Religion And Meditation In Wit And Frankenstein

In the words of the Dalai Lama XIV," We can live without religion and meditation, but we cannot survive without human affection." This statement is accurate because when people feel lost or upset, they turn to religion and meditation to help them. However, they don’t realize that they need another person to talk to help them with dealing with their struggles. Friends and family are necessary to support them with unconditional love and acceptance. Religion and meditation may help us when looking upon the past, but as humans we need human support to help and show compassion. Both the play Wit, by Margaret Edson, and the novel Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, show this when the main characters are regarding their own pasts. They both start to grasp

the concept that their families had loved, supported and encouraged them when they made mistakes and failed.

They saw that the personal affection they had received when they were younger in the past is something that they tremendously miss in the present and wish to regain. Margret Edson uses irony to bring forth this message while Mary Shelly uses symbolism to show this.

In the beginning of the play, Wit, the main character, Dr. Vivian Bearing, is known as a cold and unrelenting woman who specializes in the holy sonnets of John Donne. She has little sentiment for those who suffer and has no tolerance for excuses. An example is this from the play is when a student comes to Dr. Vivian Bearing and asks for an extension on her paper because she had suffered the loss of her grandparent. Vivian says that the death of a loved one is not an exception for a late paper. This cold-heartedness leads to Vivian’s loneliness which she enjoys. When Dr. Bearing develops ovarian

cancer, she tries to keep hope in knowledge and thinks that her books will keep her happy. However, books cannot comfort her the way only another person can. Ironically, every time she is in the hospital, she reflects back on a time when she was with someone who cared about her. Unlike the lonely solitude she learns to love as a college student. One of these times Vivian reflects back to a time when she was a young child with her father. He helped her understand what the word soporific meant by gently guiding her and unconditionally helping her to learn the word. Another time later in the play, she reflects back on a time when she was a college student with her professor. The professor was shown to be one of the few companions she had at school. Both of these times she was young and was learning from her failures without scorn. The mistakes were seen as part of a learning process. Vivian realizes when she meets Susie, a nurse at the hospital, that she likes having someone around to talk to and relate to. Ironically, she dies with a companion next to her even though most of her life had been spent in relative solitude.
In the novel Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, the monster is a symbol of lack of love and lack of family or friends to talk to.

Victor Frankenstein, his creator and only companion, has the love and support of his family unlike the monster. They encourage him to pursue what he wants in college. In the beginning of his story, Victor tells of his family and the love they all had for each other. An example of this is when Victor describes his father. Alphonse, his father, brought Caroline, his mother to be, in when her father died. Alphonse is described as loving when Victor describes his father’s love and affection towards his sister. After she dies, he takes in the child because of that love. When Victor visits his father after creating the monster, his father is genuinely concerned and wants his son to be at ease. Alphonse did not know that the cause of Victor’s unease was that he created a monster. His father attributes his unease to the up and coming marriage. Alphonse cares about Victor's feeling about marriage and is worried about his ghastly appearance. The monster was formed when Victor shut out the love and affection from his family, thus creating a monster devoid of love and compassion. Victor put into the monster what he felt, and at this time he had forgotten about love. Appalled at the repulsive outer appearance of his creation, Victor sparked the beginning of the monster’s hate. He was too concentrated on creating life than giving the life love and compassion. His

family throughout this whole time loved him but he does not try to contact them the monster symbolizes the forgotten family the forgotten love that Victor has.