Mary Shelley's Use Of Illiteracy In Frankenstein

Ever since its publication in 1818, Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, has been deemed a cautionary novel on the consequences of experimenting with life and the dangers of playing God. Shelley expertly focuses on the misery of Victor Frankenstein and the Monster in order to prove her point that playing God will lead to nothing but pain and sorrow. At nineteen years old, Mary Shelley produced a masterpiece that is still used as an example to argue today the negative affects of creating synthetic life. Shelley’s purpose for writing such a novel stems from many of her own life experiences and the influences surrounding her childhood and teen years. She rebelled against the previous writing period, the Enlightenment, and has left a lasting effect even on today’s very science based society. Through the influence of her friends and family, Shelley became a

Little did scientist, Victor Frankenstein know when he took his experiment much too far, spending endless nights, disregarding his family and friends in the quest for perfecting his human like life creation. Frankenstein truly believed that creating life would make him a more powerful and respectable man. He thought that his human like creation would validate him as a person. When this did not happen, Frankenstein felt that he had created a mistake. (232-233) "

In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Victor, a young scientist possesses unbridled ambition and resolutions “as fixed as fate” (Shelly 7) that lead him on a quest for “natural philosophy” (Shelly 27), compelling him to create a being that manifests itself into a monster.

Exploring where one does not belong, results in unforeseeable catastrophic consequences. In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, allusions to John Milton’s Paradise Lost and his depiction of creation are evident, through the characters of Victor Frankenstein and his Creature, as they resemble, yet sharply contrast Adam, Eve, God, and Satan. The complexity of the character’s connections, exemplifies how each has their own varied purposes to defining creation and the outcome of a failed experiment. Victor and his Creature bring life and death, anticipation and lost hope, along with isolation.

Subsequently, Victor Frankenstein ventures into his madness as he strives to animate the dead. Understanding the severity of the consequences, he ignorantly continues his experiment. In a state of unassertiveness Victor Frankenstein declares, “When I found so astonishing a power placed within my hands, I hesitated a long time concerning the manner in which I should employ it. Although I possessed the capacity of bestowing animation [...] I seemed to have lost all soul or sensation but for this one pursuit,” (Shelley, 21). Victor Frankenstein comprehends his capability to create life comparative to a god; yet, as a creator, he also understands the threatening potential. Victor Frankenstein, whereas, is scientifically intrigued to, seeming selfishly, neglectfully create life for his own benefit.

Victor issues futile threats of attack to the creature, curses him, and tells him to go away, but the creature, speaking eloquently, persuades him to accompany him to a fire in a cave of ice, “Be calm! I entreat you to hear me before you give vent to your hatred on my devoted head” (194). Instead of the creature getting his revenge, he keeps calm and talks to Victor to see if they can come to agreement and find some answers the creature has been wondering (why was he abandon by his own creator?). Victor listens to creatures story where he mentions when he was born and realizes that he is alone with no idea how he got to where he is. Creature slowly learns the world with his senses ( this can be proof that the monster has no experience of evil.) After the creature meets the De Lacey family, the poor cottagers who live alone in the woods, he realize they've been low on food because creature has been eating there food but the family didn't know that. When creature realizes he is hurting family by stealing from them he starts helping them physically by gathering food he finds in the woods and helps them out by working at night to clear all the snow. “I found that the youth spent a great part of each day in collecting wood for the family fire, and during the night I often took his tools, the use of which I quickly

The Monster learned about society from the periphery, looking in and without the growth structures and parameters that were traits in Victors’ upbringing. Due to this he does not know the boundaries of correct human behaviour and has not been taught what is socially or morally right and wrong. Instead he has learned it from books such as Milton’s ‘Paradise Lost’ and from his observations of the Delacy family. It is this recognition of his ability to perform intellectual realisations made evident in his reference to Milton “remember, that I am thy creature: I ought to be thy Adam; but I am rather the fallen angel”, that allows Victor to eventually recognise him as a human being and no longer merely a personification of a scientific experiment. This however is overshadowed by his hatred of The Monster for the murders of firstly his brother and causing the death of Justine, but later his wife and best friend Henry. The Monster hopes that by telling Victor of the compassion he has witnessed and heard from his time watching Felix and Safie that Victor may allow a relationship to develop but this has the opposite effect and highlights the fact that because of the secret of The Monster, Victor allowed Justine to die.

Victor Frankenstein made one of the most technological advancements of his time and created life. Victor shows his excitement for his creation when saying, “A new species would bless me as its creator and source; many happy and excellent natures would owe their being to me. No father could claim the gratitude of his child so completely as I should deserve theirs” (Shelley 73). Victor Frankenstein recognized what he was doing at first during his work as a good thing as he thought that he could change humanity with his experiment. His thoughts were to make a being that could surpass others and that could promote the survival to people. He brought parts together to enhance one another such as stem cells to make a superior individual that would bring rise to a new life style. Victor Frankenstein brought something utterly new to the world as he noticed the positives of

Mary Shelley was born into an age that considered itself ‘enlightened’; the society’s dominant discourses operated through the lenses of reason, rationalism and order. The progress of man through scientific endeavour was valued as inherently good and positive. The belief that through the scientific paradigm, man could open up nature’s mysteries for the benefit of the human race and therefore, have the capacity to know and control all aspects of human existence prompted fears and concerns which underpin Shelley’s composition. The qualities and dangers of an unchecked application of science are strongly represented in Frankenstein, through the protagonist Victor Frankenstein, ‘Victor dares to become a creator, but the result is the destruction of those he loves and himself’ 1. His unsuppressed quest for glory, upheld by the Romantic paradigm is conflated with the values of the

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is a story that includes many deeper meanings other than just the original story presented. While it is a story of Victor creating this monster, it also has themes of different human struggles that we experience on a daily basis. It looks at the human ambition to discover education and the human need for love, but also looks at the downfalls of human failures. This story looks at Victor’s creation of Frankenstein as a pursuit of higher knowledge that no human had ever reached, which is basically what we are all doing everyday. However, with every great human success there has to be some failure. In Frankenstein, Victor creates this monster, which no one has ever done before, but the actions of his creation cause turmoil in his life causing him to resent the monster and eventually leading him to his own death. This story is a man who has a great ambition to find a truer meaning to life, but instead learns multiple life lessons from both his successes and his failures.

Ever since its inception in 1818, Mary Shelley’s ‘Frankenstein’ has fueled the imaginations of thousands of readers through its portrayal of conflicted scientist Victor Frankenstein, and his neglected creation — referred to as the Creature in its first appearances, and later called the Monster. Though rich in storytelling, perhaps ‘Frankenstein’s most enduring quality is its wide array of themes which touch upon topics ranging from appearances to free will. It is, however, the themes of life, consciousness, and existence which prevails as the story progresses. In ‘Frankenstein’, Mary Shelley begs the reader to question the nature of Victor’s responsibility to the Creature, and his role as God — or a godlike figure to his Creation; as well as the state of our moral core during infancy until our introduction to society.

During the enlightenment period, many ideas came about pertaining to the balance between nature and science. Mary Shelley, an English writer during this time period, used Gothic and Romantic elements of writing to convey the relation between the natural world and what she saw as the corrupted world of scientific study and industrialization; with large influence from her father who was a political philosopher and her husband, another Romantic poet. In one of Shelley’s most famous works, Frankenstein, an epic battle between man and the supernatural unfolds. Doctor Victor Frankenstein devotes his studies to reviving the dead, and achieves this goal after long seclusion from the outside world. When he finally looks upon his creation, he is appalled by the monstrous wretch he has brought into this world. The Monster ends up alone and is rejected by all mankind, even though he begins as a benevolent and kind being. This novel mainly focuses on the destruction of Victor Frankenstein as well as the Monster, which directly accentuates Mary Shelley’s warning to society. Her warning is that when science conflicts with the laws of the universe and nature, it becomes destructive.

In Mary Shelley’s book, Frankenstein, she tales the tale of what occurs whenever one achieves what one has desired, but is dissatisfied with the results. Shelley utilizes many methods to convey her tale, one of which involves the protagonist Victor Frankenstein and the thing he worked tremendously on to create. The usage of these two characters emphasizes a redundant theme in the story. In the book Frankenstein, there is a recurring exhibition of the tight bond between Dr. Frankenstein and his creation, comparable to that of a mother and a child.

However, Frankenstein soon realizes that if he can “bestow animation upon lifeless matter,” he will have the ability to “renew life where death had apparently devoted the body to corruption;” this discovery is the starting point of his relentless search for glory (Shelley 32). He relishes in the possible fame he will attain once he creates a “new species” that would bless him as “its creator and source,” motivating his frenzied obsession in completing his project (Shelley 32). He would thus become perceived as a kind of God, which is an unnatural goal that defies God’s nature. Nevertheless, to him, the reward that he believes he will receive upon his discovery far outweighs the consequences. He is so absorbed in knowledge to create life as a scientist that he becomes blinded to the potentially dire consequences of his actions. By eating the forbidden fruit of knowledge, much like how Eve in the Garden of Eden was tempted by Satan, “the angel’s arm bared to drive [Victor] from all hope,” his prideful actions affect him and his loved ones (Shelley 139). In fact, the story of Adam and Eve is portrayed in reverse by Victor

The human being is distinguished among any other species for his ability to understand the world around him. From this ability, the human being has created the study of the world in different ways through a tool called “science”. Science is nothing more than the attempt to understand the world surrounding us using methods such as observation and experimentation. Furthermore, it has produced many revolutionary outcomes in our society. Every period of history comes with new discoveries that simplifies our comprehension of the universe. A clear proof of this is “Frankenstein”. A novel written by Mary Shelley that tells the story of a man called Victor Frankenstein who is first passionate with natural philosophy. But because there have been new discoveries during this period, the branch of natural philosophy is not trusted anymore; therefore, Frankenstein finds himself isolated in a belief that is not valid anymore. This situation later encourages him to find a company that would share the same pleasures that he has, so he decides to create a man just like him that would serve as a good company. “Frankenstein” has created many perspectives in the readers minds along history and with it many criticisms that discuss every aspect of the story. “Frankenstein and Radical Science” by Marilyn Butler addresses the impacts and adaptations of the novel. She emphasizes her work on the inspirations behind the novel by important influences in Shelley’s life. This novel shows why knowledge