The Hospital Monologue

Frankenstein, written by Mary Shelley, explores the theme of the pursuit of knowledge and scientific discovery through the main characters; Victor Frankenstein, the Creature and Robert Walton. This pursuit of knowledge drives the plot of the novel, leading Victor to create the Creature in his attempt to break down the mortal barriers that surround him and unlock the secret of life. Robert Walton’s quest for discovery leads him to the North Pole, far beyond the reach of Humans at that time. Ultimately Victor’s thirst for knowledge and scientific discovery did him more harm than good with Victor’s hatred of his creation driving him to death. Frankenstein’s message to the modern is age is simply put as “humans should not meddle in the business of the gods”. Mary Shelley’s is using Frankenstein and the actions of the characters in the novel to warn us that although we have the technology to for example, create a human being, some things are better left to nature. In our quest for knowledge we can do ourselves more harm than good. Through her novel Shelley tells us that on our path of scientific discovery there are some trails better left unexplored.

Mary Shelly's "Frankenstein" narrates a story about a scientist, Victor Frankenstein, and his creation of a monster set apart from all worldly creatures. Frankenstein's creation parallels Milton's "Paradise Lost" and God's creation of man; Victor Frankenstein is symbolic of God and the monster is symbolic of Adam. The parallel emphasizes the moral limitations of mankind through Victor Frankenstein and the disjunction and correlation with "Paradise Lost". Shelly links the two stories together through Victor's creation of the monster and his "fall" from humanity which I will focus on initially. More importantly, the main divergence of the two works lies in the representation of God in "Paradise Lost" and Victor in "Frankenstein". Both the

Mary Shelley expresses various ethical issues by creating a mythical monster called Frankenstein. There is some controversy on how Mary Shelley defines human nature in the novel, there are many features of the way humans react in situations. Shelley uses a relationship between morality and science, she brings the two subjects together when writing Frankenstein, and she shows the amount of controversy with the advancement of science. There are said to be some limits to the scientific inquiry that could have restrained the quantity of scientific implications that Mary Shelley was able to make, along with the types of scientific restraints. Mary Shelley wrote this classic novel in such a way that it depicted some amounts foreshadowing of the

Frankenstein, Or the Modern Prometheus written by Mary Wolfenstein Shelley(1797-1851), is a classical novel that is nothing short of legendary. Born out of a leisurely cabin visit, Mary Shelley crafted one of the hallmark novels of the English Romantic period. Set in the gothic, science fiction genre, Frankenstein tells the tale of scientist Victor Frankenstein creating a monster that wreaks havoc over his world. What is on the surface just a spooky book, actually delves in the time tested narrative of creator vs creation. In this particular situation, it begs the question; Is Frankenstein(creator) good or bad? The answer is straight-forward and absolute. Frankenstein is bad due to his various displays of foolishness, selfishness and irresponsibility.

Mary Shelley uses the creation of the monster to show the power of Frankenstein. Frankenstein is a scientist and the

Mary Shelly wrote Frankenstein in 1816 when she was just 20 years old. Even at a young age, she was able to craft what is considered the first science fiction novel. At this time of her writing, a scientific revolution was occurring and with it came advances in topics like radiation and atomic theory. With this rapid change in science and human understanding, Shelly chose to write a story as plea against unorthodox scientific experiments. She portrays this idea with the use of the characters Victor Frankenstein and the monster he created. Through her use of these characters, as well as her use of allusions from religious texts and other literary works, she is able further her argument against untraditional science.

Appeals are present in the novel. Throughout the novel, there are many characters but the main important characters are victor Frankenstein, the creature. Victor Frankenstein is a scientist who knows everything about scientific field, who wants to prove that he is a great scientist. Then, tries to create life but instead created a monster. Later on the monster started killing people. The monster killed victor brother because the monster wanted someone to love him. Then, he killed victor’s wife, and left him alone with misery. Once, victor died the monster end up being alone again. Mary Shelly uses imagery, metaphor, and personification to prove that loneliness could lead to tragedy in life but in the novel it also proves that satisfaction is not found by revenge, and beauty and appearance allows more acceptance in the society.

The God Façade: A Look into Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and The Dangers of Playing God.

Playing God is a role that no man should ever take upon themselves. Many conflicts may arise and we may never know where to draw the line between the human world and scientific discoveries. In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, the main character decides to act as God and creates a being that serves as tragic figure and functions as an instrument of unintentional suffering to others. The novel is about a man's quest for acceptance and shows the potential destruction people may cause while trying to find their place in the world.

Mary, the patient the study focuses on (surname withheld to uphold confidentiality), was chosen due to the writers involvement throughout the duration of her stay in hospital. The writer met Mary prior to her operation in theatre and was present for the duration of her operation. When Mary was admitted to ward L4 the writer was directly involved in Mary's care and discharge.

Mary Shelly uses a number of literary allusions in her novel. She uses the allusion of Prometheus, a created man in Greek mythology. He stole fire from Zeus to give fire to a man, much as acting like a God. As in Frankenstein whole book revolves around bringing or giving back a life. As Victor Frankenstein had brought a grotesque monster to life and suffers for it like Prometheus. Mary Shelly used the allusion of “Rime of Ancient Mariner,” as the mariner brought curse upon himself and everyone else. In Frankenstein, Victor brought a tragedy which he could’ve avoided. Last, but not least, Mary Shelly had also given hints of “Paradise Lost.” The remarks of Frankenstein goes back to Adam and Eve, the garden incident.

You know I've always felt I needed to live vicariously though others because I didn't like my own life until I met you, then I was to screwed up to know you'd sit yourself and everything in front of me a couple of times. Thinking I’d need to live through others to get to you.

Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein cannot merely be read as a literary work of the early 19th century. It represents the workings of young Shelley's mind. Further, it represents the vast scientific discoveries of the time, combined with Mary Shelley's intuitive perception of science. She views science as a powerful entity, but also recognizes the dangers if uncontrolled. Shelley demonstrates this fear in the book as science drives Victor Frankenstein to create his monster. In the end, it is also his use of science that inevitably becomes his demise.

The way religion is used in the novel “Frankenstein” by Mary Shelly is quite the same as how it is used in Dracula, but in a more opposite way. Frankenstein is filled with aspects of the changing society of it place. England at the beginning of the industrial revolution was a time of scientific discovery, and this lead to disagreements about the relationship between science and religion. Many over the years have argued that even trying to understand the secrets of god’s creation is dangerously close to trying to fill god’s position. Science was for many years, and to an extent still is viewed as an interpretation of life to religion, and scientists were blamed at time for “playing god” and trying to go beyond human limitations. As Victor begins to take a less satisfied view of science after his monster has been responsible for two deaths he curses it “the first hapless victims to unhallowed arts” (Shelly 40). The guilt has brought in him a new religious conviction. As well as new and complex science, Shelly plays on the reader’s fear of the unknown. This manipulation of the ignorance of the audience in regards to the setting is a reminder of Dracula. The influence of religion is

Frankenstein was written two hundred years ago by Mary Shelly when she was eighteen years old. A science fiction novel but often read as a gothic horror story and ominous warning about the ramifications exceeding boundaries of science. The main character, Victor Frankenstein, at a young age has been fascinated by life and death and classical experiments of the alchemists, thus creating his first subject the Monster. Frankenstein epitomized the climatic change in the study of science during the eighteenth century. The time is characterized by important experimentations and rise of scholars such Faraday, Dalton, and Benjamin Franklin. There were signs in the novel that it was influenced by scientific discovery of our modern understanding of electricity. Shelly attempted to uncover the limits to which science can surpass morals. Frankenstein who attempted to attain powers through science by his display of creation of life and death, has forbidden limitations and unforgiving ramifications.