Mary Shelley's Juxtaposition Of Loneliness
Mary Shelley, in the last pages of Frankenstein, expresses that loneliness is the source of anguish. Shelley supports this with the juxtaposition of happiness and despair, biblical allusion, and parallel structure in order to point out that one’s affliction is caused by a lack of compassion and companionship. Shelley’s purpose is to show the result of perpetual loneliness so that she may better point out the necessary requirements of meaningful existence. Shelley first uses the juxtaposition of happiness and despair to show how loneliness causes anguish. The monster, in relating his story to Walton, expresses that he once sought sympathy for his loneliness. He said that, “it was the love of virtue, the feelings of happiness and affection with which my whole being overflowed” (159). However, upon receiving none, the monster states that, “virtue has become to [him] a shadow, and that happiness and affection are turned into bitter and loathing despair” (159). In these two statements, Shelley juxtaposes the monster’s initial want for happiness through sympathy to that of his despair as the result of receiving none. …show more content…
Continuing his conversation with Walton, the monster expresses that he is desperately lonely. He compares himself to the devil, but still says that, “Yet even that enemy of God and man had friends and associates in his desolation; I am quite alone” (160). Shelley alludes to the fall of lucifer to show that the monster, too, was scorned by those around him; however, she takes it a step further by having the monster state that he is lonelier than even the devil. By alluding to such a hated wretch as the devil, Shelley situates the monster in an even worse position as the result of his loneliness, which further separates the monster from humanity. Furthermore, because the monster is so alone, he is perpetually vexed by anguish that led to him having a miserable
Universal Theme Of Obligation In Frankenstein Essay
763 Words | 4 PagesIn volume 1 of Frankenstein, Victor's selfishness unleashes the “monster” in Victor and leads to Victor losing connections. Through the portrayal of the monster inside Victor, Shelley argues the universal theme of obligation. Shelley argues the universe of obligation, through showing us the ways of Victor only thinking of himself. In the circle of individuals and groups toward whom obligations are owed, one's self is always in the center. After oneself in the middle, family and friends come very close behind in the second circle.
Isolation In Frankenstein Essay
758 Words | 4 PagesEmotional and physical isolation in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein are the most pertinent and prevailing themes throughout the novel. These themes are so important because everything the monster, Victor, and Robert Walton do or feel directly relates to their poignant seclusion. The effects of this terrible burden have progressively damaging results upon the three.
Empathy In Frankenstein
929 Words | 4 PagesIsolation and a lack of companionship is the tragic reality for the monster, who was abandoned by his creator and is repulsive to everyone that he comes across. Victor removes himself from society for many months; severing nearly all human contact then renouncing his creation based on the monster's appearance. As the monster matures he begins to understands the relationship the cottagers share with one another, while the monster, “yearned to be known and loved by these amiable creatures: to see their sweet looks directed towards me with affection was the utmost limit of my ambition. ”(Shelley). Armed with nothing but the longing for a real connection, the monster approaches his unknowing hosts only to be “brutally attacked—by those he trusted...because of their human ignorance.
Pygmalion And Frankenstein Analysis
1804 Words | 8 PagesThe monster depicts his otherness when he wonders: “Was I, then, a monster, a blot upon the earth, from which all men fled and whom all men disowned” (Shelley 85). The monster evidently remains in isolation and is dehumanized. The monster attempts to get integrated into his society but his appearance and lack of social skills hinder his success. The monster strives to be accepted but is incapable of acceptance. The monster reiterates this feeling of isolation as he says: “I felt as if I were placed under a ban- as if I had no right to claim their sympathies – as if never more might I enjoy companionship with them” (Shelley 108).
The Struggle For Friendship In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein
994 Words | 4 Pages„I desire the company of a man who could sympathize with me; whose eyes would reply to mine. You may deem me romantic, my dear sister, but I bitterly feel the want of a friend” (Shelley 163-164). This is the wish of the scientist Robert Walton whose letters start Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein. Unlike the first thoughts coming to mind when hearing the title, friendship is one of the main topics in the story and the wish Walton expresses in the beginning stands for the desires of all the main characters. Not only Walton feels to be in need of companionship, the central character Victor Frankenstein does so too and even the Creature he brings into being expresses its strong wish to belong to someone.
Social Belonging In Frankenstein
987 Words | 4 PagesBy denying both main characters the sensation of domestic affection, or any other kind of social belonging, Mary Shelley highlights the importance thereof. The resulting isolation became the driving force behind both Frankenstein and his creation’s abominable actions which, in turn, shows that trying to avoid isolation and seeking the feeling of social belonging is the primary message of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and of
Duality Of Human Nature In Frankenstein
819 Words | 4 PagesDuality is shown in Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein, a gothic tale of a scientist whom looks to advance the life-giving qualities of mother nature. Through this novel, Shelley proves that good and evil in human nature is not always simple to define, and that everyone has both of these qualities within them. The duality of human nature is shown through the characters of Victor Frankenstein and his monster, who are both heroes in the novel while simultaneously displaying anti-hero qualities. Shelley forces the reader to sympathize with them both but also creates gruesome ideas of the two. Frankenstein’s creature places himself in a submissive position when he begs his creator to have mercy on him and asking the creator to “create a female for [him] with whom [he] can live in the interchange of those sympathies necessary for [his] being.”
Captain Robert Walton In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein
661 Words | 3 PagesIn the novel “Frankenstein”, written by Mary Shelley in 1818, illustrates the human nature in which consists of ambition versus responsibility as well as innocent versus evil. At the beginning of the story, Captain Robert Walton is introduced as the first character by narrating in the series of letters that he writes to his sister, Margaret Saville. Walton functions as a foil character for Victor Frankenstein, the protagonist and main narrator. By contrasting and highlighting Victor’s characteristics in the book, they have similarities in the desire of acknowledgment in achievement, loneliness, and differences in the realization of life.
Solitude In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein
1109 Words | 5 PagesMournful once more but this time not only for himself, the Monster shares these words, “The fallen angel becomes a malignant devil. Yet even that enemy of God and man had friends and associates in his desolation; I am alone.” Gut wrenchingly stated, it is upon these words that Monster reaches complete solitude now that his potential mate and creator have been destroyed. Through the motif of solitude, the Monster has transformed into an
The Monster And Frankenstein Comparison
1113 Words | 5 PagesThe monster on the other hand had known only loneliness from the second he opened his eyes. The monster learns through painful rejection that he will never find companionship because humans are unable to see past his ghastly appearance and in anger tears away one of Frankenstein’s many companions. This begins the spiral of anger and loneliness that leads to the monster killing nearly everyone Frankenstein is close to. This, inadvertently, forces Frankenstein to have the same feelings of anguish and loneliness that he first instigated in the monster. Frankenstein never realises that all the monster wants is a companion, he cannot see his own emotions reflected in his creation.
The Role Of Isolation In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein
1090 Words | 5 PagesIt is quite telling that the most severe punishment in our society other than the death penalty or torture is solitary confinement. Although, isolation is in itself a form of torture, it can drive someone to the brink of insanity. Although published nearly 200 years ago, Mary Shelley clearly understood the potential detrimental effects of isolation, as demonstrated in her famous novel, Frankenstein, where both main characters, Victor Frankenstein and his creation, suffer from and cause isolation for the other. Mary Shelley directs the reader to believe that isolation is the true evil, not the monster, Victor or any emotion inside of them. At the beginning of the novel, Victor is isolated from other people, causing to forget his scientific
The Importance Of Loneliness In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein
1432 Words | 6 PagesMary Shelley 's timeless story seeks to help readers beware of alleviating loneliness through valuing others, and she warns readers that living a life of secrecy drains the joy out of life. The human condition of loneliness triggered many of the events in this book. This creature that Victor Frankenstein forged from cadavers was immediately abandoned. Right after Victor created this innocent monster, he fled from him out of fear.
An Analysis Of Disappointment In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein '
577 Words | 3 PagesNovel Analysis #7 - Frankenstein Disappointment, expressed from various scenes of sorrow, plagues all humans and evades none. For Shelley, Frankenstein embodies disappointment in the eyes of the one he created, the “monster”. Since Frankenstein hardly superseded anyone, the immaculate expectations set by the creature, Shelley criticizes Frankenstein's shortcomings.
Character Development In Frankenstein
1921 Words | 8 PagesThe fictional horror novel of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is driven by the accentuation of humanity’s flaws. Even at the very mention of her work an archetypal monster fills one’s imagination, coupled with visions of a crazed scientist to boot. Opening her novel with Robert Walton, the conduit of the story, he also serves as a character to parallel the protagonist’s in many ways. As the ‘protagonist’ of the story, Victor Frankenstein, takes on the mantle of the deluded scientist, his nameless creation becomes the embodiment of a truly abandoned child – one left to fend for itself against the harsh reality posed by society. On the other hand, Walton also serves as a foil to Victor – he is not compulsive enough to risk what would be almost
Nature And Romanticism In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein
758 Words | 4 PagesIn Mary Shelley’s iconic gothic novel, Frankenstein, Romantic themes are strongly represented in order to propagandize Romanticism over the elements of knowledge and the Enlightenment. In her novel, Shelley uses gothic nature settings to foreshadow dark events that are about to happen in the novel. She also uses nature to intensify the effect that is brought during significant scenes, a strong example being, when Victor Frankenstein’s monster approaches him after a long period of time. Nature and its use to influence mood is one of the most paramount themes of both Frankenstein and Romanticism.
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