Psychoanalytic Criticism Of Frankenstein

Knowledge can be Blessings and Curse A teenage girl Mary Shelly wrote Frankenstein in the 18th century. A Gothic novel Frankenstein deals with two genres, Gothicism and science fiction. Victor, one of Mary Shelly’s characters represents man’s pursuit of knowledge which ultimately leads towards the path of destruction while another character Robert Walton implemented his knowledge wisely to get benefits for the society. Mary is indicating to the society that mankind has to pay full attention to science and scientific innovations in order to avoid the catastrophic events due to misuse of knowledge.

Through his scientific studies and experiments, Frankenstein decides to attempt to restore a lifeless body to animation. He succeeds in this, but once he brings the body to life he looks into the eyes of his creation and immediately deems the creature a monster. The monster initially has childlike characteristics, and wants to be loved by his creator. However, Frankenstein does not see this and his judgement is clouded by the appearance of his creation. Frankenstein addresses the importance of human relationships in people 's lives through the development of Frankenstein and the Monster.

All throughout the novel, Victor chases the idea of bringing the dead back to life through the use of electricity, or in this case by galvanizing a sewed together body. But to do so, he needed to gather more and more knowledge to further his plans along; “Front this day natural philosophy, and particularly chemistry, in the most comprehensive sense of the term, became nearly my sole occupation. " Essentially, as he progresses further into his experiments, he becomes purely occupied with his ambitions and desires, Victor desires nothing but to study and acquire more and more knowledge to better allow him to realize his plans. But, as a result of his own dogged determination: “My cheek had grown pale with study, and my person had become emaciated with confinement.”

As Lawrence Lipking rightfully assessed the creature at first is “too good” (Lipking 428) and “innocent” (Lipking 428) but sooner rather than later “hostility and prejudice of men” (Lipking 428) awake desires of violence and revenge in it which lead to its awful plot against its creator. There is a huge shift in the emotions of Victor Frankenstein once his work is done and the creature finally opens its eyes. While

This uncertainty affected the feeling and happiness of the creature as until then, he was sure of spending the rest of his life with a partner. Unfortunately, his elation was short-lived, as Frankenstein changed his mind. Playing with emotions can have negative impacts on people and can cause them to retaliate which was the case with the creature. He experienced the destruction of his future companion first hand, which affected him emotionally. Because he was in shock, he reacted to this situation by telling Frankenstein that “[He] will be with [Frankenstein] on [his] wedding night” (123).

Limits on Knowledge Mary Shelley 's novel Frankenstein shows there are certain limits to what mankind is allowed to know. In many points in the novel Victor Frankenstein shows that the creation of a new life never ends well. Because of the work of victor it leads to many casualties and hurts the world around them. This helps exemplify the theme of gothic literature and the points of Horror and violence, as well as supernatural and mystery, along with sublime nature and man as his own worst enemy. Two common points are horror and violence and how Victor has learned to much knowledge on the creation of life.

Master to Misery In the fictional novel, Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, there is a main character named Victor. Victor had a vision of creating life in an inanimate object. He succeeded at creating life, but throughout the novel he was slowly pushed out of the role of the master. There are a few things that contribute to Victor being under authority rather than being the authority.

ENGB220 FINAL ESSAY Tracy Tou Ka Man A-B2-2129-1 1. In your opinion, who is the hero of Frankenstein: Victor Frankenstein or the monster? Why? How did Mary Shelley influence your choice (you may discuss the ways she reveals her characters)?

In her novel Mary Shelley explores the central ideas of rejection and abandonment, human nature, good and evil and revenge to support the conviction of Frankenstein’s responsibility in the novel and Frankenstein is a reflection of this. Shelley shows through positioning of characters within the stories that good and evil is not clear-cut and there are many moral grey areas. The readers are positioned to feel sympathy for the creature, especially since his yearnings for human contact could easily be their own. Which makes it all the more frightening when Victor and others treat him in such vile ways.

In the novel, Frankenstein by Mary W. Shelly, Victor Frankenstein creates a creature. The creature and Victor Frankenstein have conflicts between each other, which is why Robert Walton is necessary to help the reader relate to Frankenstein, by having many of the same attributes are Victor Frankenstein does. Robert Walton has many similar traits to Victor Frankenstein, ultimately helping the reader greater relate to Dr. Frankenstein. Even though Frankenstein is viewed as a monster himself and Walton is considered a normal person.

What makes a monster? Is monstrosity purely physical or is monstrosity a term used to denote immoral behavior? However one chooses to answer this question one must inevitably speak about the “monster” in relation to other beings in a given society at a particular time. In this essay I attempt to not only capture the “monster” as an engineered body, but also highlight the connection and possible tension between scientific knowledge and the morality of scientists and society during the Scientific Revolution/Enlightenment period. Traveling back in time to the 1700’s I will show readers that all that is needed to create a monster is an engineer, parts, a spark, society and a little science.

In Frankenstein, Mary Shelly warns against the dangers of ego. Walton is shown to have a blinding ego from the beginning, disregarding danger, as well as having a distorted view of his goal. Victor doesn’t see his creation as hideous until it comes alive. He also undoes his entire message he has been warning against in his dying breaths. The Monster, while having the potential and beginnings of an ego, does not develop one.

Dichotomy is a very important characteristic in literature. Dichotomy is able to emphasize the contrast and add many deep layers to a story. In Emily Brontë’s Gothic Novel Wuthering Heights, Heathcliff’s embodies many contrasting philosophical components. Heathcliff personifies the role of a savage and a cultured gentleman. Heathcliff is also able to play the role of the victim and victimizer.

In the book, Frankenstein Mary Shelley uses three devices to make the reader feel and understand what is going on. They are imagery,tone,and the theme she shows these things on pages 90-91 when she is having the creature explain what happened when he ran out of Frankenstein’s house. The images she explains is about the forest the creature lived in then the tones shift as he learns. The theme is that the creature is starting to gain an understanding of humans and himself.

Several traits distinguish whether a character is a Romantic and Gothic protagonist in a literature piece. Romanticism is described by the attraction of a human to the natural forces, often uncivilized, of the Universe. Instead of thinking rationally, a Romantic looks to imagination, which allows one to view the world in an idealistic light. Gothicism is a category of Romanticism, which focuses primarily on the obscure and supernatural forces of the Universe. Therefore, Romantic Goth characters have the talent to both see and feel the beauty in the dark and obscure, which often inspires them to react differently to a given situation.