Lightning Quotes In Frankenstein

Playing God usually ends up in catastrophic events, and can even lead to the loss of one’s life. In Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein’s obsession with creating life ultimately leads to the death of many of his loved ones. In Frankenstein, Victor, Robert, and the creature all share some trait that shows how they try to play God.

This foreshadowing is important because it is what allows us to see the changes that Frankenstein went through as well as to give tension as to what will happen to him latter on as a result of what happened on that fateful day. "Thus ended a day memorable to me; it decided my future destiny." (6)

The magnification of Victor Frankenstein’s darkness in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein can be shown through his actions alone. But, with the addition of pure and monstrous characters, Frankenstein’s evil is brought to light through their actions as well. Though overcome with depression and suffering, light shines into Frankenstein’s world, ultimately amplifying his darkness. Elizabeth Lavenza magnifies Frankenstein’s darkness through her light because she loved him in spite of his evil, her love ultimately kept him alive, and the essence of her encouraged him to destroy the Monster in the end.

Frankenstein was first published in 1818 which was two years after she got the idea. In Mary’s life she went to Switzerland to carry on with her life but a year later she gave birth to a child which unfortunately passed away. This period in her life then haunted her for the rest of her life until one year later used it as a story in a contest. In this book Shelly used a literary technique called Foreshadowing; foreshadowing are small indications of what is going to happen in the book for example ““One man’s life or death were but a small price to pay for the acquirement of the knowledge which I sought, for the dominion I should acquire and transmit over the elemental foes of our race,” which foreshadows what the price Frankenstein will actually

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, illustrates an interesting story focusing in on many different themes, but what most readers may miss, is the similarities between Victor Frankenstein and the creature he created. As the story develops, one may pick up on these similarities more and more. This is portrayed through their feelings of isolation, thirst for revenge, their bold attempt to play god, and also their hunger to obtain knowledge. These are all displayed through a series of both the actions and the words of Frankenstein and his creature.

In the book Frankenstein by Mary Shelly, we discover that the search for now knowledge has a good and a bad side. Suffering is something we all go through at some point. We try to avoid it but our search for knowledge will always lead to suffering. In Frankenstein Victor had set out on a search for knowledge, he was relentless. His search consumed all his time, destroyed relationships, and lead to the death of not only himself but his friends and family. All of those negative effects originated from the monster Victor had created on his search for knowledge. Although Victor may have achieved his end goal, at what cost did this come to? Victor’s search

According to critic Northrop Frye, “Tragic heroes are so much the highest points in their human landscape that they seem the inevitable conductors of the power about them, great trees more likely to be struck by lightning than a clump of grass. Conductors may of course be instruments as well as victims of the divine lightning.” In the novel “Frankenstein” by Mary Shelley, Victor Frankenstein created a creature that had a mind of his own and a heart of an angel but throughout the novel when Victor Frankenstein’s creature has finally became conscious of his life, Frankenstein found out that the creature was alive which will potentially create events that will eventually destroy his relationships and destroy his friends and family members. When the monster finally had a glimpse of what life was really about, he has decided to go seek for attention such as a child seeking for love and to finally have a sense of belonging. Frankenstein's creation has started to feel like he was not worth anything since he was constantly left alone and any individual who encountered him kept running away due to the fact that they were so startled by the creature's appearance. Soon after when the monster began to realize that he wasn’t “normal” he

"Do you think, Victor," said he, "that I do not suffer also? No one could love a child more than I loved your brother" (tears came into his eyes as he spoke); "but is it not a duty to the survivors, that we should refrain from augmenting their unhappiness by an appearance of immoderate grief? It is also a duty owed to yourself; for excessive sorrow prevents improvement or enjoyment, or even the discharge of daily usefulness, without which no man is fit for society." (78)

Within the book, Dr. Victor Frankenstein expresses the way in which knowledge has blessed him in the beginning of the story but in turn ends up resulting in his downfall.

The monster is in need of help from his creator, for he is new to the world and does not know anything about living yet, but instead, he has nobody and is forced to figure life out by himself. Readers understand the monster’s emotion because he says “I sat down and wept”. By understanding his emotion, it will cause readers to feel sympathy for him. This also proves one of the larger themes of the novel, that people should treat others with empathy, because as his creator, Frankenstein should have been able to understand and share his feelings, for he was often alone and left to teach and fend for himself during his studies. Frankenstein’s reject to his creation is what caused the monster to feel so alone, and ultimately, what led to both of their destructions.

In this Essay I shall explore the reasons for Victor Frankenstein’s emotional turmoil in chapters 9 and 10 and look at how some events in Mary Shelley’s life mirrors some events in the book. I will also look at a few of the themes running through Frankenstein. Such as religion, parenting, hate, revenge, guilt and compassion.

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley has a simple origin, compared to other stories. While stories such as It by Stephen king started a several year process of creation, Frankenstein began simply as a campfire story Mary Shelley shared with her writer friends one evening. Although the origins of this novel are fairly simple, it provides an in depth psychological perspective on the darker side of human psyche through the shifting first person perspective. Usually these darker aspects are associated with the character’s personal struggles, but one specific theme in all the characters. The theme of obsession has been consistent and the central focus of the three main characters Victor, the creature, and Robert. With this central theme in mind the author, Mary Shelley shows that obsession leads to the characters suffering negative psychological and physical effects, as well as impair their decision making. This is depicted through the decline of physical and mental health through Victor’s struggles with his obsessions with knowledge and justice.

Shelley’s uses of romantic and gothic elements also enhance the negative portrayal of science and its potential destruction. Her writing conveys gloomy settings of Frankenstein as well as the appreciation of nature. Dark ambiance is evident in the description of Frankenstein’s laboratory: “In a solitary chamber, or rather cell, at the top of my house, and separated from all the other apartments by a gallery and staircase, I kept my workshop of filthy creation...the dissecting room and the slaughterhouse furnished many of my materials”. This description invokes a repulsive reaction in the reader and therefore a tainted opinion of science. One of the important scenes that reflected Mary Shelley’s attitudes towards science is the portrayal of Frankenstein’s awe when he sees the lightening strike the tree, showing his curiosity towards science-“As I stood at the door, on a sudden I beheld a stream of fire issue from an old and beautiful oak...and no soon as the sizzling light vanished, the oak disappeared, and nothing was left but a blasted stump”. In this quote the power and beauty of nature is apparent and

The theme of sublime nature is perpetuated by Shelley’s incorporation of violence in locations with beautiful lake and mountain views. As Frankenstein takes a tour of a mountain and glacier he sees sublime nature in the form of “the pallid lightning that played above Mont Blanc,” showing that terrors such as lightning already exist within the domain of the beautiful mountainside (Shelley 167). Shelley uses this ominous mood to foreshadow Frankenstein’s future encounter with another herald of terror, the monster. Not long after Frankenstein sees an object in the distance and suddenly, “A flash of lightning illuminated the object,” the

“Frankenstein” by Mary Shelley was born out of the waking nightmare she had on June 16, 1816 (see notes 1 and 4). It was an intense vision that produced one of the greatest and powerful horror stories n the western literature, it is a story which assumed a mythic view as it taken into account the profound result concerning understanding of a man of his position in the world and the results of transgressing against nature and God (Gilbert, 2000, 1-4).