Frankenstein

1
Frankenstein

• Discussion
• 8-12

2
Chapter 8

• Tone
• We entered the gloomy prison chamber and beheld
  Justine sitting on the straw at the farther end
  her hands were manacled, and her head rested on
  her kneesshe threw herself at he feet of
  Elizabeth, weeping bitterly (73).
• Sorrow and despair
• Realization of what Victors rejection has caused
  
• Pain and suffering of others

3
Chapter 9

• Tone
• Romantic elements
• Characters often entertain thoughts of suicide
• No forgiveness leads to emotional despair and
  suicide
• Ironic considering his youthful quest to overcome
  death by creating life
• Wants to protect his loved ones
• Ironic since he has already lost 2
• Foreshadows more death at the hands of the
  creature is to come

4
Chapter 9

• Nature as Inspiration
• Journeys to Alps to seek solace
• A tingling long-lost sense of pleasure often
  came across me during this journey (82)
• Happy feelings of the past
• Beauty and tranquility of nature
• Focus on simplicity and beauty of nature
• Turn to nature for inspiration, awe

5
Chapter 10

• Nature abruptly turns in Victors perception
• It is a scene terrifically desolatewhere trees
  lie broken and strewed on the ground, some
  entirely destroyed, others bent, leaning upon the
  jutting rocks of the mountain (84).
• Setting mirrors what is to happen
• Victors feelings will turn from relief and peace
  to horror and violence

6
Chapter 10

• Characterization
• The monster does not react with hatred or
  violence as expected
• Presents itself as philosophical
• He reprimands Victor How dare you sport thus
  with life
• Perception on monster has moved from mysterious,
  grotesque and violent to emotional, sensitive and
  able to verbalize
• Human characteristics

7
Chapter 10

• Relationship of Creator and Monster
• Have I not suffered enough, that you seek to
  increase my misery?
• The pity and sympathy for monster
• Wants to the one who gave him life and then
  abandoned him to a cruel world that would not
  accept him

8
Chapter 10

• Relationship of Creator and Monster
• Remember that I am thy creature I ought to be
  thy Adam, but I am rather the fallen angel, whom
  thou drivest from joy fir no misdeed. Everywhere
  I see bliss, from which I alone am irrevocably
  excluded. I was benevolent and good misery made
  me a fiend. Make me happy, and I shall again be
  virtuous (87).

9
Chapter 10

• Relationship of Creator and Monster
• Reference to John Miltons Paradise Lost
• Refers to he fallen state of man (Adam in the
  Garden)
• Main concern of the Romantics was the
  relationship between man as a divine being and
  the Creator as a divine entity
• Opposite here
• Man created the monster not God
• God rejected Adam from the Garden
• Man rejects the monster

10
Chapter 11

• Characterization
• I was a poor, helpless, miserable wretch I
  knew, and could distinguish, nothing but feeling
  a pain invade me on all sides, I sat down and
  wept (91).
• Self-realization
• He sees what humanity sees
• Not the human aspects, only the monster

11
Chapter 11

• Rejection/ Alienation
• Here, then, I retreated and lay down happy to
  have found a shelter, however miserable, from the
  inclemency of the season, and still more from the
  barbarity of man (94).
• Emphasis that creatures inhumanity is directly
  related to the inhumane treatment from man.
• Causes him to isolate himself for
  self-preservation

12
Chapter 11

• Characterization
• Has emotions and feelings as a human
• Even more so, he doesnt experience anger or
  hostility, even when provoked
• Sympathetic, apathetic, sentimental
• Contrast to expectation of meeting the monster

13
Chapter 12

• Rejection/ Alienation
• Nothing could exceed the love and respect which
  the younger cottagers exhibited towards their
  venerable companion (98).
• I saw no cause for their unhappiness, but I was
  deeply affected by it (98)
• Intuitive
• Realizes their unhappiness
• Lets it affect him
• No regards for his own happiness

14
Chapter 12

• Characterization
• I had admired the perfect forms of my
  cottagers- their grace, beauty, and delicate
  complexions but how was I terrified when I
  viewed myself in a transparent pool! At first I
  started back, unable to believe that it was
  indeed I who was reflected in the mirror and
  when I became fully aware convinced that I was in
  reality the monster that I am, I was filled with
  the bitterest sensations of despondence and
  mortification. Alas! I did not yet entirely
  know the fatal effects of this miserable
  deformity (101-102).

15
Chapter 12

• Characterization
• Bitter realization of the difference between
  himself and the humans
• Sees himself through their eyes
• Foreshadows his downfall
• Evil nature of the monster is not innate within
  his personality

16
Chapter 12

• Characterization
• I formed in my imagination a thousand pictures
  of presenting myself to them, and their reception
  of me. I imagined that they would be disgusted,
  until, by my gentle demeanour and conciliating
  words, I should first win their favour and
  afterwards their love (103).
• Disillusionment
• He has hopes for becoming part of humanity
• Hopes for a normal future
• Irony since he will become threatening to them