Porphyria's Lover And Frankenstein

Obsession has been used as a controversial tool in literature for many years. It provokes strong feelings in people because of the different ways obsession can take form, whether it be soft and affectionate, or aggressive and violent. Often, the targets of obsession are females. In The Great Gatsby, The Virgin Suicides, Lolita and Fear, there are men who obsess over a female character. These female characters are all shown to be powerless, whether it be at the hands of their obsessor or because of other factors in their lives.

Many people have obsessions, but most do not take it to the extremes that they kill because of it. Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Birthmark” represents the blindness that happens when someone takes an obsession to the extreme and ignores the consequences of inept actions that result in deadly consequences. Aylmer, the husband, becomes obsessed with a “crimson birthmark” shaped like a small hand that is on the cheek of Georgiana, the wife. Alymer view the birthmark as a stain to his sensibilities and views on what is a “perfect” form based on his egotistic view of his wife. Unfortunately, his decent into madness sucks up even his wife into a mucky pool full of fear and self-loathing. She does this all just to please her husband, which ultimately results in her death. More then once I have heard that obsessed people are evil. Obsession by itself does not make a person evil. Obsession to the point that safety and life are put at risk is

Finally,the most prominent case of obsession we see is Albert's obsession with bees.Since Albert was a child he has always gotten along with bees, so much that he devoted his entire life to them. While his passion led him to a successful job in selling honey, and providing for his family; his confessions towards the end of the story proved to be taking his passion to the extreme. “Still and Burdett found that a male rat with Hitherto was unable to breed until it was fed Royal Jelly, and I figured if it worked for a lousy rat there is no reason it shouldn't work for Albert Taylor.” (Rahl 12). This confession states that he has been consuming Royal Jelly for the past year, and that’s what has made him fertile. His fertility is not what is alarming though; it is the fact he doesn’t mind that the side effects have turned him into a bee. This shows that his obsession with bees was so overbearing that it consumed him. But his obsession does not stop there. Now that he is a bee, he is glorified to see that the Royal Jelly is turning his baby into a bee, just like him. After Mabel’s horrifying realization that her baby was nothing more than a comatose grub, she asks Albert to cover her up. Albert replies. “Why don't you cover it up, Mabel?” he said. “We don't want our little queen getting cold.” (Rahl 13). I can imagine Mabel must of felt she was a living a nightmare, realizing her husband

Victor’s first possessive experience with a relationship imprinted-how his next relationships throughout his life would go. After going away to school, Victor felt quite isolated and longed for a friend or an equal. He obsessed over the thought of possessing an equal to the point of him bringing a creature to life. He dedicated all of his energy and time into creating the ultimate equal who was beautiful and as intelligent as he, but immediately after the creature came to life, Victor was disgusted: “I felt the bitterness of disappointment; dreams that had been my food and pleasant rest for so long a space were now become a hell to me” (Shelley, 59,60). Drawing back to the fact Victor’s family is privileged, I believe the

    The relationship between Humbert Humbert and Lolita is no doubt a unique one. Many people who read the novel argue that it is based on "lust", but others say that Humbert really is in "love" with Lolita. However, there is some astounding evidence that Humbert has an obsessional-compulsive disorder with Lolita. The obsession is clearly illustrated when Humbert's actions and behavior are compared to the experts' definitions and descriptions of obsession. In many passages, Humbert displays obsessional tendencies through his descriptive word choice and his controlling personality. Many people are obsessive, so this is not an alien subject. We see it everyday in the entertainment industry as well as in

Victor tells the reader, “I was seized by remorse and the sense of guilt, which hurried me away to a hell of intense tortures.” (NEED CITATION) Because of this overpowering guilt and depression, Victor even contemplates suicide; saying, “I was tempted to plunge into the silent lake, that the waters might close over me and my calamities forever.” (81). But throughout all of his suffering, Victor found hope and love in Elizabeth. In one of the letters he wrote to her, he proclaims, “I fear, my beloved girl, little happiness remains for us on earth; yet all that I may one day enjoy is centered in you.” (168). In this statement of love, Victor summarizes what he has to live for. His happiness does not remain in science, friendships, or family; but resides in his future with Elizabeth. He later talks about the last moments of his life during which he enjoyed the genuine feeling of happiness, his wedding. While alive, Elizabeth had been his greatest lover, encouraging him through all of his darkest valleys. And even in her passing, the vengeance of her death consumes Victor’s mind, dedicating his life to kill the horrific Monster which he had created.

whether it was the outward substance of things or the inner spirit of nature and the mysterious soul of a man that occupied me, still my inquiries were directed to the metaphysical, or in it highest sense, the secrets of the world.” (23) Victor has said, this quote shows Victor’s deep desire to learn about all the secrets the world may have. This is the when Victor realizes what he would like to dedicate his life’s work to. Victor ignores both his social life, and his health. He focuses solely on discovering the secrets nature holds. Victor’s obsession with this consumes all his time thus destroying relationships he had. This shows that Victor no longer holds his friends or family close, but instead he pushes them aside to focus on what he feels is more important. Victor speaks of all the countless nights and days he has spent, and how he is tired. Victor had stopped mailing Elizabeth, and she grows worried all due to his search for knowledge. Later on in the story Victor’s work comes alive. He creates a monster, and from this point on nothing will be the same between him and his

An aphorist, Mason Cooley, once said, “Cure for an obsession: get another one”. This quote can be qualified by humans and the changes in their passions. Edith Wharton’s Ethan Frome weaves a tale with human-like characters and their obsessions in the short story. As a result, the novella can be used to qualify the quote because the characters would act in a similar way as humans. Both the quote and story have the theme of obsession. In both, an individual cures their obsessions by getting another one. However, an individual in “Ethan Frome” could only cure their obsession by having one with larger value rather than another one. Therefore, the cure for an obsession, often shown in humans, is to have a more significant one, using Ethan Frome as

He tells of the void he feels in his soul. He tells of the bitter grief one experiences after the death of loved one and what it feels like to no longer see them and hear their voice. Mary Shelley illustrates that this life is not the end, but there is another life where loved ones will be seen. Victor’s mother is demonstrating how special Elizabeth is to her and that she wants her to take care of the family and to someday marry Victor. Later in the novel, Victor leaves for school. Victor’s father tells him, “I know that while you are pleased with yourself, you will think of us with affection, and we shall hear regularly from you. You must pardon me if I regard any interruption in your correspondence as a proof that your other duties are equally neglected”(33). After, Victor leaves for school to begin his studies he becomes self-absorbed in his work. Family is very important to Victor’s father. Victor realizes that he has become too involved in his studies and knows that it is unhealthy to behave in such a way. However, he does not want to quit and begins to justify his actions. He suggests that if others had given up, then history could have been altered. Victor feels isolated and lonely. He thinks of his family and how disappointed they are that they have not heard from him. Shelly uses this quote to emphasize the importance of human relationships and how important they are to a person’s well-being. The theme of human

Victor experiences alienation throughout the entirety of his life. From his childhood and family, to his scientific work and society, he chooses isolation. Victor was an only child in a ‘perfect’ family. He acquires an attraction to science and begins to educate himself. Victor tells of his past to Walton, “I was, to a great degree, self-taught with regard to my favorite studies. My father was not scientific, and I was left to struggle with a child’s blindness, added to a student’s thirst for knowledge” (Shelley 26). To begin his scientific studies, Victor leaves his family. He hardly has any contact with his family, and his isolation from them seems to have no effect on him at all. He decides when to have contact with his family at his discretion.

Obsession is in everything. Obsession occurs in every living human to ever walk this earth. Everybody has feelings and actions that are triggered by an intense moment and these intense moments can cause people’s feelings to go in a flux. This flux could then affect both the people they care about around them and themselves. And sometimes holding this obsession leads to a bigger problem. Obsession is difficult to contain yet we see it every day, fiction or not.

The Dark Romantic texts “The Black Cat” by Edgar Allan Poe and “The Birthmark” by Nathaniel Hawthorne are similar and different in many ways. The similarities of the two pieces are very plentiful. To begin, obsession is a supernatural force that has taken over the main characters in each piece. The narrator in “The Black Cat” is on death row and is trying to rid the guilt he has accumulated through his wrongful acts. He has become obsessed over these actions and he says, “these events have terrified-have tortured- have destroyed me” (Poe 3). They have taken up so much of his thoughts that he no longers thinks of anything else. This similar obsession of it taking over the mind is also present in “The Birthmark”. Aylmer is obsessing over his wife’s birthmark. Thinking to himself, “At all the seasons which should have been their happiest, he invariably...reverted to this one disastrous topic” (Hawthorne 4). Nature is beautifully changing which should bring joy to Aylmer, but all that he can think about it the mark upon her face. Similarly to the narrator in the previous text, the object of Aylmer’s obsession fills his mind and becomes the only thing that he thinks about. Also featured in both pieces is the inability to distinguish fantasy and reality. The narrator in the first text cannot tell the difference between his two selves. He described the feeling as, “a demon instantly possessed me. I knew myself no longer. My original soul seemed, at once, to take its flight from my

It not only threatens, but also breaks through. Betrayed by love once in her life, she nevertheless seeks it in the effort to fill the lonely void; thus, her promiscuity. But to adhere to her tradition and her sense of herself as a lady, she cannot face this sensual part of herself. She associates it with the animalism of Stanley's lovemaking and terms it “brutal desire”. She feels guilt and a sense of sin when she does surrender to it, and yet she does, out of intense loneliness. By viewing sensuality as brutal desire she is able to disassociate it from what she feels is her true self, but only at the price of an intense inner conflict. Since she cannot integrate these conflicting elements of desire and gentility, she tries to reject the one, desire, and live solely by the other. Desperately seeking a haven she looks increasingly to fantasy. Taking refuge in tinsel, fine clothes, and rhinestones, and the illusion that a beau is available whenever she wants him, she seeks tenderness and beauty in a world of her own making.

The poem Porphyria's Lover written by Robert Browning is a dramatic monologue told in first person. The title is ironic, making the reader think the poem will be about two happy lovers. Although the poem is, in fact, about two lovers, we learn that Porphyria's lover is psychotic and the ending reflects this. The poem ends with the narrator murdering Porphyria with her own hair and does it seemingly easy. He doesn’t change his tone when speaking of the murder, making the reader do a double-take when he/she first reads it.

Notable French philosopher and writer Michel de Montaigne is credited with having written in his first edition of The Complete Essays (1580) that: “Obsession is the wellspring of genius and madness” (Cotton, Charles, translator. Gutenberg.org). This quotation seemingly implies that the state of obsession is one of duality. In one regard, while an individual’s intense focus or dedication may support their exposure to exceptional creative powers and personal prosperity, by definition, obsession can also inversely enable the “persistent disruptions” of the body and mind (OED). Specifically, in both Neil Gaiman’s Sandman: Preludes and Nocturnes (1988), and Frank Miller’s Batman: The Dark Knight Returns (1986), the texts explore this destructive