The respectable Dr. Jekyll, in his attempt to prove the worth of his scientific ambitions and studies, creates a monster much like Frankenstein’s monster but at the same time completely different from it. In both the cases, it is a scientific experiment gone wrong but in Stevenson’s text, the horror lies in the transformation of the protagonist. Set in fog-bound London, this Gothic masterpiece explores the baser instincts in a human being that necessarily hastens the doom of the same.
These various adaptations led to differing tales of the conquests of Beowulf, as is the case with the first of the three agons, Beowulf’s clash with Grendel. Seamus Heaney’s new verse translation and Robert Zemecki’s movie adaptation portray this clash in differing ways, and the root cause of this is Grendel 's physical appearance. Heaney depicts Grendel as a monster far removed from humanity in order to portray a clash of good versus evil and depict Beowulf as a slayer of demons. Meanwhile, Zemecki portrays Grendel as a half breed shunned from society in order to portray a convoluted clash of a man defending himself against those who have harmed him. The first of the three Agons in the poem, Beowulf’s fight with Grendel, is a struggle between two goliaths.
Through this, it is evident that corruptive influences and desires exist in every individual. Stevenson also warns readers of the all-consuming nature of evil. This is indisputably epitomised in the character os Dr. Jekyll as he succumbs to his “other self”, Hyde, and is unable to escape from the insidious nature of Hyde. Only death was able to relieve Dr. Jekyll of his immoral and “wicked” side (Stevenson 1689). Therefore, the text could be viewed as a 19th century social novel that allegorises the evils and immoral vices of
Shelley is nuanced in acknowledging that a belief in absolute good or evil is an unrealistic moral framework of the world and in defining key points of unexpected moral reversal amongst her characters, Frankenstein can also suggest Both The creature and Victor display monstrous and humane qualities. The creature 's own killing spree is unable to be overlooked and especially his premeditated attack on Elizabeth, where he explicitly threatened to be with her "on her wedding night" illustrates that the monster also demonstrated monstrous qualities. Additionally, Shelley presents the destructive nature of her otherwise victimised creature, through the black marks that his murder imprints on the necks of Henry and Elizabeth. This symbolic manifestation of the lasting scars of unfettered industrialism perhaps evoke resentment for the monster 's lack of control and similarly suggest that Both The creature and Victor display monstrous and humane qualities. Moreover, it is Victor who appears transiently capable of consideration for the consequences of his actions who, as he aborts a secondary female creation, questions "had I right... to inflict this curse upon everlasting generations?"
Hume also supports this claim by stating that the creature, which was meant to be beautiful, reflects in its outward form Victor’s inward deformity. He gives an example with the early history of the monster that craves love, which is an ironic reproduction of Frankenstein 's personality, for he can neither express love, nor respond properly to human emotions. The result of this intercourse between Gothic and Romantic elements is a novel that is far more complex and sophisticated than the work of many of her contemporaries by provoking philosophical, ethical and moral questions left to the reader to answer, as said by Nicole
Sublime nature is used to foreshadow and emphasize the supernatural elements that are used in the novel. Frankenstein ultimately becomes his own worst enemy because there were no limits to what mankind should be capable of knowing. In gothic literature, man becomes his own worst enemy by inflicting it onto themselves and that is what Frankenstein does. Frankenstein’s drive and curiosity leads to his downfall. When Frankenstein is younger he has a passion for learning and an eagerness to learn new things.
Sublimity creates terror through obscurity and uncertainty of potentially, irrationally terrible situations, such as murder or rape. Terror being gendered as feminine, allows Gothic works such as the The Monk by Matthew Gregory Lewis to complicate the gender and identity of his characters with the aforementioned terror. Murder and rape in The Monk are emphasized, because they create an irrational, immobilizing sense of terror. Ann Radcliffe describes terror as the appropriate method by which sublimity is achieved. While horror is mentioned in The Monk and by Radcliffe, the Gothic
This exact nature of their relationship premises the novel as Stevenson’s critique of the 19th century Victorian society, its hypocrisies and its anxieties. It is noteworthy that although Stevenson presents a particularly dichotomic nature of things, upon deeper analysis, he also suggests that human nature is multiplex and the many layers are permeable and so is the social realm despite all our efforts at dichotomic fragmentation. Jekyll and Hyde represent a collusion between two seemingly separate sense of selves, each fulfilling its own assigned role. J.R. Hammond’s summary of the conflict central to the double
That all the deeds done by the monster in the novel is totally the fight towards beauty and ugliness. This throws light upon the idea it is not always simple to know about goodness and evilness with regard to outer beauty but it’s the beauty of the soul as the victor was projected as a good and loving human being and the monster evil but we can realize throughout the novel that this might be up turned for both victor and the monster Mary Shelley depicted the phenomena of beauty vs. ugliness of the soul very prominently in the novel Frankenstein . The thesis will describe that how the own loved ones fails to accept the outer beauty of their loved ones instead of focusing towards the
Dr. Jekyll tells the power of evil Mr. Hyde through a letter he wrote to Mr. Utterson, “I began to be aware of a change in the temper of my though, a greater boldness, a contempt of danger, a solution of the bonds of obligation. I looked down; my clothes hung formlessly on my shrunken limbs; the hand that lay on my knee was corded and hairy. I was once more Edward Hyde,” (78). Dr. Jekyll was unable to control his dark self spontaneously, without the aid of his potion and while he was wide awake. Jekyll’s theory of dual nature, is humans being half criminal, and half virtuous.