Frankenstein Reflection

In the novel, Frankenstein, written by Mary Shelly, there are three different narrators throughout the whole book. This is important because we get 3 different looks into the same story.  The three perspectives allow us to form our own opinions about the story. Having three perspectives helps the reader understand everything a whole lot more because they get everyone’s story and side. Shelly also uses three different narrators for the reader to be able to step in each character’s shoes. Throughout the book, the reader is able to take sides with a certain character because the author used a unique writing style.

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein use of multiple perspectives allows a more dynamic narrative where the reader can make their own interpretations by seeing the narrative told from multiple angles. This is seen in the juxtaposition of love received by Victor versus the creature, the perspective shift and how that allows for the reader to make their own interpretations, and sequencing of the narrative allows the tone of the text to be more intricate. The result of these narrative techniques is are more compelling and dynamic narrative and it allows the reader to not only make their own assumptions and interpretations but sets the mood for exasperating experience.

Throughout her novel Frankenstein, Mary Shelley consistently used other characters to show who Victor Frankenstein was as a person. She used his mother, best friend, future lover, creation, and Robert Walton to demonstrate how he reacted to certain situations and how he needed other people around him to show his true character. Although Shelley wrote in multiple foils for Frankenstein, Walton and the monster both consistently had Victor show who he truly was. In a way, Walton is the best foil for Frankenstein because they are both so similar and both craved glory for their discoveries, but Walton never shared the same weaknesses as Frankenstein. The monster was a part of Victor. He was Frankenstein’s creation, and shared parts of him that no

    In Frankenstein, Mary Shelley combines three separate stories involving three different characters--Walton, Victor, and Frankenstein's monster. Though the reader is hearing the stories through Walton's perspective, Walton strives for accuracy in relating the details, as he says, "I have resolved every night,...to record, as nearly as possible in his [Victor's] own words, what he has related during the day" (Shelley 37). Shelley's shift in point of view allows for direct comparison and contrast between the characters, as the reader hears their stories through the use of first person. As the reader compares the monster's circumstances to those of Victor and Walton, the reader's

Frankenstein and Walton’s narratives are remarkably similar in style, making it almost “impossible to extricate the narratives from one another.” Even Shelley’s choice of language draws parallels between the two: for example, her use of the words “gigantic structure” and “wretched” in Walton’s first description of Frankenstein, which Victor subsequently uses in referring to his creation. Many critics have even gone so far as to say that Walton is Victor’s doppelgänger – his clone in every way. However, there are distinct differences in diction between the two: Frankenstein being the more eloquent of the pair, as Walton freely admits: “Now I am twenty-eight and am in reality more illiterate than many schoolboys of fifteen.”

In Mary Shelley’s gothic novel, Frankenstein, three different positions are portrayed in the story of Victor Frankenstein’s creation. Shelley presents the story through letters that Robert Walton writes to his sister as he is hearing the retelling of the story from Frankenstein himself. While discovering Frankenstein’s and the Creature’s backstories, the reader witnesses the inevitable nature of man and the crucial effects of one’s environment; nurture is a problematic component in the Creature’s life while Victor’s inevitable nature overrides his upbringing.

Victor Frankenstein and Robert Walton’s creation holds the intention to make them almost the exact same person. Both men search for fame, yet refer to it as a, “quest for knowledge.” Unfortunately the need for fame leads to an over-dedication to research, obsessive tendencies, and injuring those who surround the men. Walton speaks of his ongoing journey to Frankenstein and says he would, “...sacrifice [his] fortune, [his] existence, [ his] every hope to the furtherance of [his] enterprise. One man’s life or death were but a small price to pay for the acquirement of knowledge which [he] sought…”(22) Also, Frankenstein admits his studies took priority when he says, “my cheek had grown pale with study, and my person had become emaciated with confinement… [it] caused me to forget those friends who were so many miles absent”(44) While Walton chose his expedition over his crew, Frankenstein chose his creature over himself and his family. Frankenstein’s decisions ruin his life, and if Walton kept his expedition on the intended course he would have an extremely high chance of ruining his life as well. The men’s similarities help the reader understand Walton truly does have the potential to destroy his life just like Frankenstein does. If not for Frankenstein’s cautionary tale Walton would have continued on even if it meant the potential danger of running into many more complications. Shelley decides to make the men extremely similar to let the few differences between them shine

The novel Frankenstein is written in the first person point of view, but at different points in the book, different storytellers recount the tale. Therefore, it can be found three different narrators, being Robert Walton the first narrator, who in his letters cites, second narrator, Victor Frankenstein’s narration; Victor, at the same time, cites the third narrator’s story. Furthermore, Elizabeth Lavenza and Alphonse Frankenstein narrate parts of the story through their letters to Victor as well, but they are not as relevant narrators as the other characters. With Victor Walton’s character Mary Shelley uses a device denominated epistolary form, novel in the form of a sequences of letters written by one or more characters:

What purpose does it serve to have multiple narrators telling a story? In Mary Shelley’s gothic novel, Frankenstein, three main narrators tell the story about the creation of a monster and the events that follow. The job of narrator shifts between Robert Walton, Victor Frankenstein, and the monster that Victor creates. As each narrator shares his own recollection of the events that occurred, new facts are introduced to put the pieces of the puzzle together. Although Frankenstein uses multiple narrators to tell the story, it is important to look at the effects it might have on the stories accuracy. In this essay, I will closely examine the motives, differences, and similarities of each narrator to see what influences, if any, they have on the narrative.

As previously mentioned, there are many points of views or “frames” within Frankenstein. To begin, Shelley used letters from a man informing his sister of his trip who saw a withered man in need of help, and the man proceeded to tell his newly found friend his life story, his name was Victor Frankenstein. Frankenstein proceeds to tell the majority of the story until his “daemon” tells his life story. At first the creature tells of humanity’s unkindness towards him and that, (page 68 Shelley) “All men hate the wretched; how, then, must I be hated, who am miserable beyond all living things!”

Frankenstein, although it seems to be from the point of view of Victor Frankenstein himself, is told in the narrative voice by Robert Walton in a letter to his sister Margaret. Narrative voice is a tool that Mary Shelley uses this to tell the story of Victor without him ever going deep into his emotions and thoughts. The story was told from Walton’s point of view because it was unbiased, this was the reader was able to see Victors half of the story along with the monsters. Unfortunately, Shelley’s use of the narrative voice is unreliable because the story is being told from a person who is repeating the story, not a person who experienced it. Because of this, details in the story are subject to change.

In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, the main character, Victor Frankenstein, creates a form of life that wreaks havoc on society after being abandoned by his creator. Victor chooses to keep his creation a secret out of fear, but also because he believes that it will not change the situation. Frankenstein eventually discloses the truth about the monster twice; once without any results. The second time he tells the story, the truth only helps the narrator, Walton. Frankenstein becomes consumed with creating life, but once he does so, he finds that his creation does not meet his expectations.

Frankenstein is structure like a story within a story. The story begins with discovery of a strange and the stranger telling us about the main character. Mary Shelley introduces us to Walton first, using it as a frame device, in which the tale is told to us but someone who reads it or hears it from someone else. Shelley also uses literary devices where she allows the letters to tell the story. She uses letter between Walton, Victor sister, mother and father.

In the novel ‘Frankenstein’ written in 1817, the author of the novel, Mary Shelley, uses narrative structure to engage and focus readers. She effectively uses an epistolary style of frame narrative and tells the story from three different perspectives in order to maintain interest in readers.

     Frankenstein, an epistolary novel by Mary Shelley, deals with epistemology, is divided into three volumes, each taking place at a distinct time. Volume I highlights the correspondence in letters between Robert Walton, an Arctic seafarer, and his sister, Margaret Saville. Walton's letters to Margaret basically explain his expedition at sea and introduce Victor Frankenstein, the protagonist of the novel. Volume II is essentially Frankenstein's narrative, told in his point of view, with much action, death, and many more characters. There are a few chapters within this volume in which the monster narrates his adventures while alone. Volume III displays Victor's