Example Of Diction In Frankenstein

1. “The magical time of childhood stood still, and the pulse of the living earth pressed its mystery into my living blood” (1.1).

This extract belongs to Mary Shelley’s most famous novel entitled Frankenstein (1818), belonging to Gothic fiction. We can find the fragment located almost right at the beginning of the book, it being relevant because this is when Victor Frankenstein first discovers the secret of life and death or as he calls it in page 34 “the cause of generation and life”. He then starts thinking of the possibilities of what he can achieve with that. That is what later leads him to build his creature, thus unleashing its violence into the world. This is a clear passage of an underlying theme in the novel; how knowledge, if taken too far, can be rather dangerous. The fact that Victor decides to obtain a knowledge which is supposed to be inaccessible is the catalyst of all the action that takes place in the novel.

Frankenstein describes the “birth” of his “child” not with the typical affection of a new mother, but with complete repulse:  “I saw the dull yellow eye of the creature open: it breathed hard and a convulsive motion agitated its limbs (Shelley, p.58).”  The first words his creation heard were the harsh words of his creator shouting: “abhorred monster! Fiend that thou art.”  He does not rejoice or receive his “child” with kindness, as a loving mother would; he instead rushes out of the room appalled at the disgusting and abnormal physical appearance of his creation.

“No human being could have passed a happier childhood than myself. My parents were possessed by the very spirit of kindness and indulgence. We felt that they were not the tyrants to rule our lot according to their caprice, but the agents and creators of all the many delights which we enjoyed. When I mingled with other families I distinctly discerned how peculiarly fortunate my lot was, and gratitude assisted the development of filial love.”

Mary Shelley utilizes figurative language in this excerpt to describe the surroundings of Frankenstein on his journey home and set the tone of gloomy, because of his brother’s death. Shelley uses personification to express the pattern of the raindrops as “violence quickly increasing” as if the raindrops were a person becoming very violent. This figurative language device develops the tone by tying into the violent actions of whoever murdered William, Frankenstein’s brother. Shelley uses the figurative language device of simile to compare the weather of nature such as, “vivid flashes of lightning dazzled my eyes, illuminating the lake, making it appear like a vast sheet of fire”. Shelley begins the sentence with a cheerful tone then takes a

Throughout the novel Frankenstein written by Mary Shelley, the creature is subjected to countless acts of violence and rejection. For a monster to develop, one must have been formerly exploited either by an individual or their society. The creature is not only a physical product of science, but his atrocious behavior is also an explicit result of Victor’s actions toward him. The creature was not born a monster, but slowly morphed into one as he experiences violence and rejection from his society.

In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, the narrator, Dr. Frankenstein, enhances an atmosphere of horror through diction and imagery, which creates escalating a tone of darkness. Frankenstein had been working on this experiment for months, and on a late, fall night it finally presents itself. The narrator is extremely anxious, and images of a lack of light, his “candle… nearly burnt out,” promotes a tone of fear and disquietness. Frankenstein means to contrast the living and the dead by reviving a “lifeless thing,” but ends up locating the peak of dread.

Like most horror stories, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein has a wretched monster who terrorizes and kills his victims with ease. However, the story is not as simple as it seems. One increasingly popular view of the true nature of the creature is one of understanding. This sympathetic view is often strengthened by looking at the upbringing of the creature in the harsh world in which he matures much as a child would. With no friends or even a true father, the creature can be said to be a product of society and its negative views and constant rejections of him. Although this popular view serves to lessen the severity of his crimes in most people’s eyes, the fact remains that the creature is in fact a cold-hearted wretch whose vindictive nature

In every story, characters play a vital role in conveying the message and the author takes credit for creating the tone of the story through the usages of dictions, language level, imagery, details, and structure. Dictions is a choice of words which occur in almost all of the other elements such as language level. In the production of particular tone for the story, the author always focuses on the diction that covers the language level, imagery, details, and structure. Similarly, Mary Shelly( the author of "The creature's request") construct an antagonistic relationship between Frankenstein and his creature through the tone of the story which is created by the dictions, language level, imagery, details, and structure.

“Nurture vs. Nature”, are some individuals destined to become evil? Or does the environment and experiences of the individual shape who they are? In Mary Shelley’s novel “Frankenstein” there is a character (the creature) that these questions apply to. Through her use of diction, changes in perspective, and imagery, she was able to make the creature seem more human than creature by making the reader sympathize with the creature.

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein has several literary devices- such as structure, imagery, and many intricate details. She perfectly places words and puts them in such a way that the passage has a dual tone. Shelley begins with establishing the monster’s nature as being peaceful, because he wanted to reason with Victor. Him wanting to reason shows the importance of his decision to meet with Victor and shows that even though he has been through a great deal, he is still respectable to others. The audience gets to see the creature’s humble nature and makes the audience feel sympathetic towards him. This creates a peaceful tone to the passage. The monster wants to be loved by “any being and if they showed benevolence to me, I would return them hundred an hundred fold” (Shelley 148). The creature’s begging makes it sound like Victor will answer his plea. Using a broad term like “being”, demonstrates the monster’s need to be loved, putting him in a position with the audience again feeling empathetic towards him. Eventually, Victor’s compassion begins to fluctuate. The desperation the creature has looks like the desperation a human might have. This only gives the readers another reason to relate to him which leads to the other tone, impossible. Victor’s unreasonableness heightens this shared discontent as not only has the build up of the creature’s wistful nature made him an utmost identifiable character, but our views are adjusted in such as way that Frankenstein is seen

When Victor Frankenstein listens to his monster’s story for the first time it is clear that the monster had no previous knowledge or experience with the world, and similar to a baby, had to learn through experience and adjust his actions

Introduction: Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein” is a book with a deep message that touches to the very heart. This message implies that the reader will not see the story only from the perspective of the narrator but also reveal numerous hidden opinions and form a personal interpretation of the novel. One of its primary statements is that no one is born a monster and a “monster” is created throughout socialization, and the process of socialization starts from the contact with the “creator”. It is Victor Frankenstein that could not take the responsibility for his creature and was not able to take care of his “child”. Pride and vanity were the qualities that directed Victor Frankenstein to his discovery of life: “...So much has been done, exclaimed the soul of Frankenstein-more, far more, will I achieve: treading in the steps already marked, I will pioneer a new way, explore unknown powers, and unfold to the world the deepest mysteries of creation”[p.47]. He could not cope with this discovery and simply ignored it. The tragedy of Victor Frankenstein and the tragedy of his creature is the same – it is the tragedy of loneliness and confronting the world, trying to find a place in it and deserve someone’s love. The creature would have never become a monster if it got the love it strived for. Victor Frankenstein would have never converted his creature into a monster if he knew how to love and take responsibility for the ones we bring to this world.