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Tension in Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein" and Susan Hill's "The Woman in Black"
Tension is created in both Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein" and Susan hills "the woman in black" but in a different way. In Mary Shelley's novel "Frankenstein" tension is created by the settings, most horror story's are. Both novels create tension in there settings by using the power of imagination and the unknown. Central to both the plots is the idea of dreams and nightmares.
Both Frankenstein and the women in black were set at night and both in isolated areas.
Frankenstein was set in an isolated building in Ingolstadt,
Switzerland "on a dreamy night of November" "as the rain pattered dismally against the panes". This creates tension as she is using the horror of the unknown in the isolated building. "Candle was nearly burnt out."
Mary Shelley also creates tension in her novel by using the description she does when the creature has just been created,
"His yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath his hair were of a lustrous black and flowing".
The way he describes this creature clearly gives you the impression it is evil.
In the novel Frankenstein after the creature is created the man takes pity and is disgusted with what he has created,
"The beauty of the dream vanished"
For creating a creature that will have to live his life knowing that he was a creation.
This is where the tension starts to build and the creature decides to take revenge on the one who created him,
"Evil will have its revenge".
However in "the woman in black" her appearance is not described very much. Susan hill does however describe the look on her face as 'as a desperate, yearning malevolence; it was as though she was searching for something she wanted, needed- must have, more then life itself, and which had been taken from her. This helps prepares the reader in
She uses light to symbolize his happiest times and darkness to represent when he’s feeling bad. The monster is a distortion of the monsters people can become. The monster killed Elizabeth in the novel, but when you really think about it, the real monster was Victor because he created the monster and he chose to abandon home. He didn’t give him any guidance, he left him all alone in a horrible and cruel world. Distortions in Frankenstein served to show humanity in a grotesque way, it served to show humanity in its true colors. Not everything is what it appears to be and the monster was truly a kind creature who turned to anger and revenge when he was rejected by his creator and this is true in all humanity, if you’re rejected by the ones who should love you the most,sometimes you become
The Transylvanian village itself embodies much theatrical mise-en-scene. The Old World-styled buildings in the village cast an antiquated ambience to the film. Most of the setting of the film is seemingly unto itself and unattached to the contemporary world in which the film otherwise takes place. [aestheticism- brummett quote]The lightning that almost ubiquitously strikes during exterior shots of the Frankenstein castle, as well as scenes involving Frankenstein's laboratory, becomes a character of its own: with intense flashes of light during the scene in which the exhumed corpse is given life to become the Creature.
I had the opportunity to read Frankenstein by Mary Shelley several years ago and it became one of my favorite books. My initial feeling was sorrow, what a wonderful story that has been slowly destroyed by Hollywood through the years. We think of Victor Frankenstein as a mad scientist trying to destroy mankind, and the monster having bolts in his neck with very little intellect. Mary Shelley’s book is completely different from the Hollywood version we are accustom to. The monster is intelligent and has emotions, the mad scientist or Victor was scared of his own creation due to his appearance. The monster initially showed no signs of evil in the novel, but where did he learn it from? Who is the real evil monster
The novel “Frankenstein” is almost entirely set in remote and desolate locations. The book starts with Captain Walton meeting Victor Frankenstein in the Arctic Circle, where Frankenstein narrates the strange tale of how he got to where he was. His story includes his boyhood in remote and mountainous Geneva; his secluded studies at the University of Ingolstadt, where he creates the monster; Mont Blanc, where he first speaks to his creation; and the bleak Orkney Island, where he destroys the partner he was making for his original creation. Throughout the novel Victor seems isolated, Even when he is at the busy University of Ingolstadt, the setting still has a remote feel to it. Frankenstein becomes so focused on his work to create life that he shuts himself off from the world for months, without even giving himself time to appreciate nature or contact loved ones, as we can see when Victor Frankenstein imparts, “The summer months passed while I was thus engaged, heart and soul, in one pursuit. It was a most beautiful season; never did the fie...
"What can stop the determined heart and resolved will of man?" This question, posed by Captain Robert Walton on page 22 of Mary Shelley's immortal Frankenstein, lies susceptible to interpretation to mean the ambition of man in one sense, but in another, the collective persecution and prejudice inherent in mankind.
Imagine a world where discoveries in science appear to have one of two outcomes: either they are beneficial or catastrophic for human beings. This is the world described by Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein as well as Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel “The Birthmark”. In Shelley’s novel, Victor Frankenstein strives to gain knowledge about physiology, the causes of life, and the purpose of death to be able to give life to inanimate objects. Victor decides that he must make the perfect creation to join human beings on earth after discovering how to do this, but he realizes that his creation is imperfect after it is completed and tries to abandon it. Victor’s creation eventually finds him and becomes his tormentor since the creation, as an act of revenge
Throughout the novel, Shelley investigates the idea of monstrosity. She makes the point that a monster does not have to be genuinely evil in order to be considered monstrous. Shelley presents two characteristics of mankind in order to prove her case. The first example is Frankenstein’s creation. Upon first being introduced to his creation, the reader initially labels him as a monster because of his physical appearance. He is portrayed as a man with “…yellow skin scarcely cover[ing] the work of muscles and arteries beneath…watery eyes, that seemed almost of the same colour as the dun-white sockets in which they were set…shrivelled complexion and straight black lips” (Shelley 58). Not only does the reader view him as...
Women’s role in Frankenstein Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, is a famous novel about a scientist named Victor who creates a monstrous creature in a scientific experiment. It is easy to realize that men seem to be dominant throughout the story, and that all the main characters are male. As a result, women’s role in the book seems to be less important and significant to the story. Why did Mary Shelley, a daughter of a leading feminist who wrote the book A Vindication of the Rights of Women to express her belief that women should be treated equally, create such a book as Frankenstein, which portrayed women as inferior to men? The explanation lies behind the roles of those female characters in the book: Caroline Beaufort, Elizabeth Lavenza, Justine Moritz, and other women in the story.
For Shelley this may have been an expression of her own anxieties regarding both motherhood and the fear of giving birth but feeling no connection with the child; fears which she often discussed. It is often speculated by critics that the experience of life in post French Revolution Britain may have impacted upon Shelley’s writing and themes of morality presented in Frankenstein. Fears common among many of Shelley’s fellow British middle-class of this period often included the use of violence and revenge and revolution. The Creature can be determined to have similarities with a proletariat, who although has potentially good intentions, is unable to execute them effectively and thus, once overtaking the ‘creator’ or upper-class in power enacts violence and revenge. Shelley seems to present this path as being undesirable as, in the concluding chapters of the novel the Creature appears to be experiencing great remorse for the murders he has committed, and upon Frankenstein’s death feels so riddled with guilt that he takes his own
Shadowing and contrast between the colors was used greatly in the photos, especially towards the monster. Exposing it’s body to it’s creator and attracting attention towards the monster’s body and showing darkness to represent Victor’s fear. Frankenstein had the desire to kill his creator due to the perceptions of society and his entire existence, “Unfeeling, heartless creator! you endowed me with perceptions and passions, and then you cast me abroad an object for scorn and horror of mankind” (138 Shelley). The colors within the illustration represent the exposure of Victor’s monstrous creation and Victor’s regret and fear are represented through the darkness everywhere, but the monster. The body of the monster is being defined through the light and Victor has fallen, on the floor due to fear of his death and what power the monster possesses. In the illustration, the monster’s face is shown, but the Victor’s face is not shown. Interpreting the artwork, the hidden face of the creator creates the idea that the monster’s face is the center of attention and Victor should be left unidentified. Everyone did not hate Victor for creating the monster, but only the monster itself for terrorizing the villages. Like in the illustration, Victor was hidden away and was not revealed, just another human that is scared of the monster. Although Frankenstein is of his
Frankenstein is among one of the most iconic novels written during the early 19th Century. This novel was written by a distinguished Mary Shelley and first published in the year 1818. Shelley’s story is considered to written before its time as it challenged many themes and ideas of humanism, natural science, ambition, abortion, etc. The novel itself sparked many controversies and debates as numerous different topics are challenged and discussed throughout the novel. Shelley flawlessly executes the story as she writes in a dramatic gothic drama tone and allows the reader to step into different views of the story by changing perspectives.
From the beginning of time in history, women have always been portrayed as and seen as the submissive sex. Women especially during the time period of the 1800s were characterized as passive, disposable, and serving an utilitarian function. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is a prime example displaying the depiction of women. The women in Frankenstein represent the treatment of women in the early 1800’s. Shelley’s incorporation of suffering and death of her female characters portrays that in the 1800’s it was acceptable. The women in the novel are treated as property and have minimal rights in comparison to the male characters. The feminist critic would find that in Frankenstein the women characters are treated like second class citizens. The three brutal murders of the innocent women are gothic elements which illustrates that women are inferior in the novel. Mary Shelley, through her novel Frankenstein, was able to give the reader a good sense of women’s role as the submissive sex, through the characters experiences of horrific events including but not limited to brutal murder and degradation, which is illuminated by her personal life experiences and time period of romanticism.
Mary Shelly’s novel titled Frankenstein is the tragic story of Victor Frankenstein and his creation. Victor Frankenstein is a man obsessed with knowledge of the unknown. He played a dangerous game with the laws of nature, and creates his own form of man. Guilty of robbing dead bodies of their parts to build his creation piece by piece he has the nerve to feel disgust at what he created. “I had desired it with an ardour that far exceeded moderation; but now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart” (Shelly 30). This statement from Victor describes how he feels about the creature he created. His words make it seem like he thinks of his creation as gruesome, but in actuality
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley’s Frankenstein (sometimes also known as The Modern Prometheus) is the classic gothic novel of her time. In this eerie tale, Dr. Victor Frankenstein – suffering from quite an extreme superiority complex – brings to life a creature made from body parts of deceased individuals from nearby cemeteries. Rather than to embrace the Creature as his own, Frankenstein alienates him because of his unpleasant appearance. Throughout the novel, the Creature is ostracized not only by Frankenstein but by society as a whole. Initially a kind and gentle being, the Creature becomes violent and eventually seeks revenge for his creator’s betrayal. Rather than to merely focus on the exclusion of the Creature from society, Shelley depicts the progression of Dr. Frankenstein’s seclusion from other humans as well, until he and the Creature ultimately become equals – alone in the world with no one to love, and no one to love them back. Frankenstein serves as more than simply a legendary tale of horror, but also as a representation of how isolation and prejudice can result in the demise of the individual.
In Shelley’s era, Biology was the new science. It was believed that people could be brought back to life by electricity (BBC). Being a hot subject, this was brought into Frankenstein, creating a story that seems fresh and innovative to this very day. This new-found idea was accompanied by many other influences and experiences to help form and shape this beautiful yet simply written book, varying from friendly gatherings to her own personal life.