A New Light On Central Themes

Isolation is something that everybody experiences at some point in his or her life. There are many different types of alienation and there are many different things that can cause someone to be solitary or lonely. Some people choose to be alone simply because they like to reflect on thoughts and their lives, while some people end up alone even if they don’t want to be. Isolation affects individuals in many different ways and can have many different effects and outcomes on a person, such as depression and loneliness. This is shown in Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein” through the monster, Victor Frankenstein, and Robert Walton.

Ironically, Walton’s isolation comes by the pride of his own hand in his conquest for glory. In contrast to the doctor, he is ghastly disturbed by his abandonment as he comes to express, “I have no friend, Margaret: when I am glowing with the enthusiasm of success, there will be none to participate my joy, if I am assailed by disappointment, no one will endeavor to sustain me in dejection” (Shelley 5). With regard to the dialogue, the author offers insight to Walton’s arrogance and discontentment which disassociate him from his shipmates and family. His resilience to remain isolated exemplifies his ignorance heavily. Additionally, Walton’s egotism reveals that he is purely motivated by the personal gain a friend will provide him through comfort and praise. Walton portrays the balance between Victor and the monster because he is capable of recognizing the cost of his pride, and yet still desires companionship. Walton makes mention of his self-inflicted isolation as he explains to his sister Margaret, “You may deem me a romantic my dear sister, but I have no one near to me , gentle yet courageous, possessed of a cultivated as well as a capricious mind, whose tastes are like my own, to approve or mend my plans” (Shelley 5). Being a specimen of narcissism, Walton essentially communicates that none of his shipmates are good enough for his company. He irrationally bemoans in his loneliness, while his own

The feeling of loneliness and longing for a friendship links Walton, Frankenstein and the Creature together. Walton writes in one letter, "I desire the company of a man who could sympathize with me, whose eyes would reply to mine . . .I bitterly feel the want of a friend."` Frankenstein hears the same desperate plea for friendship from the Creature when he says "everywhere I see bliss, from which I alone am irrevocably excluded. I was benevolent and good; misery made me a fiend. Make me happy , and I shall again be virtuous." Unfortunately, Frankenstein never offers the same friendship to the creature as he does to Walton. However, Frankenstein did get a taste of the lonely friendless misery felt by Walton and the creature when he was sent to prison for the murder of Clerval.

The theme of isolation is a heavy premise throughout all three books that help to shape not only certain characters but also provide insight on fundamental qualities of their identities. The object of this essay is to prove who seems to be the most solitary character between the books Light in August by William Faulkner, A Good Man is Hard to Find by Flannery O’Connor and The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. In these stories, the idea of isolation is the loneliness that has been experienced in a characters life. Some characters have experienced their loneliness since early childhood while others have been kept isolated involuntarily. Although these three characters have taken different approaches in their lives, they all ended up isolated from society. As Alfred Kazin believes that Joe Christmas is the most solitary character in American fiction, I would like to discuss how both the villain in A Good Man is Hard to Find and the heroine of The Yellow Wallpaper would not rival Kazin’s opinion. Joe Christmas in Light in August proves to be the most solitary character I have read about, as he is never able to become a full member of society.

Isolation has a negative effect on Frankenstein by making him fall ill. “But I was in reality very ill; and surely nothing but the unbounded and unremitting attentions of my friend could have restored me to life. The form of the monster on whom I had bestowed existence was forever before my eyes. By very slow degrees, and with frequent relapses that alarmed and grieved my friend, I recovered” (55). With Clerval by his side, Frankenstein recovered

Walton is isolated in different ways: his boat is stuck in the ice, in the middle of nowhere up north, and he is also isolated because “I have no friend”. The first type of seclusion, “encompassed as I am by frost and snow”, is one that is also found later on in the novel when Frankenstein would lock himself away to create his monster for example, and mirrors Walton’s state of mind, thus being loneliness. Consequently both types of separations are greatly linked. However, the lonely seclusion of having no friends is the most prominent and important in this novel. Shelley stresses this idea by having Walton communicate his constant desire for “the company of a man who could sympathise with me” and how he “bitterly feels the want of a friend”. This theme is also crucial in the play as Walton’s desire at the beginning of the novel, will then be echoed by the monster’s request to his creator for a companion which, by his refusal, ignites the feeling of revenge in the monster. Furthermore, this theme of isolation is key in the story also because, it plays a great part in why Walton welcomes Frankenstein on his ship in the hope of making a friend. Walton even declare that “my affection for the guest increases every day” despite him being miserable and mysterious. This idea that Walton feels deep liking for a guest he knows nothing about yet accentuates his social isolation as his desire for a friend is so strong, that he would be ready to befriend a complete stranger thus clouding his judgement on hearing Frankenstein’s story. This thus influence the reader’s view of the rest of the novel as we begin to doubt the reliability of the narrator thus picturing Frankenstein in an even more negative light throughout the

Human are the most social animals in the world. When becoming isolated, it a signal that emotions have been turned amongst ourselves. If not already there, it is normal to feel depressed, lonely, alone. In Mary Shelley's gothic novel, both the monster and Frankenstein are isolated. Frankenstein will not tell anyone about his creation because he has no one to pour his emotions out to. This causes the loss of his family, friends,and lover. Until the end, he tells his experience to the force but was never really believed so his tale is only really heard by Robert Walton, an explorer with ambitions as strong as Victor himself. In Shelley's novel, she characterizes Victor Frankenstein and the monster as being isolated to convey their misery.

Isolation in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein Mary Shelley's novel, Frankenstein, has several themes imbedded in the text. One major theme is of isolation. Many of the characters experience some time of isolation. The decisions and actions of some of these characters are the root cause of their isolation.

Isolation is one the roots of the problems and calamities endured by many characters depicted in the beloved and Dr Frankenstein.

Isolation plays a major role in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. The central characters of the gothic novel, Robert Walton, Victor Frankenstein, and Frankenstein’s creature, are isolated for the majority of each of their narratives. While Walton and Frankenstein willfully isolated themselves from family and others for exploring uncharted territories and following dreams of grandeur through scientific creation, respectively, the creature is pushed into isolation due to outright rejection from every person he encounters.

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein examines two phenomena of human nature, scientific curiosity and loneliness; the latter will serve as the focus of this essay. The very manner in which Frankenstein begins, that of the correspondence of an unattached explorer who longs for a companion on his voyage, with no one to write to but his sister, establishes the theme of loneliness immediately.

Alienation and isolation have been apparent in society since the beginning of man. When an individual stumbles outside the realm of social normality they are viewed as degradation to society or a threat to normal society.(“Truthmove” 2012) In the gothic tale of Frankenstein, Mary Shelley frequently displays the many different forms of alienation. Victor Frankenstein and his creation were two of the characters in this book that went through alienation and isolation.

At some point in one’s life there is not only contentment or grief, but a state of loneliness. Loneliness is a part of human life, although some suffer from isolation more than others. Being lonely can lead to depression or create a different persona in oneself. Struggling through isolation can eventually kill one’s soul, expecting no hope or ending up in dangerous situations. The novella Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck portrays the theme of loneliness especially through two characters. Crooks and Curley’s wife experience the state of isolation as they crave for a friend or someone they can talk with. Steinbeck urges readers to feel pathos when analyzing Crooks and Curley’s wife through the nature of their isolation, their actions and

Society is the one thing we can count on to shape the way of viewing others whether it’s by race, gender, class or creed, it causes alienation whether it is self imposed or brought upon them by other people. “I would rather be hated for who I am, than loved for who I am not.” -Kurt Cobain. In Mary Shelley’s gothic novel, Frankenstein, Shelley explores the idea of alienation through Victor, whom self imposed isolation while creating the creature, The creature whom was isolated because he was different to the rest of society, and Walton whom also self imposed isolation.

There are many cases where an unrelated novel and film may have more similar than it at first seems. One such example of this pairing is the novel The Fountainhead and the film adaptation of Divergent (novel by Veronica Roth, screenplay by Evan Daugherty and Vanessa Taylor). These novels share many commonalities; specifically, they share at least three pairs of parallel characters, as well as two common themes. These character pairings are Howard Roark with Beatrice Prior; Dominique Francon with Tobias Eaton; and Jeanine Matthews with Eric. Common themes between The Fountainhead and Divergent include the concept of individualism versus collectivism, as well as media control and propaganda.