Summer Reading Assignment: Shelley's Frankenstein

made his decisions justified because it did not give anyone a chance to find out

Mary Shelley introduces the story of Frankenstein with an exchange of one-way letters from Walton to his sister. In these letters, Shelley introduces the main themes of the novel via the character of Walton and his letters, in that he presents many of the themes later explored in ‘Frankenstein’ such as thirst for knowledge and power, isolation and nature, in his own story. These opening letters thus have an impact on the reader as they will influence their view of the rest of the novel in ways that will bring them to ask themselves important questions valid for any are ad society, and bring them some understanding of what is to come next in the novel.

Thesis Statement: In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, the creature’s identity as a monster is due to societal rejection, isolation, and misinterpretation.

Alienation is a product of society’s inherently discriminatory bias, catalyzed by our fear of the unknown in the realm of interpersonal conduct. Mary Shelley, in her novel, Frankenstein, dissects society’s unmerited demonization of individuals who defy—voluntarily or involuntarily—conventional norms. Furthermore, through her detailed parallel development of Frankenstein and his monster, Shelley personifies the tendency to alienate on the basis of physical deformity, thereby illustrating the role of the visual in the obfuscation of morality.

The pressures that Frankenstein experiences coming from society force him to continue his strenuous work of making the creature, which eventually deprives him from his morals. Shelley’s changes in point of view allows the reader to fully comprehend the heartlessness of

Ambition and the thirst for knowledge leads Victor to fabricate the Creature. By doing so, he defies nature, fate, and destiny. Victor goes against the natural realm and creates life, rebelling against nature. As Victor tediously worked on his creation, he lost sight of nature, “Winter, spring, and summer passed away during my labours; but I did not watch the blossom or the expanding leaves- sights which before always

In Mary Shelley’s gothic novel, Frankenstein, three different positions are portrayed in the story of Victor Frankenstein’s creation. Shelley presents the story through letters that Robert Walton writes to his sister as he is hearing the retelling of the story from Frankenstein himself. While discovering Frankenstein’s and the Creature’s backstories, the reader witnesses the inevitable nature of man and the crucial effects of one’s environment; nurture is a problematic component in the Creature’s life while Victor’s inevitable nature overrides his upbringing.

Mary Shelley used this poem to show the freedom of one's future and the change(s) that will come with it. The poem also mentions one little thing such as a dream or a “wandering thought” can ruin a bigger idea. In the story, it was recently addressed that before the poem, “If our impulses were confined to hunger, thirst, and desire, we might be nearly free”. This passage can be implying that the non-essential things in life are the things that poison us or make us change. The poem’s purpose in this part of the book is to amplify the speaker's last words of the paragraph that state, “...we are moved by every wind that blows and a chance word or scene that word may convey to us.”. It makes the message of “things will change” very clear to the

In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, most people view the monster created by Frankenstein in his attempts to bring inanimate objects to life as the villain; after all, he kills numerous people in cold blood. However, the monster is much more than a static, evil character; he is initially compassionate and has good intentions and kills people out of anger and resentment from the fact that he will never fit in to society. The monster’s character arc in the novel emphasizes two important themes: first, that people are products of society, and second, that society’s emphasis on outward appearance is highly detrimental.

Q: “Examine the effect of the epistolary form of writing throughout the novel Frankenstein. Do you think the epistolary novel form of writing are an effective form of telling the story? How does the epistolary form affect plot development and character development?”

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.

Over two centuries ago, Mary Shelley created a gruesome tale of the horrific ramifications that result when man over steps his bounds and manipulates nature. In her classic tale, Frankenstein, Shelley weaves together the terrifying implications of a young scientist playing God and creating life, only to be haunted for the duration of his life by the monster of his own sordid creation. Reading Shelley in the context of present technologically advanced times, her tale of monstrous creation provides a very gruesome caution. For today, it is not merely a human being the sciences are lusting blindly to bring to life, as was the deranged quest of Victor Frankenstein, but rather to

    In any novel the author is free to create and shape their characters in whatever way they see fit. In Frankenstein, Shelley does an excellent job of shaping her characters, be it however minute their part in the story, so that the reader gets a clear picture of Shelley's creations. It seems that each character in Shelley's Frankenstein is created by Shelley to give the reader a certain impression of the character. By doing this Shelley creates the characters the way she wants us to see them. She tells us certain things about them and gives them certain traits so that they will fit into the story the way she wants them to. In particular I will examine the characters of the

The novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, is a story about how important having a family is to some, but also judging someone based on their appearance. Victor Frankenstein starts the novel by describing his childhood with his loving and supportive family. Family is very important to him because he did not have many friends growing up. While Frankenstein is away at school he starts to become very depressed and you see his attitude towards his family and his life change. Being away at school, he creates a “monster” by using different pieces of corpses and that becomes the only thing that matters to him until he sees how hideous it is. He immediately hates his creation just because of how he looks. Frankenstein begins to abandon everyone and thing in his life because of his obsession with the idea of glory and science, causing the novel to go from Romanticism to Gothic. The “monster” finds a family living in a cottage, by watching all winter he learns how a family should love and accept others. By seeing this, Frankenstein’s creations understand what was taken from him, and will do whatever he has to do to have a family of his own.

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is a literary classic that tells a story of a young scientist Victor Frankenstein who created a monster that tries to live in society but is rejected. The monster will later seek revenge by going after his creator. In this essay I will be evaluating two critiques about the novel. Beginning with Professor Naomi Hetherington’s critique and the second critique written by Professor Sherry Ginn.