Mary Shelley's Frankenstein Essays

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, an epistolary novel that structure a diverse narration enable through letters and dialogue. During the story, he author goes back and forth from writing from Victor’s point of view and other character’s perspective in the letters. The diction used to capture the feeling of abandonment, sorrow, and loss of identity that the monster felt. Victor also endured the feeling of sorrow because the very thing he created destroyed his entire family. The diction allowed the audience to connect to the characters, feel the pain and agony one’s faces after making a wrong decision that affects the rest of one’s life.

The novel “Frankenstein” by Mary Shelley involves the complex issues with the creation of life through an inanimate life. Shelley uses these character archetypes to develop a deeper meaning of the characters intentions. Shelley does an excellent job at allowing the reader to have a peak at the characters inner thoughts and feelings. The archetypes presented in Frankenstein allow readers to identify with the character's role and purpose.

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.

Mary Shelley discusses the themes of birth and creation, appearance and the necessity of companionship, love and acceptance in her novel Frankenstein. The themes that are explored in Frankenstein are relevant to today’s modern world. Shelley challenges readers by endorsing and confronting attitudes and values in her text through the events, circumstances and outcomes that take place in the novel, thus causing the reader to reflect upon their own lives and in turn the society around them.

In the Romantic novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelly, the selection in chapter five recounting the birth of Dr. Frankenstein’s monster plays a vital role in explaining the relationship between the doctor and his creation. Shelley’s use of literary contrast and Gothic diction eloquently set the scene of Frankenstein’s hard work and ambition coming to life, only to transform his way of thinking about the world forever with its first breath.

Levine’s main argument is that although Frankenstein is a gothic novel, it is not a typical gothic novel with many realistic ideas. It aims to generate terror in the reader like other gothic novels but does not involve the supernatural. The events that Mary Shelley writes out in Frankenstein are not far from ordinary and the commonplace. Levine’s more interesting argument is that Mary Shelley’s use of the Gothic tradition allows her to dip in the imaginative and subjective inner truths that a realistic novel would not allow. For example how the characters reflect or double each other. Also most of the characters represent aspects of Victor Frankenstein

When someone shows an act of kindness towards him, his whole countenance lights up. This is probably because all of his friends and family have died. Walton fears for Frankenstein, as he says, 'Two days passed before he was able to speak and I often feared that his sufferings had deprived him of understanding'. Even without knowing Frankenstein's full story Walton knows he has been through a lot and this makes the reader appreciate this.

Many deem multi-narrative stories a novelty, and difficult to pull off without sounding kitschy or cliché. This is not so in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. The book includes both a framing device (a story within a story) and epistolary narration (a story told through someone reading or hearing it.) Yet, the effect that comes with these strategies of narration is quite different from the boy/girl chapter switch we see so often in modern literature. Each of the three narrators in Frankenstein holds a key role in the telling of this classic tale. The reader would not face the inner turmoil Shelley intended for her readers if even one was excluded.

Nineteen-year-old Mary Shelley didn’t know when she began it that her “ghost story” would become an enduring part of classic literature. Frankenstein is an admirable work simply for its captivating plot. To the careful reader, however, Shelley’s tale offers complex insights into human experience. The reader identifies with all of the major characters and is left to heed or ignore the cautions that their situations provide. Shelley uses the second person narrative style, allusions both to Coleridge’s “Rime of the Ancient Mariner” and the legend of Prometheus, and the symbols of both light and fire to warn against the destructive thirst for forbidden knowledge.

In an ancient Greek mythology, mankind obtains fire through a Greek Titan, named Prometheus. The story begins with Zeus, the leader of the Olympus, sending Prometheus to the mortal world to create mankind with clay and water. While Prometheus working on his own creation, he grew love towards mankind, and sympathized with how little power Zeus wanted mankind to have. Therefore, Prometheus stole fire from Zeus and gave it to mankind. After Zeus acknowledged the theft of fire, he was enraged by the action of Prometheus. Afterwards, Zeus punished his action by chaining him to a rock at Caucasus, where his liver being eaten by an eagle during the day and only recovers at night for eternity (Wikipedia). This myth shared very similar component and structure with Shelley’s Gothic fiction, Frankenstein. Shelley’s Frankenstein was deeply influenced by the Prometheus myth ranging from the history of the title, the action of the main character, and the consequences of performing the action.

The letters set the tone to the novel and help lead up to the story of Dr. Victor Frankenstein and his creature. Walton and Frankenstein have similar stories. They are both motivated and determined to reach their goals. They are both educated and seek companionship because they are lonely. Walton and Frankenstein’s creature are similar as well in that they both seek friendship. They are lost souls and believe that a friend would make their life complete.

Throughout history, the release of literary pieces have contributed drastic changes to humans and storytelling. While dissecting a literary piece, finding a familiar face, line, or plot isn't uncommon. As people are easily influenced, so are the creation of stories. The novel Frankenstein written by Mary Shelley as a whole, observed carefully, presents an intriguing analysis, rooting from stories such as Genesis and Prometheus; revolving around themes of love, knowledge, and. Additionally, when the text is taken into consideration concerning Psychoanalytic criticism, Frankenstein’s creation reveals a deeper source of purpose on his actions, even tracing back to the days his existence began.

Today, we all see Frankenstein as a gothic classic written by Mary Shelley. Though that was not the case during the early 1800s. When Frankenstein, a novel that tells the story of a young man that creates a monster by assembling body parts, was anonymously published, many believed that the author of the novel was Percy Bysshe Shelley rather than his wife Mary Shelley. Mary Shelley, previously Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, was the only daughter of William Godwin and Mary Wollstonecraft, two noted writers (Bloom 8). It is fascinating and interesting how we are able to see how Frankenstein was developed through Shelley’s eyes and how a then controversial novel has transformed into a gothic classic.

To those who have not had the pleasure of reading the novel Frankenstein, the novel is a story of a gifted scientific scholar named Victor Frankenstein whom was fueled by many revolutionary ambitions. One of Frankenstein’s earnest desires is achieved when he cultivates what is later coined a monster. The story sheds light on how difficult it can be for a person to live without a mother and without being completely understood by others - problems Shelley faced in her own life. Furthermore, Shelley uses the necessary tool of Framing (telling of individual stories within a story

Mary Shelley wrote the book Frankenstein sometime in the 1810s. She was born in London in 1797 (Biography). Her mother was an author of prime literary stock who was trying to encourage women to pursue their ideas and strive to earn the status as equals. The Scientific and Industrial Revolutions that were taking place around Mary Shelley certainly influenced her while she was writing the book. The creation of machines and experiments at the time made people wonder what the limit of human technology was.