Of The Unknown In H. P. Lovecraft's The Shadow Of Innsmouth

“I don't even know what I was running for - I guess I just felt like it” (Salinger, J.D.). With this ideal in mind, man’s desire to flee society appears inherent because of his inability to associate with his own kind. Indeed, man’s self-deception advocates alienation so that he feels disconnected, rejected, and out of control. Consequently, scientific breakthroughs, tourism, myth and immersion in nature have led unassuming prey to fall victim to self-deceit in hope of attaining aspiration. This blind self-alienation is seen attacking the victims of Ms. Mary Shelley’s horror novel, Frankenstein, which exhibits characteristics typical of gothic fiction, tragedy and science fiction genres. Undoubtedly, through the incessant and astute use of

Thesis Statement: Ambition and the quest for knowledge is a fatal flaw in the characters of Victor Frankenstein, Robert Walton, and the creature.

In the gothic novel Frankenstein, Mary Shelley weaves an intricate web of allusions through her characters’ expedient desires for knowledge. Both the actions of Frankenstein, as well as his monster allude to John Milton’s Paradise Lost. Book eight of Milton’s story relates the tale of Satan’s temptation and Eve’s fateful hunger for knowledge. The infamous Fall of Adam and Eve introduced the knowledge of good and evil into a previously pristine world.

“ People fear what they do not understand. ” In the original 1888 edition of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, this saying is excessively shown throughout the journey of Frankenstein himself and his creation known as “ the creature.” Fear is spreaded in this famous, gothic novel because the epitome of society is lacked by both the creator and the creation, leading to much misunderstanding with who is the real monster. In this novel, the true monster is society because the ideals indirectly presented led Frankenstein to abhor and abandon the creature, the ultimate isolation of both, and the delirious vengeance developed by the two.

The short story “The Rats in the Wall” by Lovecraft, told in first person narrative, gives the reader a strong sense of his feelings and emotions. The narrator is the last of his family lineage, having lost his father, wife, and son. This loss plays and influences the horrifying events throughout the story.

Since we were children, we’ve been told that ‘curiosity killed the cat.’ We’ve been warned that being inquisitive and asking questions is a good thing for extending our knowledge, but being too nosey can lead to our downfall. This idea is demonstrated throughout Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Frankenstein is the classic tale of how one man’s thirst for knowledge is so overwhelming that he decides to play God and mess with forces of nature that are not meant to be messed with, leading to his and his loved one’s untimely demise. The novel Frankenstein strongly exhibits how curiosity can destroy man and his morale and how being too inquisitive can make a monster out of anyone.

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.

Frankenstein, by Mary Shelly, raises important questions as to how the theme of knowledge helps to explain the story. The main focus of Frankenstein is the power of knowledge and how dangerous it can be. This power is portrayed in the main characters of the novel: Victor Frankenstein and the monster. The theme of knowledge helps to answer the question as to why Victor decides to tell Walton his secret. Both of these characters reveal a passion of discovery and intellect, which Victor has made his past and Walton only his future. Their obsessions of knowledge are mirrored in one another through the journeys they take until their paths cross. Finally, the question of the concluding effect of the conversation between Walton and the creature

The Lovecraft Bar in Portland, Oregon is a tribute to the prolific horror fiction author H.P. Lovecraft. This bar provides a whole world of Lovecraft horror experience and much more. True to its theme, the walls of the horror themed dance bar are painted jet black with severed doll heads and skeletons poking out. The place is decorated with an eight foot tall statue of Cthulhu- a creepy character created by Lovecraft along with several other spooky statues and artworks. Additionally, it hosts a number of themed parties, live music, tarot reading, reading by authors

Jones, Mark. “Tentacles and Teeth: The Lovecraftian Being in Popular Culture.” New Critical Essays on H.P. Lovecraft (2013) 227-248. Print.

“Since Victor’s story is a story of creation, murder, investigation, and pursuit, Frankenstein is ultimately a book about our pursuit of self-discovery, about the knowledge of the monster within us” (Griffith 2).

Although there are many subgenres of horror fiction, including bizarro, fantasy, surrealism, and magic realism, there are certain aspects that a story must encompass to be considered, “weird.” Magic realism is a branch of fiction that is often mistaken to be a work of the, “weird.” What differentiates the two genres explicitly include the authors concentration on setting and overall atmosphere, and the embodiment of themes that disrupt the readers perception of time, space, and their natural world. “The Werewolf,” by Angela Carter exhibits strong characteristics of magic realism, while H.F. Arnold’s, “The Night Wire,” is a genuine work of, “weird,” fiction.

The familiar unveils its association with the unfamiliar. M.R. James argues that the rooting of a story in the common world of habits and timetables would aid the process of sympathetic identification between the reader and the haunted one. This rapport was one more of the genre’s correlations, and the key to its power to frighten.

In “The Call of Cthulhu,” H.P. Lovecraft makes use of a more psychological horror path, which is a major aspect of Lovecraftian horror. Psychological horror uses more suspense build up and shock than blood and gore. H.P. Lovecraft accomplishes this by using a buildup of suspense, not revealing the ‘monster’ till the end while hinting at what the ‘monster’ is throughout the story. H.P. Lovecraft writes the main character following his great uncle's manuscript and piecing together the puzzle of “the Great Ones.” H.P. Lovecraft also creates the sense of suspense by making the main character’s inner dialogue contain the main characters emotions and thoughts of suspect. Another example of the use of psychological horror is when Henry Anthony Wilcox dreams of “the Great Ones,” and experiences a period of mental breakdown that physicians could not identify. Once Henry Anthony Wilcox came out of the episode he remembered nothing, creating a shock factor, and making the reader ask “how did that happen?”

Frequently, literature is intended to convey a significant idea or theme to it 's readers regarding events that occur in our everyday existence. Occasionally these ideas appear in the context of straightforward characterization, but in some literatures, such as Marry Shelley 's Frankenstein, these themes come to us in the guise of monsters, goliaths, dragons, gods, and myriads of fantasy-like components that express meaning in ways impossible within the boundaries of reality. Frankenstein came about when the famous romantic poet, Lord Byron, challenged Mary Godwin, Percy Shelley, and a few others to write a ghost story to entertain them from the horrid weather that engulfed Lord Byron 's Swiss villa one night.