Thursday, April 16, 2009
Mary Shelley's Warning
Mary Shelley's perceptions of science and the dangerous power it potentially holds are intuitive. Modern day science deals daily with the exact issues of which Shelley was apparently keenly aware. She introduces ethics to the study of science, even gives science a conscious. As the monster acts on Frankenstein's conscious, some would say that Mary Shelley writes literature to act as science's conscious. It was as if she acknowledged that the future of science, if uncontrolled, could be disastrous. The book serves to warn readers, both past and current, of our own powers. It was almost as if Mary Shelley in 1818 could see nearly 200 years into the future, recognizing that our scientific discoveries of nuclear weapons and cloning could eventually be our demise.
Mary Shelley is placing a warning in her book, that when people experiment with things they shouldn't, and don't control their experiments, it could be disastorous. People experimented with the nuclear bomb, and it ended up killing hundreds of thousands, because no one knew how to control it. When Victor Frankenstein experiments and makes the monster, it led to the death of the ones he loves and himself.
Mary Shelley is placing a warning in her book, that when people experiment with things they shouldn't, and don't control their experiments, it could be disastorous. People experimented with the nuclear bomb, and it ended up killing hundreds of thousands, because no one knew how to control it. When Victor Frankenstein experiments and makes the monster, it led to the death of the ones he loves and himself.
Last words of Victor vs. last words of the "Monster"
The last words of Victor were:
"That he should live to be an instrument of mischief disturbs me; in other respects , this hour when I momentarily expect my release, is the only happy one which I have enjoyed for several years. The forms of the beloved dead flit before me, and I hasten to their arms. Farewell, Walton! Seek happiness in tranquillity, and avoid ambition, even if it be only the apparantly innocent one of distinguishing yourself in science and discoveries. Yet why do I say this? I have myself blasted in these hopes, yet another may succeed." (pg. 162)
Victor is dying, and is finally happy, but he is not fully happy, because the "Monster" is still living. He should be feeling remorse for what creating the "Monster", and yet he doesn't, he wants someone else to try and succeed with the creation of a successful "Monster", one that doesn't act or look the way that victor's "Monster" does.
The last words of the "Monster" were:
"I shall die, and what I now feel be no longer felt. Soon these burning miseries will be extinct. I shall ascend my funeral pile triumphantly, and exult in the agony of the torturing flames. The light of that conflagration will fade away; my ashes will be swept into the sea by the winds. My spirit will sleep in peace; or if it thinks, it will not surely think thus. Farewell." (pg.166)
The "Monster" isn't worried about leaving anything behind, and when he leaves the ship, he isn't looking for pity, like Victor. He is waiting for death, almost embracing it.
"That he should live to be an instrument of mischief disturbs me; in other respects , this hour when I momentarily expect my release, is the only happy one which I have enjoyed for several years. The forms of the beloved dead flit before me, and I hasten to their arms. Farewell, Walton! Seek happiness in tranquillity, and avoid ambition, even if it be only the apparantly innocent one of distinguishing yourself in science and discoveries. Yet why do I say this? I have myself blasted in these hopes, yet another may succeed." (pg. 162)
Victor is dying, and is finally happy, but he is not fully happy, because the "Monster" is still living. He should be feeling remorse for what creating the "Monster", and yet he doesn't, he wants someone else to try and succeed with the creation of a successful "Monster", one that doesn't act or look the way that victor's "Monster" does.
The last words of the "Monster" were:
"I shall die, and what I now feel be no longer felt. Soon these burning miseries will be extinct. I shall ascend my funeral pile triumphantly, and exult in the agony of the torturing flames. The light of that conflagration will fade away; my ashes will be swept into the sea by the winds. My spirit will sleep in peace; or if it thinks, it will not surely think thus. Farewell." (pg.166)
The "Monster" isn't worried about leaving anything behind, and when he leaves the ship, he isn't looking for pity, like Victor. He is waiting for death, almost embracing it.
What is a monster?
A monster, to me is someone that acts like Victor Frankenstein. He attempted to play God, and create a creature. After the creation of his "Monster" he abandons him, when he should have taken him and nurtured him as if it was his child. Then Victor never takes responsibility for his actions and is never completely guilty through the book. Victor has no emotion, and in fact when his mother died, he looked at it something that put off his travels to Ingolstadt
"My mother was dead, but we had still duties which we ought to perform; we must continue our course with the rest, and learn to think ourselves fortunate, whilst one remains whom the spoiler has not seized." (pg. 25)
He was upset about his mother dying, because it interfered with him moving on. Victor felt that he had tasks to complete, and his mother's death was keeping him from completing those tasks.
"My mother was dead, but we had still duties which we ought to perform; we must continue our course with the rest, and learn to think ourselves fortunate, whilst one remains whom the spoiler has not seized." (pg. 25)
He was upset about his mother dying, because it interfered with him moving on. Victor felt that he had tasks to complete, and his mother's death was keeping him from completing those tasks.
Daemon vs. Demon
A daemon is something that is more god like, it is a something good, where a demon is something evil, something devil like. I believe that Mary Shelley used Daemon sometimes to prove that the "Monster" isn't all evil, there are some good sides to him. On page 121, when Victor sees the "Monster", he says:
"I trembled and my heart failed within me, when, on looking up, I saw, by the light of the moon, the daemon at the casement."
The monster didn't always mean to hurt Victor, and at one point, he keeps attempting to save Victor. When Victor goes on the hunt to track down the "Monster" and get revenge, the "Monster" leaves him food to keep him alive.
"I trembled and my heart failed within me, when, on looking up, I saw, by the light of the moon, the daemon at the casement."
The monster didn't always mean to hurt Victor, and at one point, he keeps attempting to save Victor. When Victor goes on the hunt to track down the "Monster" and get revenge, the "Monster" leaves him food to keep him alive.
What makes a person human?
The most human person in this book is the "Monster" and people don't realize it. The monster realizes what hatred does to people, and what racism does. He cared for a family that didn't even know he existed all because he loved them. He still cared for Victor even though he abandoned him, he didn't even name him. He loved a society that turned his back on him before he even got a chance to figure what he was. The "Monster" took responsibility for his actions, and admitted that he killed William, framed Justine, and killed Clerval. He even openly admitted to Victor that he would kill Elizabeth on their wedding night.
"These wonderful narrations inspired me with strange feelings. Was man, indeed at once so powerful, so virtous, and magnificent, yet vicious and base? He appeared at one time a mere scion of the evil principle, and at another as all that can be conceived as noble and godlike. To be great and virtuous man appeared the highest honour that can befall a sensitive being; to be base and vicious, as many on record have been, appeared the lowest degradation, a condition more abject than that of the blind mole or harmless worm. For a long time I could not conceive how one man could go forth to murder his fellow, or even why there were laws and governments; but when I heard details of vice and bloodshed, my wonder ceased, and I turned away with disgust and loathing." (pg 84)
The monster spent all this time in isolation and he had to constanly deal with hatred for something he had no control over. The monster has the ability to realize that mankind is their own destruction, we get stuff and yet we want more. The more he learned about the past, however, the more he realized that he didn't want to really know anything about mankind.
"These wonderful narrations inspired me with strange feelings. Was man, indeed at once so powerful, so virtous, and magnificent, yet vicious and base? He appeared at one time a mere scion of the evil principle, and at another as all that can be conceived as noble and godlike. To be great and virtuous man appeared the highest honour that can befall a sensitive being; to be base and vicious, as many on record have been, appeared the lowest degradation, a condition more abject than that of the blind mole or harmless worm. For a long time I could not conceive how one man could go forth to murder his fellow, or even why there were laws and governments; but when I heard details of vice and bloodshed, my wonder ceased, and I turned away with disgust and loathing." (pg 84)
The monster spent all this time in isolation and he had to constanly deal with hatred for something he had no control over. The monster has the ability to realize that mankind is their own destruction, we get stuff and yet we want more. The more he learned about the past, however, the more he realized that he didn't want to really know anything about mankind.
The "Monster's" Appearance
Ordinary human beings can't accept the "Monster's" appearance, because he is so much different from them. He is made of different body parts, and he is sewn together with stiches. He has no hair. People don't like him for the fact that he looks ugly and disgusting, they automatically look at him as a monster.
"How can I describe my emotions at this catastrophe, or how delineate teh wretch whom with such infinite pains and care I had endeavoured to form? His limbs were in proportion, and I had selected his features as beautiful. Beautiful!-Great God! His yellow skin scarcely covered the works of his muscles and arteries beneath; his hair was a lustrous black, and flowing; his teeth of pearly whiteness; but these luxuriances only formed a more horrid contrast with his watery eyes that seemed almost of the same colour as the dun-white sockets in which they were set, his shrivelled complexion and straight black lips." (pg. 35)
Victor can't even accept him, because he tried so hard to get him to look perfect, and he didn't come out right. Physical similarity is important in society, because it's a way for people to fit in. If people look different, they were outcasted in society, because they didn't fit in in any way. The way a person looks is often a way for people to judge that person, and even though the "Monster" was the most human person in the book, people didn't care because he looked different.
"How can I describe my emotions at this catastrophe, or how delineate teh wretch whom with such infinite pains and care I had endeavoured to form? His limbs were in proportion, and I had selected his features as beautiful. Beautiful!-Great God! His yellow skin scarcely covered the works of his muscles and arteries beneath; his hair was a lustrous black, and flowing; his teeth of pearly whiteness; but these luxuriances only formed a more horrid contrast with his watery eyes that seemed almost of the same colour as the dun-white sockets in which they were set, his shrivelled complexion and straight black lips." (pg. 35)
Victor can't even accept him, because he tried so hard to get him to look perfect, and he didn't come out right. Physical similarity is important in society, because it's a way for people to fit in. If people look different, they were outcasted in society, because they didn't fit in in any way. The way a person looks is often a way for people to judge that person, and even though the "Monster" was the most human person in the book, people didn't care because he looked different.
Light vs. Darkness
Throughout Frankenstein, Mary Shelley uses light and darkness to describe Victor Frankenstein's mind frame.
"I had been calm during the day; but so soon as night obscurred the shapes of objects, a thousand fears arose in my mind. I was anxious and watchful, while my right hand grasped a pistol which was hidden in my bosom; every sound terrified me; but I resolved that I would sell my life dearly, and not shrink from the conflict until my own life, or that of my adversary was extinguished." ( pg. 144)
This shows that while it is light out, Victor's mind is cleared up of all confusion, but when it becomes night, there is a ton of fear and confusion. Everytime it becomes dark, the monster appears, and Victor faints or goes into some sort of fit, but when it is light out, Victor is fine, and the monster isn't in sight. Darkness makes Victor paranoid, and he turns into somewhat of a madman.
"I had been calm during the day; but so soon as night obscurred the shapes of objects, a thousand fears arose in my mind. I was anxious and watchful, while my right hand grasped a pistol which was hidden in my bosom; every sound terrified me; but I resolved that I would sell my life dearly, and not shrink from the conflict until my own life, or that of my adversary was extinguished." ( pg. 144)
This shows that while it is light out, Victor's mind is cleared up of all confusion, but when it becomes night, there is a ton of fear and confusion. Everytime it becomes dark, the monster appears, and Victor faints or goes into some sort of fit, but when it is light out, Victor is fine, and the monster isn't in sight. Darkness makes Victor paranoid, and he turns into somewhat of a madman.
Nature in Frankenstein
Nature, in Frankenstein attributes a lot to Victor's happiness. On page 39, Victor says:
"I remember the first time I became capable of observing outward objects with any kind of pleasure, I perceived that the fallen leaves had disappeared and that the young buds were shooting forth from the trees that shaded my window. It was a divine spring; and the season contributed greatly to my convalescence. I also felt sentiments of joy and affection revive in my bosom; my gloom disappeared, and in a short time I became as cheerful as before I was attacked by the fatal passion.
Up until this point, Victor was dwelling on the fact that he created the "Monster", and was depressed over it. Upon seeing the beauty of nature, it brightened Victor's mood, and for the first time in awhile, he showed some sense of joy. Throughout the book, Victor finds happiness in his surroundings, when William died, it was storming, and Victor found the lightning to be beautiful, and once again, he was somewhat at rest.
"I remember the first time I became capable of observing outward objects with any kind of pleasure, I perceived that the fallen leaves had disappeared and that the young buds were shooting forth from the trees that shaded my window. It was a divine spring; and the season contributed greatly to my convalescence. I also felt sentiments of joy and affection revive in my bosom; my gloom disappeared, and in a short time I became as cheerful as before I was attacked by the fatal passion.
Up until this point, Victor was dwelling on the fact that he created the "Monster", and was depressed over it. Upon seeing the beauty of nature, it brightened Victor's mood, and for the first time in awhile, he showed some sense of joy. Throughout the book, Victor finds happiness in his surroundings, when William died, it was storming, and Victor found the lightning to be beautiful, and once again, he was somewhat at rest.
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