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Discussing adaptations of Victorian craziness
English 101 section 29
Our English 101
Discussing adaptations of Victorian craziness
14 comments:
I'm not exactly sure how to put this in one word but I believe that Mary Shelley was subtly trying to point out the fact that there were "men trying to play God"; this may have something to do with the industrial revolution that was taking place at that time, all of the new things that were being invented, and the scientists that wanted to figure out the mysteries of life.
Personally, i think in this novel, the main themes are the transitions of human behaviors. The monster from kind and simplicity to angry and resentment, why it happened? it's because the shallow human don't believe the ugly person have the kind heart.therefore, when human see this monster, they hurt him, it lead to the monster start to hide his kind-hearted and start to revenge.
In this novel, I focus on two themes. One is why Marry Shelly wrote this science fiction which has seldom appeared in that time. As we all known, the industrial revolution was taking place in that time. As the science and technology developed, most of people had a fancy for science, and creating new things. Therefore, Marry Shelly had intent to write this novel.
Another one, I think Merry Shelly also wanted to tell us that kindness is human nature, but people also have another aspect, evil.
I think that there are many themes in frankenstein, which are seen through the repetition of certain emotions. This includes the theme of Alienation, which is seen in each story. The monster feels alone in his search for a companion while everyone is ashamed or afraid of him, Frankenstein feels alone while learning in Ingolstadt where he keeps to himself and his studies, and Walton also feels alone out at sea where he feels no one is on his level to be his friend. Another theme we see early on is the harmful effects of keeping secrets. This is displayed when Frankenstein keeps the monster a secret and in turn kills two people that are close to him as a consequence of these secrets. Another theme could also be how the thirst for discovering can lead to danger. This is seen in both Walton and Frankensteins tale. Where Frankenstein explores bringing life back to the dead and creates a monster that he is ashamed of.
A theme I believe occurs throughout the novel is the pursuit of knowledge. Victor is constantly striving to understand the secret of life while Walton is attempting to go further than anyone has ever gone towards the North Pole. What they strive for, however, is beyond their limits. Victor's life is destroyed when he creates the Monster and when Walton discovers the thirst for knowledge can be dangerous he ends his mission.
In my opinion, the most important theme of this novel is nature. When Victor decides to create a monster it changes his life forever. Creating this monster changed the ways of nature. This monster's creation lead to the unnatural deaths of several people who were very close to Victor. These deaths cause Victor even more pain, which causes him to continue to be depressed. If this monster was never created, these people would have never died in this fashion.
A major theme that i continued to come back to in Frankenstein was fate. From the beginning of Victor's story he alludes to the inescapable darkness to come even in light of hopeful situations. He continued to slip in and out of his dark lapses, but no matter what happiness or promise he began to feel, his monstrous fate caught back up to him. In his discoveries of knowledge and accomplishment of creation, he was merely fulfilling his gloomy fate by bringing to life the monster that would lead to his death in the end. Fate was the beginning of the novel with Walton's journey into the icy unknown, and with Victor's allusions to his certain future. Fate also was the end of the novel. Bring ing to circle the death of Victor, and the failure of Walton.
One theme that I noticed was that of the pursuit of dangerous knowledge. Walton pursues the unknown of the North Pole, putting his life at risk. Victor searches for the secret of life, and it ends with deadly consequences. Creature tries to find acceptance and humanity in the world, but is constantly rejected wherever he goes.
After finishing reading this novel, I catch two themes in it. One of them is that people in that period tried to obey the natural rules. Because God is the only person who created people. Frankenstein's behavior just collide with this belief. The second theme I catch is everything's nature is virtuous. Even though the monster is beaten and discriminated by people, he also tried to be nice and to be a kind person.
Haha. I think the novel, Frankenstein, carries a dark theme. From the opening letters of Walton, the mood and setting are just dark and creepy. I relate this darkness to the life of Victor. Unfortunately it was just impossible for Victor to find happiness. He tried and tried again to find that one true happiness but all of his attempts ended in disappointment. I feel pretty bad for poor, old Victor. His biggest attempt of creating the monster resulted in the mourning deaths of many people dear to Victor's heart. The dark theme carries from the beginning of the novel until the sad death of Victor upon Walton's ship.
I have noticed that the story seems to keep telling stories within stories. The novel begins with an author's introduction, which frames letters from Robert Walton that frame the story of Victor Frankenstein, which frames the story of the monster. The pattern of framing devices accentuates the characters' individual journeys and emotions throughout the novel.
One theme that I see frequently throughout Frankenstein is, believe it or not, the power of love. Every character in the novel shows love in some form. From the beginning we see Walton's love for his sister-he is trying to get away from everything and everyone, yet he still wants to keep in contact with her; wants her to know he is okay. Victor shows love to everyone in his family, particularly Elizabeth. It is his love which turns the monster against him in such a powerful way. His monster is frequently referred to as being miserable, wretched and alone; and during the monster's tale we see that he feels as though all of that could be solved if he only had a companion to love and be with. Frankenstein's monster also exhibits great love too (aside from the murderous rampages he goes on). We see the monster's love at first when he is telling his story about the cottagers and how he longs to be able to make himself like them to be accepted. He goes out of his way to do nice things for them becuase he cares for them, even though they have never actually met. We see a desire for love when he requests to have a female companion created, and then the after effects of him destroying Victor's love because he cannot have one of his own. Finally, and perhaps the strongest, strangest love, is seen when Walton walks in on the monster crying over Victor's corpse. Even though Victor hated his monster, the monster still loved him, saw him as a father. He felt like a son who was abandoned, and even though his doctor, and father, had hatred and disgust towards him, ultimatly, the monster put that behind him and showed that he did care for and love Victor.
I personally kept feeling a sense of confidentiality in the book. As Victor grew obsessed with his science experiments, he shut off communication with the outside world. Then after his creation was complete, Victor refused to reveal what he had done, and he had to destroy the monster himself without anyone knowing what had happened.
I think the big thing is that no one should try to be god and recreate life.
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