The Importance Of Light And Life In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is ‘one of the pioneering works of modern science fiction’, and is also a frightening story that speaks to the ‘mysterious fears of our nature’. Mary Shelley mocks the idea of “playing God”, the idea that came from the Greek myth of Prometheus, of the Greek titan who stole Zeus’ gift of life. Both the story of Frankenstein and Prometheus reveal the dark side of human nature and the dangerous effects of creating artificial life. Frankenstein reveals the shocking reality of the consequences to prejudging someone. The creature’s first-person narration reveals to us his humanity, and his want to be accepted by others even though he is different. We are shown that this ‘monster’ is a ‘creature’ and more of a human

In the novel, Frankenstein, written by Mary Shelly, there are three different narrators throughout the whole book. This is important because we get 3 different looks into the same story.  The three perspectives allow us to form our own opinions about the story. Having three perspectives helps the reader understand everything a whole lot more because they get everyone’s story and side. Shelly also uses three different narrators for the reader to be able to step in each character’s shoes. Throughout the book, the reader is able to take sides with a certain character because the author used a unique writing style.

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein is subtitled "The Modern Prometheus", and rightfully so. Prometheus, the Titan of Greek mythology that created man and gave them fire, is a fitting symbol for Victor Frankenstein, the man who created a "monster" and gave him life. The most obvious aspect of the similarity between Frankenstein and the Prometheus myth is the underlying theme - both stories deal with ill-fated actions with tragic consequences. The classic Prometheus stories, as told by Aeschylus, Percy Bysshe Shelley and summarized by Edith Hamilton, contain symbolic and thematic elements that closely parallel Mary Shelley's "modern Prometheus."

To start, the creation story stands out as the fall from innocence as Adam and Eve are created and indulge in the forbidden fruit. However, in Shelley’s version, a monster is created without a partner, and the reader can watch corruption take over the beast. Here, irony creates depth in the story, and the reader can

Frankenstein is characterised as the modern Prometheus in the subtitle of his novel but Prometheus brought fire and light (civilisation) to his creation and in doing so, turned his back against the gods. He suffered for his sacrifice by being chained to a rock and had his liver eaten by an eagle. For Prometheus and his creation fire was a blessing and enabled humanity to develop and break free of the gods. Like Prometheus, Frankenstein "steals from heaven in attempting to Œpour a torrent of light into our dark world'" (Shelley in Boyd 1984, p. 24) and is punished because of his actions. Shelley also contrasts Frankenstein with the Promethean myth. Her Prometheus brings only suffering into the world, his creation suffers, his family suffers and ultimately, he suffers. Frankenstein's

In order to illustrate the main theme of her novel "Frankenstein", Mary Shelly draws strongly on the myth of Prometheus, as the subtitle The Modern Prometheus indicates. Maurice Hindle, in his critical study of the novel, suggests, "the primary theme of Frankenstein is what happens to human sympathies and relationships when men seek obsessively to satisfy their Promethean longings to "conquer the unknown" - supposedly in the service of their fellow-humans". This assertion is discussed by first describing the Promethean connection. Thereafter, the two forms of the myth, Prometheus the fire-stealer and Prometheus the life-giver are reviewed in the context of Shelly's use of the myth in her novel

In Frankenstein, written by Mary Shelley, the creation, made from scraps of corpses, was built by Victor Frankenstein, a man fascinated and obsessed with the knowledge of life. Following the creation’s rouse, Victor immediately abandons him with no desire on keeping or teaching his new being. Because of his lack of nourishment and direction “growing up”, the creation goes through a process of self-deception. He endures a period of deceit by believing that he is a normal human being like everyone around him. But as time progresses, he learns to accept how he is alone in this world and disconnected with everyone. Because of the creation’s lack of guidance and isolation, he grows up feeling unwanted.

Easily the biggest argument throughout the novel is in countering the question on whether the monster has a spirit or not. And honestly it is easy to argue with side of it, but it is pretty easy to go ahead and just say no. Due to the fact that once dead your spirit is ascended out of your body and goes wherever you may believe (insert religion here). There is just honestly no way that this monster rule had his human spirit inside of hm while casing all of the terror he did throughout the novel. If he still had his spirit intact he also would have encountered his conscience when going to kill his first victim. But instead he did so without missing a beat out of pure anger. But one can also argue the fact that many humans all throughout the history of the world have been killers and have never thought that they were doing wrong either. And it being a very good point one can argue the fact that maybe the soul that was obtained by the monster by chance just so happened to be very troubled. And it being a very logical argument ether way it is hard to pin point the correct answer. And honestly no one will ever be able to come up with the correct answer in the simple fact that the author of the novel is dead and has been for a very long time. Maybe if scholars back then had asked the question we all want to ask now in the 21st century we could have a deeper understanding of what Mary Shelley though herself and wanted us to fell. But as well as she may have left these questions unanswered for the exact purpose of everyone to interpret the story of the monster in their own unique way.

    Mary Shelley's Frankenstein is a novel in conscious dialogue with canonical classics and contemporary works. It contains references to Coleridge, Wordsworth, and P. B. Shelley, but also to Cervantes and Milton. It is the latter's Paradise Lost which informs the themes and structure of the novel more than any other source. Like many of her contemporaries, Mary Shelley draws parallels between Milton's Satan and the Titan Prometheus of Greek myth. However, the two are not simply equated (as in Byron's poem, "Prometheus"), but appear in various facets through both Victor Frankenstein and his creation. Furthermore, God, Zeus, and Adam are also evoked through these

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.

The creation of life is an extraordinary event which humanity usually attributes to the work of a higher being. Because of this common belief, Mary Shelley’s: Frankenstein: The Modern Prometheus often triggers mixed feelings when human Victor Frankenstein experiments and creates the creature known as Frankenstein or Frankenstein’s monster. While it cannot be denied that this accomplishment is impressive, Victor’s right to form life, being a mortal himself, often is debated. Even the title of Shelley’s work causes readers to evaluate Victor’s actions within the context of the Greek God Prometheus, who has been credited with the creation of mankind and the gift of fire to them. Through analysis of Frankenstein: The Modern Prometheus as well as older works such as Theogony, and Prometheus: Bound, a comparison and interchangeability between Victor and Prometheus can be made, showing many correlations in the actions of both characters, despite the fact that Prometheus was often honored while Victor was sometimes scorned. While the actions and traits of both creators have countless parallels, ultimately Victor’s rejection and abandonment of his monster highlights his irresponsibility toward humanity and undeniably separates Victor Frankenstein from the honorable Prometheus.

In the novella Frankenstein, Mary Shelley uses geography to further the plot, reveal the true intentions of characters and convey the novella’s theme of sublime nature. The theme of sublime nature is the idea that nature is comprised of a mixture of terror and beauty. One example of sublime nature supported by geography is the monster, which is truly a terror in appearance and spirit being born in Ingolstadt. Shelly contrasts this “terror” of Ingolstadt to the beauty of Geneva, Frankenstein’s birthplace. Once the fruit of Frankenstein’s labor comes to fruition and the horrific monster is born, even Frankenstein himself is “unable to endure the aspect of the being” and attempts to cast it away and forget it (Shelley 101). The apparent

In Shelley’s novel Frankenstein and the ancient Greek myth of Prometheus, there are several archetypal ideas between both stories that can be compared and contrasted with

Modern science has dramatically evolved over the past years, there is a concern on whether or not people will try to play God with such developments and what damaging consequences could occur. Body modifications, cloning, Genetic engineering, and various fields in biotechnology are prime examples of fields that are attaining great advancements in a swift manner that increase concerns over the consequences. Progress in science induces people to question what it means to be a human and their own human nature, just as it causes people to question the effects that scientific progress may have on their good fortune, happiness or common welfare.The protagonist of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein is incited to advance the field of

In her novel Frankenstein, Mary Shelley is trying to convey the message that science and technology can be dangerous in the wrong hands. She affirms this idea through the character of Victor, a cautionary tale, but dispels the idea that all pursuit of knowledge is bad through more traditionally romantic characters such as Henry Clerval. Shelley is complicit in her understanding that curiosity and experimentation are unbreakably tied to the human condition, and tries to warn the world of the evil that can come from this. However, the effects of the interpretation of this book can vary: it is an exemplary cautionary tale, and a much needed reminder of ethics in an increasingly technology-dependent world, but one could easily take these warnings too far and use her novel as a means to quell innovation or incite censorship. In a world of technology that would be unbelievable to Shelley, her work still remains relevant, notably in the field of genetic engineering. Frankenstein raises important questions about ethics, responsibility and censorship, and is applicable to modern technological issues such as genetic engineering.