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Morality In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

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1. Introduction According to Lew, Frankenstein is covering many aspects of the Oriental discourse "Frankenstein (1818) is highly conscious of the oriental and the orientalist discourse" (Lew 1) The text dedicates a considerable number pages to critic the Orient, the creature learns the history of humanity from Volney´s Ruins of Empires whose "declamatory style was framed in imitation of the eastern authors"(Shelley 124), Safie is represented by the creature according to the limited knowledge he acquires during his stay nearby De Lacey´s cottage and Dr. Frankenstein has a character trait of the nineteenth century Oriental scientists. In this essay I will discuss the creature´s morality and the process by which he acquired enough knowledge to …show more content…

Frankenstein wanders in the slopes of Montanvert Glacier, Dr. Frankenstein is approached by the creature who urges him to hear his tale using strong arguments which Dr. and Frankenstein subjugates to the creature´s demands. Taken into a hut upon the mountain, the narrator begins to explain how he was banished from every Human community he encounters and that he found a shelter in a hovel nearby the cottagers who seem to struggle with a gloomy atmosphere and he goes forward saying that the cottagers’ misery vanishes magically as soon as the sweet Arabian, Safie arrives to the cottage. The order of the narration is anachronological and the events are told by the creature in a form of flashbacks (analepsis) the reader learns the history of Safie and her family with the cottagers after the arrival of Safie. At first the reader understands that Safie as a person is the source of joy for the family and after learning the background of Safie, her parents, and Felix´s choices one constructs a different stance. The metadiegetic narrator, the creature, depicts Safie as the woman who can communicate only in Gestures, the woman who uses Felix as instrument to Remain in Europe, the source of material wealth and comfort for the Western family, De Lacey, and the Barbarian who live in Europe without speaking the language and who is unable to acquire it …show more content…

He spoke for and represented her" (Said 6). Said argues that the Romantic author Flaubert in his widely known Orientalist work Flaubert in Egypt depicts the Oriental woman as a voiceless being who is unable to communicate and express herself freely and that she needs to be spoken in her behalf. This fixed oriental image of the Oriental woman reoccurs in Frankenstein in the passage of the arrival of Safie to the cottage, Felix calls her “his sweet Arabian” (Shelley 121) but Safie does not seem to understand what he says and answers him with the gesture of a smile (Shelley 122). Additionally, Felix rejected his offer with contempt; yet when he saw the lovely Safie, who was allowed to visit her father, and who, by her gestures, expressed her lively gratitude" (Shelley128) Felix is not interested in material wealth which the Turk promised him because he falls in love with Safie who communicated her “lively gratitude” for having good intentions towards her father with

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