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Dissertation on frankenstein by mary shelley
Dissertation on frankenstein by mary shelley
Essays on frankenstein by mary shelley
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Mary Shelley’s description of Victor Frankenstein’s mental world and behavior match the definition of a pathological narcissist to such a degree that it makes it quite improbable for her to have based the novel solely on well-developed religious and literary tropes. In other words, Shelley must have had real life experience with narcissism which she subsequently used as template for Victor Frankenstein. Freudian id, ego, and superego are the epitome of the creature that Mary Shelley created as a reflection of her life and mirror it with Frankenstein. Mary Shelley by writing Frankenstein or The Modern Prometheus, attempted to satisfy her hunger for recognition, gain approval and to satisfy her lack of self-confidence that lies behind the fear …show more content…
of not being accepted and stems from being repulsed by her father who raised her. She writes out of remorse to restore her mental health. According to Freud, superego reflects the internalization of cultural rules, mainly taught by parents applying their guidance and influence. Id is the disorganized part of the personality structure that contains a human's basic, instinctual drives. Id is the only component of personality that is present from birth. It is the source of our bodily needs, wants, desires, and impulses, particularly our sexual and aggressive drives. Ego acts according to the reality principle, it is the bridge between id and superego. It seeks to please the id's drive in realistic ways that will benefit in the long term rather than bring grief. At the same time, Freud concedes that as the ego "attempts to mediate between id and reality, it is often obliged to cloak the unconscious commands of the id with its own preconscious rationalizations, to conceal the id's conflicts with reality. The ego is the organized part of the personality structure that includes defensive, perceptual, intellectual-cognitive, and executive functions. Conscious awareness resides in the ego, although not all the operations of the ego are conscious. Originally, Freud used the word ego to mean a sense of self, but later revised it to mean a set of psychic functions such as judgment, tolerance, reality testing, control, planning, defense, synthesis of information, intellectual functioning, and memory The Super-Ego is Clerval or Frankenstein’s father, both of whom represent what is “good, proper, and socially desirable.” Frankenstein is the Ego waffling between selfish desires and doing what is morally good. Of course, the creature is the Id with all his passions and “libidinal energy.” In Freudian reading, the novel expresses the tragedy of conflicts within an individual consciousness. Frankenstein is riven by the competing forces of his social conscience (his Super-Ego), his conscious desires (his Ego), and his unconscious wishes (his Id). The simplest explanation seems to be straightforward Oedipal rivalry coupled with sexual fear and guilt. To begin with, Frankenstein’s father is considerably older than his mother – a man of ‘upright mind’ [my emphasis] ‘who had filled several public situations with honor and reputation. The creature had a show sign of attachment to Frankenstein like a child to its parent. The creature deems William to be a threat in that William is Frankenstein bother and it the creature is envy of the fact that victor cared for William and not the creature. Therefore, the creature killed William so it could get all the attention from Victor. Another prominent psychologist who developed theories on the concept of self-identity is Carl Jung. Jung's theory of shadow and self proposes that "Everyone carries a shadow and the less it is embodied in an individual's life, the blacker and denser it becomes. It is the converse (opposite) of man's ideal picture of himself--the actual, the primitive, the uncivilized part of the personality" (Hitchcock 56). Jung hypothesized that when a person was in the natural world, he/she was influenced by his/her unconscious. In the novel, there are many parallels between Victor and his creation. Both seem to have an indescribable hatred for one another. Victor seems to deny the monster what he has denied himself, a family life and wife. This is almost what Victor was denied himself as his relationship be incestuous from a Freudian view and can therefore be false. His relationship with Elizabeth is that of sister and brother, having being brought up together. As he never experienced courtship his anger towards the monster is an anger vented towards himself as he has never experience love and is almost seen to be scared and never probes around the subject. Victor Frankenstein creates a monster and the nightmare that he has is the monster of his desire is to take Elizabeth’s life, maybe because, unconsciously he holds her responsible for his mother’s death. He relates this part to the author, Mary Shelley, whose moms died just eleven days after giving birth to her. His hope to create a being "like myself" is fulfilled in the monster whose murders we must see as expressions of Victor's own desires. Frankenstein is being controlled by his sexual drive. How Frankenstein ego causes him to create the creature and how later interaction is also effected by the sexual drive and action. It seems that Frankenstein had no plans to create both male and females - and the request for a female companion comes as a shock to his very psychological nature. Constantly it seems, Frankenstein lives within a realm of sexual ignorance. instead of creating with Elizabeth a child born of natural causes - which would have incorporated the method of impregnation - Frankenstein toils away at an unnatural creation. Mary uses a defense mechanism “discovered by Freud and his daughter”. Mary’s use of projection to act as a defense mechanism show he repress feeling and express them in the form of it in the monster. She felt lonely and neglect due to the father and it showed when Victor abandoned the monster. e Victor Frankenstein shows clear signs of having a mental disorder according to Millon and DSM-IV, discuss to what degree Victor Frankenstein perceives the creature as an echo of himself, which not only reflects his mental disorder, but also a fear of the unnatural, discuss the likelihood that Mary Shelley had a personal experience with a narcissist, and thus had a more profound knowledge of narcissism than what she could have derived from the literature. Victor Frankenstein could have been the portrayal of Mary’s husband, Percy. Or it could have been Mary’s father herself. Just like Frankenstein disowns his creature, Godwin abandoned Mary when she decided to get romantically involved with the married Percy Shelley who himself more likely was represented by Frankenstein’s faithful friend Henry Clerval. This psychological constellation could explain why Frankenstein is described in such ambivalent ways, and why Mary Shelley never really condemns her two protagonists. Freud's patient Hans believes that he can create imaginary friends through the act of defecation. This fascination with defecation and fecal matter, is a critical stage in Freudian theory on age and life stages. Freud states that in the first stages of life "children are at one in thinking that babies must be born through the bowel; they must make their appearance like lumps of faeces" (Rieder 5). The monster in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein is alluding to this excremental status through his appearance. The monster's mouth alone represents a contrast between the oral-anal track by contrasted drastically between the "teeth of pearly whiteness" and "straight black lips" (Shelley 42). Frankenstein himself is a man that "dabbles in dirt" within the confines of his "workshop of filthy creation" (39). Frankenstein represents a child that is still a prisoner of infantile fascination with the anus and the act of defecation. This infantile mode of thinking adds to Frankenstein's own basic level of stupidity and narcissistic behavior. Freud claims that children in this stage are "far from feeling disgust at their own feces" (Rieder 6). Although children usually find themselves overflowing with pride and admiration for their fecal creations - Frankenstein's reaction is quite the opposite. These reactions seem to overextend the boundaries of repulsion. This repulsion finds itself in the visual knowledge that the monster represents a "crisis in the articulation of the natural and the paternal" (6). Frankenstein, within the novel, is unable to break himself away from this Freudian concept of infantilism in favor of the normative one. Trapped within this Oedipal Complex, Frankenstein decides to "bar the creature from entry into the sex-gender system" (Rieder 8).
This becomes a direct resistance to the laws of the oedipal system - and sends both the monster and the creator to their tragic endings. Not only does Frankenstein deny the rights of procreation to his creature - but he also manages to avoid this area in his own life. Frankenstein - since the beginning - seems to be a man intent on usurping the natural position of the maternal. This falls exactly into Freudian beliefs on family romance. These rules of the sex-gender system also prevail within Frankenstein's own life. There is an odd "absence of courtship in Victor's story" (Rieder 7). Although within the tale of the monster - and his experiences with the French family and his own desires for female companionship - this is vastly different. In the case of Frankenstein - and the monster - it seems that one must become a member of the family before being considered for sexual partnership. Frankenstein's own mother was taken in by Mr. Frankenstein, and became a daughter-figure before marrying Alphonse. According to Frankenstein, his father had been "like a protecting spirit to [Caroline], who committed herself to his care" (Shelley 18). These Oedipal undertones again manifest themselves within the relationship between Elizabeth and Victor - one that almost is able to transcend the sister/brother relationship. There is no doubt within the relationship between Victor and Elizabeth that Shelley's story "overrides the prohibition against incest" (Rieder
7).
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley introduces the change from good to evil with the attention that guardians give a child. William Crisman, in his critique of Mary Shelley’s work, identifies the “sibling rivalry” between Victor and the rest of his family. Crisman remarks that Victor feels as if he is the most important person in his parents’ lives, since he was Alphonse’s and Caroline’s only child. The Frankensteins adopt Elizabeth and Victor sarcastically remarks that he has a happy childhood. This prompts Victor starts to read essays about alchemy and study natural science. Anne Mellor, another critic of Frankenstein, proposes that Frankenstein’s creature was born a good person and society’s reaction to him caused him to turn evil. Victor’s makes the creature in his own perception of beauty, and his perception of beauty was made during a time in his life when he had secluded himself from his family and friends. He perceived the monster as “Beautiful!”, but Victor unknowingly expressed the evil in himself, caused by secluding himself from everybody, onto the creature (60). In this way, the creature is Victor’s evil mirrored onto a body. The expression of Victor onto the monster makes the townspeople repulsed by the creature. The theory of the “alter ego” coincides with Crisman’s idea of sibling rivalry (Mellor). Mary Shelley conveys that through Crisman’s idea of sibling rivalry, Victor isolates himself from society. Mellor describes the isolation during his creation of his creature leads to him giving the creature false beauty that causes Victor to abandon him and society to reject him.
The classic theme of perversion of family is a major component in Frankenstein. Dr. Frankenstein comes from a good family but in his adult life he longs for a new companion this is mainly found in the Creature and Elizabeth. The development for the need for the Creature starts when he falls in love with knowledge and is furthered when he leaves to study. In his child hood he has “Natural philosophy is the genius that has regulated my fate; I desire, therefore, in this narration, to stat those facts which led to my predilection for that science”(Shelley 36). This passion develops into his obsession in his adult life when he gains more accesses to knowledge and equipment. Then it climaxes with start of the creation of the Creature because his accesses to bodies and tools. (quote Intro) “I read with ardour those works, so full of genius and discrimination… it easily conceived that my progress was rapid”(48). His description of the creation makes it seem like he is mothering a child into birth. He distorts the sanity of child birth by creating a human in a lab. This also makes him the mother and father of the Creature. (quote intro) “When I found so astonishing a power placed within my hands, I hesitated a long time concerning the manner in which I should employ it… my first success to permit me doubt of my ability to give live…”(51). This illustrates his power that he has that was never meant to be any humans. With the successful test my can create life, strengthens his bond with this impending birth of Creature, who embodies all of his scientific achievement. (quote Intro) “How can I describe my emotions at this catastrophe, or how delineate the wretch whom with such infinite pains and care I had endeavored to from?” (55). Frankenstein shuns his own creation, whom he should be the loving parents of. The culmination of all of Frankenstein’s education led to creation his own companionship; he can not bear to see his hideous creation.
In a psychoanalytic view of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Robert Walton develops, during a “dreadfully severe” trip through the Arctic, a type of schizophrenia; this mental condition enables him to create a seemingly physical being representing each his superego and his id (9). In his mind, Walton creates Victor as his very own superego and the monster as his id. The superego and the id battle throughout the story to produce the final result: Walton, the ego.
In Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein, values of society are clearly expressed. In this particular society and culture, a great value is placed on ideologies of individuals and their contribution to society. In order to highlight these values, Shelley utilizes the character of Victor Frankenstein. Frankenstein is the main character of the novel, and with his alienation, he plays a significant role that reveals the surrounding society’s assumptions and moral values of individualism and use in society. This is done through Victor’s actions of self-inflicted isolation.
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is ‘one of the pioneering works of modern science fiction’, and is also a frightening story that speaks to the ‘mysterious fears of our nature’. Mary Shelley mocks the idea of “playing God”, the idea that came from the Greek myth of Prometheus, of the Greek titan who stole Zeus’ gift of life. Both the story of Frankenstein and Prometheus reveal the dark side of human nature and the dangerous effects of creating artificial life. Frankenstein reveals the shocking reality of the consequences to prejudging someone. The creature’s first-person narration reveals to us his humanity, and his want to be accepted by others even though he is different.
Frankenstein revolves around the relationships between its characters. Aside from Safie and Felix, the romantic male-female relationships are tinged with an incestual element. Also, the males idealize femininity and take the women's adoration of them for granted. Victor's parents, Alfonse and Caroline, have an age disparity that echoes father and daughter; he rescues her from poverty by coming, "...like a protective spirit to the poor girl" and then after their marriage "strove to shelter her, as a fair exotic is sheltered by the gardener...with all that could tend to excite pleasurable emotion in her soft and benevolent mind" (32).
“Allure, Authority, and Psychoanalysis” discusses the unconscious wishes, effects, conflicts, anxieties, and fantasies within “Frankenstein.” The absence of strong female characters in “Frankenstein” suggests the idea of Victor’s desire to create life without the female. This desire possibly stems from Victor’s attempt to compensate for the lack of a penis or, similarly, from the fear of female sexuality. Victor’s strong desire for maternal love is transferred to Elizabeth, the orphan taken into the Frankenstein family. This idea is then reincarnated in the form of a monster which leads to the conclusion that Mary Shelley felt like an abandoned child who is reflected in the rage of the monster.
Frankenstein gets sicker- eventually dying from the disease. Through Mrs. Frankenstein dying, Elizabeth takes the place as the mother in the household, thus becoming the mother in Frankenstein’s eyes. Mrs. Frankenstein’s last wish is for Victor and Elizabeth to eventually get married. Frankenstein cannot come to terms with the union and decides that he needs some time to think about it, this shows that he is not ready to move on and accept his mother’s death, thus having to love another. Frankenstein uses Elizabeth as a substitute for his mother; Mrs. Frankenstein and Elizabeth share a similar past; they were both orphan children in a small village, saved by a loving wealthy man/family. Elizabeth is a mirror image of Mrs. Frankenstein which is why Frankenstein is drawn to her. After creating the monster, Frankenstein has a dream: “I thought I saw Elizabeth, in the bloom of health, walking in the streets of Ingolstadt. Delighted and surprised, I embraced her; but as I imprinted the first kiss on her lips, they became livid with the hue of death; her features appeared to change, and I thought that I held the corpse of my dead mother in my arms; a
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is a nineteenth century literary work that delves into the world of science and the plausible outcomes of morally insensitive technological research. Although the novel brings to the forefront several issues about knowledge and sublime nature, the novel mostly explores the psychological and physical journey of two complex characters. While each character exhibits several interesting traits that range from passive and contemplative to rash and impulsive, their most attractive quality is their monstrosity. Their monstrosities, however, differ in the way each of the character’s act and respond to their environment. Throughout Frankenstein, one assumes that Frankenstein’s creation is the true monster. While the creation’s actions are indeed monstrous, one must also realize that his creator, Victor Frankenstein is also a villain. His inconsiderate and selfish acts as well as his passion for science result in the death of his friend and family members and ultimately in his own demise.
The idea for the novel of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein came to her one night when she was staying in the company of what has been called ‘her male coterie’, including Lord Byron and her husband, Percy Shelley. Mary Shelley’s whole life seems to have been heavily influenced by men. She idolised her father, William Godwyn, and appears to have spent a good part of her life trying very hard to impress both him and her husband. There seems to have been a distinct lack of female influence, her mother, Mary Wollstonecraft, having died weeks after her birth, being replaced by a neglectful step-mother. These aspects of her life are perhaps evident in her novel. The characters and plot of Frankenstein were perhaps influenced by Shelley’s conflicting feelings about the predominately masculine circle which surrounded her, and perhaps the many masculine traits that we see in novel were based upon those of the male figures in Shelley’s own life. In this essay I will attempt to show some of these traits.
Victor Frankenstein, the monster’s creator, is the victim of his own pride. An ego unchecked is a dangerous thing. But in truth, it really just shows Victor’s humanity. He is privileged, educated, talented, loved, adored, but he is not perfect. His flaw is his own ego and pride. Without doubt, this is the result of a childhood where he was overindulged. Overindulged to the extent he was given a little girl “Elizabeth” as a “present”, whom he considered from childhood “mine only” (Shelley 21). Little wonder the twenty year old Victor would think he could create, control and command life. But Victor as with any indulged child did not take the time to learn much from his parents about parenting and fath...
To begin with, Victor describes how his mother, Caroline Beaufort, meets his father, Alphonse Frankenstein, after Caroline’s father died in poverty. Victor mentions, “He came like a protecting spirit to the poor girl, who committed herself to his care; and after the interment of his friend, he conducted to Geneva, and placed her under the protection of a relation” (Shelley 28). Even though Caroline is younger than Victor’s father, she has no choice, but to marry him. Without marrying Victor’s father, Caroline will still be in poverty with nobody to support her. Caroline’s decision to marry Victor’s father symbolizes a woman in need of a man to protect her.
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus, explores the monstrous and destructive affects of obsession, guilt, fate, and man’s attempt to control nature. Victor Frankenstein, the novel’s protagonist and antihero, attempts to transcend the barriers of scientific knowledge and application in creating a life. His determination in bringing to life a dead body consequently renders him ill, both mentally and physically. His endeavors alone consume all his time and effort until he becomes fixated on his success. The reason for his success is perhaps to be considered the greatest scientist ever known, but in his obsessive toil, he loses sight of the ethical motivation of science. His production would ultimately grieve him throughout his life, and the consequences of his undertaking would prove disastrous and deadly. Frankenstein illustrates the creation of a monster both literally and figuratively, and sheds light on the dangers of man’s desire to play God.
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein or; The Modern Prometheus, published in 1818, is a product of its time. Written in a world of social, political, scientific and economic upheaval it highlights human desire to uncover the scientific secrets of our universe, yet also confirms the importance of emotions and individual relationships that define us as human, in contrast to the monstrous. Here we question what is meant by the terms ‘human’ and ‘monstrous’ as defined by the novel. Yet to fully understand how Frankenstein defines these terms we must look to the etymology of them. The novel however, defines the terms through its main characters, through the themes of language, nature versus nurture, forbidden knowledge, and the doppelganger motif. Shelley also shows us, in Frankenstein, that although juxtaposing terms, the monstrous being everything human is not, they are also intertwined, in that you can not have one without the other. There is also an overwhelming desire to know the monstrous, if only temporarily and this calls into question the influence the monstrous has on the human definition.
Monsters embody brutality, twisted morality, and irrationality—the banes of human existence, yet the children of man’s inner demons. Monsters are, in short, projections of man’s wicked id. The term creature may suggest monstrosity, and Frankenstein’s creation in Mary Shelley’s novel may be perceived as a personification of the Freudian id. In this case, however, the creature also mediates between its neurotic creator and societal values, just as the Freudian ego, conditioned by the reality principle, mediates between external reality and inner turmoil through practicality. The ego is the psyche’s driving force and, arguably, the real protagonist of Frankenstein. But in the fierce tug-of-war within the ego between the id and its law-abiding opposite—the superego—lies the true battlefield of Shelley’s novel. For ironically the man of science embodies an ego-ridden id, a man-monster, but creates a monster-man that embodies his counterpart: an id-ridden ego. In the wake of his mother’s death, Frankenstein’s tinkering with reanimation unconsciously shapes a symbiosis between himself and his creation—between two tortured halves of one neurotic mind. In fact, Shelley’s novel sinks deep into the crevices of Freud’s psychoanalytic theory, oozing into pits of neurosis, repression, parapraxes, dream symbolism, and the Oedipus complex.