naturalism. Lanham: University Press of America, Inc., 1998.
Shelley, Mary. Case Studies in Contemporary Criticism: Frankenstein. Ed. Johanna Smith.
Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2000. 28-189.
Sherwin, Paul. “Relativism and Literary Criticism: The Case of Frankenstein.” Aspects of
Relativism: Moral, Cognitive, and Literary. Ed. James E. Bayley. Lanham: University
Press of America, Inc., 1992. 25-39.
White, Lynn. “The Historical Roots of our Ecological Crisis.” The Ecocriticism Reader:
Landmarks in Literary Ecology. Ed. Cheryll Glotfelty and Harold Fromm. Athens:
University of Georgia Press, 1996. 3-14.
.
If you create something should you be able to kill it? The notion of playing god like Victor did with the creatures in Frankenstein is comparative to the same issue the courts have with abortion laws. Various angles of abortion can be quite overwhelming as well as who makes the final decision. Many governments have struggled to strike what they believe to be a balance between the rights of pregnant women and the rights of fetuses. Before life is started, generally, an individual has thought about whether or not they want to create life. All life is created whether it is the creatures in Frankenstein or development of a fetus. Once life has been created choosing to end that life can cause many issues. The struggle of choosing between life and death could be avoided by an individual evaluating the results of creating a life before starting the process.
In the early 1700's spiritual revivalism spread rapidly through the colonies. This led to colonists changing their beliefs on religion. The great awakening was the level to which the revivalism spread through the colonists. Even with this, there was still religious revivalism in the colonies. One major reason for the Great Awakening was that it was not too long before the revolution. The great awakening is reason to believe that William G Mcloughlin's opinion and this shows that there was a cause to the American Revolution.
The fact that Frankenstein’s creation turns on him and murders innocent people is never overlooked; it has been the subject of virtually every popularization of the novel. What is not often acknowledged is the fact that Frankenstein himself embodies some of the worst traits of humankind. He is self-centered, with little real love for those who care about him; he is prejudiced, inflexible and cannot forgive, even in death. While some of these traits could be forgivable, to own and flaunt them all should be enough to remind a careful reader that there are two "monsters" in Frankenstein.
The most important religious comparison in Frankenstein, are the outstanding similarities between Victor as God and the monster as Lucifer. This idea is proven by the monster in the quote where he states, " I am thy creature; I ought to be thy Adam, but I am rather the fallen angel, whom thou drivest from joy for no misdeed." Broken down, this quote shows us that the monster feels that he is the neglected creation and that he has been created to be unhappy, although he has committed no wrongdoing, and he doesn't deserve to be mistreated by society. As it goes in the bible, God created Lucifer as the most brilliant and beautiful angel in the sky with good intentions, but Lucifer turned his back on his creator and began a notorious streak of evil as the "malignant devil." Now if the role of God is switched with that of Victor, and the role of Lucifer is switched with that of the monster, the story is retold in almost the same context. Now to prove that this is not just farfetched speculation, the monster even says in his quote that he ought to be Adam, God's successful creation, rather than the fallen angel (Lucifer). Among other quotes in which the monster deigns Victor as [his] creator, this is a powerful novel reference and this quote beautifully shows the direct motif of religious role-playing in Frankenstein.
Victor never even fathomed the actual existence of the creature, somewhat resembling an unplanned pregnancy that was never emotionally and rationally dealt with even after the actual birth of the child. He certainly did not adequately prepare himself for parenthood.
No one in their right mind would ever think that it is socially acceptable to create this creature, neglect it to the point where it runs away, and then not take responsibility for the actions of the creature that he made. There is a complete disconnect between Victor and the society that he lives in. For example, the reason that Victor neglects his creature is the fact that it is physically ugly. Anyone with a social conscience would not have made this creature in the first place, but if they hypothetically did, they would be ecstatic that they just discovered the source of life itself rather than be upset over the appearance of their
All the events and misfortunes encountered in Frankenstein have been linked to one another as a chain of actions and reactions. Of course, the first action and link in the chain is started by Victor Frankenstein. Victor’s life starts with great potential. He comes from a decently wealthy family whose lack of love towards each other never existed. He is given everything he needs for a great future, and his academics seem to be convalescing.
Acting as a hypocrite Victor explains how parents should be there to teach you to become great ,“ The innocent and helpless creature bestowed on them by heaven, whom to bring up to good, and whose future lot it was in their hands to direct to happiness or misery, according as the fulfilled heir duties towards me” (Shelley 16) Victor says that his parents are a big role on how their child turns out; if the parents treat you bad then the child will come out bad but if he learns from good then he will come out to be a perfect little angel. Not taking his own advice, Victor abandon the creature to suffer life for himself. After months of looking for Victor, the creature in need of companionship says ”I, the miserable and the abandoned, am an abortion, to be spuned at, and kicked, and trampled on.”(Shelley 165) He journeyed on his own looking for companionship, no one liked him and to top it off reading Victor’s journal just made him feel even as bad as before. So he then looks for victor and asks if he can create another but victor thought to himself and says “I thought with a sensation of madness on my promise of creating another like to him, and trembling with passion, torn to pieces the thing on which I was engaged.” (Shelley 124 )Victor making the decision to not make another made the creature furious but Victor had his reasons like what if the creatures create more what if he doesn’t leave him alone just what ifs. He worries about making another creature because he wonders if the female would be as bad as the creature he first created. Victor does not make the second creature and tore it apart. Abandoning the creature caused him to learn for himself. This turns out horrible and makes the creature need a companion and goes on a
...as made of different people, so he had different personalities, and therefore could not be expected to act as a normal person. Upon his creation, he was left not receiving the protection and guidance he desperately needed. His feelings were the same as any other humans: grief, and distress, anger. But, instead of calmly diffusing his anger, he chose to destroy that which made his “enemy” happy. There was never a good reason to bring the dead to life, despite all of Victor’s claims. Because of his arrogance, and lack of a functioning human heart, he disregarded everyone’s opinions and advice and sought to do what was right for himself and not even attempting to protect his family, regardless of how he claimed he did. His incompetence cost his entire family’s life, but fortunately, saved that of Walton and his crew mates. So, at least, he did one good.
engaged, heart and soul, in one pursuit” (32). The creature also starts out with kindness, he tells his creator, “Believe
Over two centuries ago, Mary Shelley created a gruesome tale of the horrific ramifications that result when man over steps his bounds and manipulates nature. In her classic tale, Frankenstein, Shelley weaves together the terrifying implications of a young scientist playing God and creating life, only to be haunted for the duration of his life by the monster of his own sordid creation. Reading Shelley in the context of present technologically advanced times, her tale of monstrous creation provides a very gruesome caution. For today, it is not merely a human being the sciences are lusting blindly to bring to life, as was the deranged quest of Victor Frankenstein, but rather to generate something potentially even more dangerous and horrifying with implications that could endanger the entire world and human population.
In the novel "Frankenstein" by Mary Shelley, the relationship of external apperence and internal feelings are directly related. The creature is created and he is innocent, though he is seaverly deformed. His nature is to be good and kind, but society only views his external appereance which is grotesque. Human nature is to judge by external apperence. He is automatically ostracized and labeled as a monster because of his external apperence. He finnaly realized that no matter how elequintly he speaks and how kind he is, people will never be able to see past his external deformities. Children are fearful of him, Adults think he is dangerous, and his own creator abandons him in disgust. The creature is treated as a monster, therefore he begins to internalize societies view of him and act the like a monster.
Following this further, according to Christine Leigh Heyrman, The First Great Awakening: Divining America, a New Age of faith rose to counter the currents of the Age of Enlightenment. Ultimately, the view that being truly religious meant trusting the heart rather than the head, prizing feeling more than thinking, and relying on biblical revelation rather than human reason. The Great Awakening appeased the colonists in America desire for a deep and significant personal relationship with God. As a result, several religious revivals by prominent preachers sprung forth. Granted, even though they may not have agreed on all other ecclesiastical doctrine, the collective rationale among notable revivalist preachers embraced the doctrine of a personal spiritual conversion experience, especially by clergy that minister. Thus, the battle line of discontent emerged between Tennent and the middle colonies
The cost of Victor Frankenstein playing God does not result so well for him. So
Noor’s exhibition “Glamour Is Myth” began as a simple message intended to provoke thought about the act of smoking. Glamour Is Myth was never really intended as an anti-smoking vehicle despite the anti-smoking moniker. Instead, Glamour Is Myth was really designed as a voice of provocation, intended only to provoke enough thought for an individual to make an informed choice of whether to smoke or not. When Noor first embarked upon the presentation of this exhibition in 1989 we could not have anticipated that the anti-smoking movement would have gone so far. Nor could we have known that it would have been propelled along by the seemingly fascist laced machinations that would essentially function to brainwash a country into submission of a philosophy. Admittedly the philosophies behind the anti-smoking movement are noble at core, but once that core has been tampered with and outfitted with a propaganda steamroller assigned the task of bringing everyone into submission then you end up with an animal infinitely more dangerous to society than tobacco could ever become. That animal is the cultivation of “group think”, which is an indispensible tenet of Fascism. Ostensibly when the word “Fascist” is used the listener conjures up images of Doc Martens, brown shirts and mass graves. The fundamentals of fascist thinking are infinitely more subtle in its workings and at its nucleus. Fascism is principally interested in cultivating uniformity among the masses and is at the core dictatorial. In fact, Noor would gamble to say that the brown shirt imagery is a friend to subjugation in that it serves as a functional distraction so that fascist propaganda can move forward largely unimpeded and un-resisted by the masses that remain largely ignorant ...