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Frankenstein literary analysis
Literary analysis for frankenstein
Analysis of the novel frankenstein
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In this analysis of Frankenstein, Ashley Craig Lancaster outlines how social isolation can lead to disastrous consequences. Lancaster develops her theory through the comparison of two similar characters: Frankenstein’s monster, and Lester Ballard from Child of God by Cormac McCarthy. Both the monster and Lester Ballard possess humanistic traits, however both are considered grotesque beasts. The author uses these two “beast-like” creatures to represent the dangers of isolation from social interaction. Throughout the article, Lancaster uses evidence to portray the danger of social isolation, shown from the two monsters’ behavior as the novels progress; their loneliness and sorrow turn into rage and bitterness. Ashley Craig Lancaster’s article,
Humans and nonhuman animals are social creatures by nature and crave intimacy with others. God is the only being that can remain in isolation without intimacy without facing negative consequences. While God does not have intimacy with others he does love all human beings equally. A man living in isolation will eventually lose his mind unlike God. In Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, Victor Frankenstein exhibits a need to be God that makes him believe he can live in isolation and without intimacy like God. Some may argue that Frankenstein has a god complex because of his unshakable belief in himself and consistently inflated feelings of personal ability, privilege, or infallibility;
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.
Many innovations throughout the modern world have made life significantly easier, safer, of higher quality, and are said to be done for the "greater good of humanity". However, these accomplishments come at a cost, as expressed through the concepts of creation and responsibility that lie at the core of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. It is through these concepts that Shelley explores how society has changed during Romanticism and the Industrial Revolution, with lessening importance on shared knowledge and the "public sphere" and more emphasis on individual achievement and identity, leading to a fractured and isolated society. In this paper I argue that Mary Shelley's Frankenstein criticizes the impacts of Industrial Revolution and Romantic era-inspired individualism on the community and individual, using Victor Frankenstein's disruption of the reproductive process and subsequent relationship with his creation as examples of potential negative consequences.
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.
Emotional isolation in Frankenstein is the most pertinent and prevailing theme throughout the novel. This theme is so important because everything the monster does or feels directly relates to his poignant seclusion. The effects of this terrible burden have progressively damaging results upon the monster, and indirectly cause him to act out his frustrations on the innocent. The monster's emotional isolation makes him gradually turn worse and worse until evil fully prevails. This theme perpetuates from Mary Shelley's personal life and problems with her father and husband, which carry on into the work and make it more realistic.(Mellor 32) During the time she was writing this novel, she was experiencing the emotional pangs of her newborn's death and her half-sister's suicide. These events undoubtedly affected the novel's course, and perhaps Shelley intended the monster's deformed body to stand as a symbol for one or both of her losses. There are numerous other parallels to the story and to her real life that further explain why the novel is so desolate and depressing. Emotional isolation is the prime theme of the novel due to the parallels shared with the novel and Shelley's life, the monster's gradual descent into evil, and the insinuations of what is to come of the novel and of Shelley's life.
An idea becomes a vision, the vision develops a plan, and this plan becomes an ambition. Unfortunately for Victor Frankenstein, his ambitions and accomplishments drowned him in sorrow from the result of many unfortunate events. These events caused Victors family and his creation to suffer. Rejection and isolation are two of the most vital themes in which many dreadful consequences derive from. Victor isolates himself from his family, friends, and meant-to-be wife. His ambitions are what isolate him and brought to life a creature whose suffering was unfairly conveyed into his life. The creature is isolated by everyone including his creator. He had no choice, unlike Victor. Finally, as the story starts to change, the creature begins to take control of the situation. It is now Victor being isolated by the creature as a form of revenge. 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.
Few human experiences are as wretched as facing the fact that one is alone; perhaps because isolation is so easily recognized and dwelled upon when one is without friends to distract from life’s woes. Now consider isolation at its most extreme and ponder what such abject loneliness would do to man. This is the fate of Dr. Frankenstein and the Monster in Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein. Frankenstein is the story of how one man’s experiment has the unintended consequence of making Frankenstein and his creation, the Monster, completely isolated from the rest of humanity: the creator of the unnatural monster dares not relate his tale lest due to his punishing guilt, and the hideous being himself shares neither kinship nor experience with anyone.
It is commonly known that humans desire human interaction in order to remain linked to society. Lack of connection to the outside world, or even rejection by a loved one, can cause someone to become depressed and want to isolate themselves from everything. In Frankenstein, Mary Shelley creates a character who embodies all of the human reactions to rejection, isolation, and learning. The journey it goes through is difficult and is full of hardships. Being abandoned and lacking companionships affects his life so greatly, and although not technically human, he still possesses human qualities that allow him to feel this disappointment. The creature desires to love and be loved, but his forced isolation and desertion by his creator
In the novel Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, loneliness is a key theme. There comes a point in the novel where Dr. Frankenstein has to make a decision: to either make his creature an equal woman companion or to refuse his protégé and face the dire consequences. At this point, Frankenstein is knowledgeable that his creation is the murderer of his brother (and indirectly caused the execution of his family friend Justine). He sees just exactly the problems that his creation has caused and how much pain his family is in from suffering these losses. On the other hand, the monster offers peace and a ceasefire on Frankenstein’s family if he obtains what he most desires. This could potentially make his creature less miserably alone, which ultimately could benefit Frankenstein and those who are dearest to him, as well the rest of mankind because the monster would in theory not be harming humans anymore. I personally take the stance that there are too many variables in the creation of life for Frankenstein to be messing with them not once, but twice in one lifetime.
In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, there are many themes present. One prominent and reoccurring theme in the novel is isolation and the effect it has on the characters. Through the thoughts and feelings of both Victor and his monster, Frankenstein reveals the negative effects of isolation from society. The negative effects that Victor faces are becoming obsessed with building a monster and becoming sick. The monster faces effects such as confusion about life and his identity, wanting companionship, and wanting to seek revenge on Victor. Victor and the monster are both negatively affected by the isolation they face.
Throughout time man has been isolated from people and places. One prime example of isolation is Adam, "the man [formed] from the dust of the ground [by the Lord God]" (Teen Study Bible, Gen. 2.7). After committing the first sin he secludes "from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken" (Teen Study Bible, Gen. 3.23). This isolation strips Adam from his protection and wealth the garden provides and also the non-existence of sin. Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein, is able to relate to the story of Adam and the first sin to help her character, the Creature, associate with Adam. The Creature is able to relate because "[l]ike Adam, [he is] apparently united by no link to any other being in existence" (Shelley 124). In other ways the creator of the creature, Victor Frankenstein, also identifies with the tale of the first human, but with a different character, God. "God created man in his own image" (Teen Study Bible, Gen. 1.27) and unlike Frankenstein "God saw all that he had made, and it was very good" (Teen Study Bible, Gen. 1.31). Frankenstein brought a life into the world but did not take the responsibility to lead and guide his creature to benefit himself or the created. Unlike God's creature who did in turn prosper. Instead of prosperity Frankenstein receives a life of loneliness and responsibility of many unnecessary deaths. The Creature, like his creator, lives his life in isolation from society. His only goal is to be loved and accepted by those around him. Through these circumstances the effects of isolation and loneliness are brought to life by the creature and the creator thought their pasts, social statuses, emotions, and dreams and fantasies.
Isolation is often a result of choosing to seek refuge in solitude, however, in many cases, it is a result of brutality from a surrounding environment. In Mary Shelley’s Gothic novel, Frankenstein,a gruesome and painful story serves as a cautionary tale in order to prevent another from a similar downfall. Although Victor Frankenstein is the narrator for the majority of the novel, the audience learns of the destruction that has followed his decisions as well as the forced estrangement upon those he has encountered. In Frankenstein, Shelley uses relatable characters that reflect the harsh superficial aspects of society.
We as humans want to be with each other. We actively pursue this goal be finding friends and significant others. While a moderate amount of solitude can be good we crave togetherness with others. In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein isolation is a key theme in the novel. The creature created by Victor Frankenstein is driven into isolation from society based on people’s fear of him. Both the creature and Victor experience first hand the effects that isolation have on the creature's actions. Thus Frankenstein shows very clearly how lifelong isolation keeps someone from developing a moral compass and in turn makes them do wrongful deeds.
While his creator, Victor Frankenstein, shrouded himself in secrecy to avoid his fellow scientists, family and friends, the Monster drifted toward civilization to find comfort and fellow feeling. However much he wanted to have and to be a friend, community was unimaginable. His hideous disfigurement obliged the Monster to live as a clandestine observer of humanity. The De Laceys, a family in exile, became his model of human culture. The family unsuspectingly mentors the Monster. They had withdrawn from the heart of urban Paris to a rustic German village for political and legal reasons. Their suffering and isolation evoked their sensitivity and humaneness. Their virtue was found at the margin, in extremity. In them the Creature had the model and the location to grow toward maturity.
According to Mary Shelley's romantic novel Frankenstein the experiences of the characters show that human connections play a huge role in life and are vital to living joyful fulfilled lives. Having a friend is beneficial to share emotions with, a friend is helpful, and helps reevaluate decisions and lovely family members that love their child wholeheartedly is essential to a healthy life Shelley initially demonstrates that having a friend is beneficial to share feelings with. For example Walton, the explorer trying to find the elixir of life, “desire[s] the company of a man who could sympathize with, [him], whose eyes would reply to [his]”(4) Walton wants a friend to feel what he feels and someone to go on his journey with.