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Nature In Frankenstein

Decent Essays

Through literary history, it is evident that nature is often used as a symbolic representation of the speaker’s or characters’ personal issues present in a text. For instance, “Macbeth,” William Shakespeare’s tragic play penned during the Elizabethan time period, employs use of this literary technique in reflecting the mood and human emotion of the story through nature-related events. Likewise, Mary Shelley’s Gothic-Romanticist movement novel “Frankenstein,” uses the natural setting as a reflective depiction of her protagonist’s mental state. Similarly, nature as a symbol for hidden emotions is reflected in the post-modernist poetical work of Sylvia Plath. Specifically, in Sylvia Plath’s “I Am Vertical,” the author’s unconscious anxieties are …show more content…

Firstly, Plath is unable to find grounding in her life; which is symbolized through her expression of a tree’s roots, stating in her lines of poetic pose “I am not a tree with my roots in the soil” (Plath 2). The roots of a tree are what anchor the plant into the soil, and aid in keeping the sapling secure in the ground. Thus, Plath’s statement involving the absence of these roots is a symbolic gesture of her feelings of insecurity and difficulties in finding a sense of secure establishment in her life. Subsequently, the lack of such roots marks Plath as weak and uncertain, feelings she again represents through the use of tree symbolism. She suggests a contrast between her and the trees, stating “compared with me, a tree is immortal” (Plath 8) in her poem “I Am Vertical.” Trees, due to their extension of deep, secure roots, often appear immortal in the face of conflict, standing strong against harsh weathering or other violent events. In contrast, Plath lacks her own down-reaching roots, and thus, lacking a sense of security, she is weak and wavering against the conflict she endures in her life, not at all appearing immortal like the trees she so admires. Finally, it is as a result of these characteristics that Plath …show more content…

Primarily, flowers embody Plath’s yearning for the attention which comes as a result of being physically attractive, symbolized as she cries “Nor am I the beauty of a garden bed/Attracting my shares of Ahs and spectacularly painted” (Plath 6). Clearly, Plath does not feel that her appearance characterizes traditional beauty, yet she wishes she fit such a characterization so that she could attract attention and praise, as does a garden bed. Likewise, Plath’s wish for beauty, and consequent attention, leads into her second line concerning flowers where she writes “And a flower head not tall, but more startling” (Plath 9). Here, she again reveals her desire for physical beauty and the attention such characteristics would bring, as she suggests that she is not astonishing or stunning as is a flower head. Finally, Plath’s want for the confidence that would come as a result of garnering attention for her beauty is directly acknowledged with her clear statement desiring the audacity of a flower. She confesses clearly “…I want the…other’s [the flower’s] daring” (Plath 10). In longing for the fearlessness and adventurous characteristics of a flower, Plath ultimately reveals her want for self-confidence; a confidence she

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