These Chapters are laden with the repercussions of the decision Victor makes in the previous chapters.
- Express one thematic statement that these chapters make. Explain. For instance, I am sure you can make statements about revenge and repentance and guilt and monstrosity based on these repercussions. Use a quotation as support; don't use a quotation used by anyone else.
- Differentiate between what you think Shelley intended (Romantic Era) and what you (Modern Era) got from it.
Due Friday, December 4.
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One of the first reprecussions of Victor's decisions was the death of Henry Clerval> He finds out about the death of his friend after he is falsely acussed of the murderer. He also learns that the body was found with black marks around his neck, just like Victors brother.
Imediately we can se how guilt and fear take over Victor when he says: "and felt myself extremely agitated; my limbs trembled, and a mist came over my eyes, which obliged me to lean on a chair for support." He deduced that the one responsible for his friend's death was the monster.
Furthermore, we can deduce that Victor blames himself for this death. If he had complied with the monster's wishes, this might never had happened. We can see tyhe suffering and guilt in Victor as he apostrophically exclaims to the corpse:"Have my murderous machinations deprived you also, my dearest Henry, of life?" (Shelly ch. 20)
Uncertainty invades Victor's state of mind as he ponders wether or not this could have been prevented. He cant help but wondering what could have happened if he would have done this in the first place.
Most probably, given the Romantic era's appeal to moral responsability within society, Shelly wanted to express the interior conflict that Victor is suffering. This conflict consists on his personal suffering from not doing the female monster and its reprecussions, versus his responsability towards society in the prevention of a new hunman race.
In the modern era this is conceived as e perfect demonstration of a common term known as Karma. For people now a days every action is measured by the sense of karma and this book could also be analyzed under those principles.
Victor is ridden with guilt. He knows that his decision tonot make a she-monster will have its consequences. The monster said in Chapter 20 "I will be with you on your wedding-night." It turns out that the first repercussion, Henry Clerval's death, happened way earlier than his wedding night. Victor lands in Ireland and is immediately taken to see the magistrate. When he is shown Clerval's body,he becomes deragned and in his tormented sleep calles minself "the murderer of William, of Justine, and of Clerval" (Shelley 182).
Guilt is a common theme throughout the book . When Mr. Kirwin offers some help to Victor he refuses saying "I thank you, but all that you mention is nothing to me; on the whole earth there is no comfort which I am capable of receiving" (Shelley 185). Victor feels that he has been condemned, he is his own hangman and his foolish and selfish decisions have led him to suffer. Furthermore, he cannot achieve peace of mind for he is always expectant of who will die next, who will he kill.
Victor's "cup of life" is poisoned forever and he sees "nothing but a dense and frightful darkness, penetrated by no light but the glimmer of two eyes that glare" upon him (Shelley 188). He senses that he destroys life and this is ironic because at the beginning of the novel he was so rapt in creating life.
I think that Shelley intended us to get that a strenous search for knowledge and playing with the unnatural will usually have bad consequences. She wants to instill in the reader a sense of respect towards nature while at the same time enhance that curiosity is healthy in a moderated manner.
I got from it that actions have consequences and always will have. After all, for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Depending on how much an action of ours affects something, the repercussion will be equal in size. I think that we must get to know our limitations and consider others while making choices.
After having ignored the monsters entreaty as to the creation of a female counterpart for it, Frankenstein must now face the consequences. The monster begged for a female with which to share his solitude and who would “destroy the cause of [his] crimes” (Shelley 150). Horrified by the possibility of a “race of devils… on the Earth” Frankenstein flies into a rage and destroys the incomplete female. Witnessing this act, the monster becomes livid and vows revenge (Shelley 171).
Guilt at his actions and heaps of self-pity are recurring motifs in Frankenstein’s life. Upon seeing Clerval’s body, Frankenstein has a fit and ends up sick and “for two months on the point of death” (Shelley 182). This is reminiscent of previous “sicknesses” and “fevers” he has suffered when encountered with loss or difficulty. Frankenstein has demonstrated time after time that he is a weak natured man who, instead of taking action for his mistakes, wallows in his own misery and leaves the problem unfixed. His town is one of constant sadness and resentment at his situation, he even goes so far as to say that “no one was near who soothed me with the gentle voice of love; no dear hand supported me” as if he felt he deserved this treatment.
I believe Shelley sought to create a sense of horror at what could happen when one goes too far in the pursuit of unnatural things. Frankenstein might be a foreshadowing of the situation that society could find itself in if it continued to disrespect nature in favor of technological advances.
What I got out of these chapters was the terrible nature of inaction as opposed to what Frankenstein should have done from the beginning. If he had the strength to bring to life something that did not belong he should have the strength to follow through with that action either by bringing the unnatural life to an end, or by caring and nourishing it. If he lacked the strength for these things, he could simply have admitted to his deeds and faced the consequences while someone else dealt with the problem. Instead he does nothing throughout the book, only leaving it all “slide” until it snowballs irreparably.
These chapters are the product of bad decisions taken by Victor and one of the strongest feelings that are seen are remorse, guilt, and how he is a wimp. Victor suffers a deep shock when he sees or, better said, when he is struck by the news that he is being accused of Henry’s death. Victor knows he deserves the pain and guilt, but he wishes to forget of all of this and just go back and never have mixed up with Mother Nature. The monster is obviously responsible for the murder, but he takes blame for it because he created. Victor, in his days of madness, says “Why did I not die? More miserable than man ever was before, why did I not sink into forgetfulness and rest?” (Shelley 183). Victor feels he deserves to die, and even though he might, he sees himself as incapable of overcoming this issue. Frankenstein just wants a quick escape and these kinds of decisions have been the factors producing such a catastrophe. It started when he decided to abandon the monster, continued with not testifying in favor of Justine and continues to this point. Victor wishes to day and not has to face this because he is remorseful, miserable and wimpy. He expresses his miserable state when he describes us how he saw his life at the moment, “I was doomed to live and in two months found myself as awaking from a dream in a prison, stretched out on a wretched bed, surrounded by jailers, turnkeys, bolts, and all the other miserable apparatus of a dungeon” (Shelley 183). He feels miserable for creating this monster, a monster who has imprisoned his creator by framing him into a murder. He must be feeling miserable because he doesn’t have the guts to face the products of his ambitions. This elaborates on his inability to face his responsibilities and his mistakes. Victor failed to face the creation of his monster, and here, he just wimps about how miserable he is. Frankenstein even tries to elude what is currently happening to him, “I had forgotten the particulars of what had happened and only felt as if some great misfortune had suddenly overwhelmed me” (Shelley 183). Here he gives us the impression he just want to forget everything, as he says, and die, never having deserve any of the misfortune placed upon him. Frankenstein only complains and doesn’t face his problem and downfall: the monster. This shall be carried until the death of his other two loved family members: Elisabeth and Alphonse, and proving Victor’s coward nature, he only reacts when he doesn’t have anything more to lose.
I believe Shelley wanted to explore the “popular” themes of that time like messing up with nature, and could’ve written this as a warning. Shelley may arouse curiosity into pursuing this subject but clearly shows, though in a tragic manner, not to mess with the unknown, or Mother Nature.
In modern days its seen how every action has its reaction, even is the first action is not necessarily intended to do harm. He created the monster with no malice but didn’t have any love nor compassion for him, converting the monster into a “feeling-less” being with no heart to love, after being denied love in every human encounter. Shelley might have also meant to show us how we need to step up and med our mistakes, to prevent them into accumulating into one huge problem. Procrastination or evasion of problems is a cancerous disease that’s attacking humanity; if not they are not treated, the consequences can sometimes be mortal and horrific, like in Victor’s case.
After the death of his brother, his friend, father and finally his wife, Victor lost his last chance at an even remotely happy future.
Victor lost all purpose to life and his sole purpose of living is to bring and end to his creation. This is the first point in the book that Victor fulling accepts that he is that cause of the deaths of all those he held dear. All that anger, hatred and saddness that he felt towards himself he put on the monster. Although Victor knows he is the cause of all the misfortunes that took place he is incabable of fully taking the blame. He is able to put every emotion that he holds into defeating the monster which was the instigation of Victor's downfall. "Liberty however was a useless gift to me, as I awakened to reason,at the same time awakened to revenge...and ardenly prayed that I might have him within my grasp to wreak a great signal revenge on his cursed head." (Shelley206-207)
I think Shelley was trying to show how things we create can be the cauase our own distruction. I believe it is the same today, that people are able to see that as technology advances our creations have the possibilites of becoming more advanced than us and can overpower us with strength as well as with knowledge. Before someone creates something they need to fully consider every possible consequence that might take place.
After having negated the monster of a female companion “with whom [he] could [have lived] in the interchange of those sympathies necessary for his being” (Shelley, 147) and having obliterated any hope of the monster to liberate himself from his horrific solitude, Victor consciously embarks on a journey, where he becomes utterly obsolete in any future attempt to protect his family. He once more surpasses a point of no return, and paves the way for a path of intolerable sorrow. He creates a placard that holds the Frankenstein surname as the main entity of appeal for the creature to inflict as much pain to Victor as humanly possible.
The repercussions that these chapters bring are those that Victor accounts himself responsible for. In these chapters Victor is brimming with remorse, regret and regressions of the past. As he recalls the past I appears that Victor is repentant not only of having created this foul monster but not have providing him of a female companion, who could have probably prevented the demise of his family member and everything that he had once held dear on earth. Examples of his poignant pain can be seen, when Henry Clerval a cherished friend of his is murdered because of his negation to comply with the creature’s demands. This can be demonstrated when Victor denounces the heaven and trying to seek comfort and reasons why “Clerval, his friends, [his] benefactor” had been abruptly taken from him (Shelley, 182).
The creature takes everything from Victor, including the “destruction of the best hope and the purest creature of earth? (Elizabeth) (Shelley, 203). When this occurs it appears that Victors stumble upon his very last coming of age moment, and crosses a threshold into a state of negligence having lost everything that he had ever held any affection for.
Apart from the fervent misery that can be displayed in Victor through the tragedies that he encounters in this story, I do believe that there is a great sense of morality. I believe that the moral of this story can be alluded somewhere along the lines of Jules Poincare’s words of wisdom “It is through science that we prove, but through intuition that we discover”. This can be displayed even in the beginning where Victor’s creation of the monster is purely scientific. But is also shown throughout the entire book, where intuition and experience guide the monster to develop into a contemptuous murderer.
I believe that what Shelley intended to evoke with this book is the interior conflict of Victor. And in order to relate this to the romantic era, she decided to demonstrate this conflict with fervent emotions and surround her story with rich and vivid language. She also decided to use numerous literary devices such as imagery and hyperbole to exude sentiments of grief and misery that commonly permeate Victor to the reader. However, the effect that this novel has on the modern era is somewhat straightforward. The diction that Shelley uses is exceptional but is still not sufficient, to alter the general meaning of the consequences of karma and dharma (an individual’s duty fulfilled by the observance of law or custom) that this book has on the modern reader.
"The appearance of death was distant, although the wish was ever present to my thoughts; and I often sat for hours motionless and speechless, wishing for some mighty revolution that might bury me and my destroyer in it ruins" (Shelley 188)
This quote has both repentance and revenge. There is revenge in the last part, when Frankenstein wishes the monster to die with him too. There is repentance in the creation of the creature, since without it, he wouldn't be in that position.
Frankenstein is facing the consequences of his actions, of not taking responsibility of the creature, and of being so weak and naive.
Shelley meant that Frankenstein would want to die because of an external cause, but nowadays, someone might think that Frankenstein would want to commit suicide. Since suicide is more common now than it was in the Romantic era, it might be interpreted this way.
I believe that everything that happens in these chapters towards the end of the novel is because of Victor’s total inaction. “Why had I not followed him and closed with him in mortal strife? But I had suffered him to depart and he had directed his course towards mainland” (Shelley 174) He knows that Clerval is in the mainland and he knows the monster is heading there and it takes him like 2 o 3 days to decide that he should go out on his boat. “Fiend…your task is already fulfilled! I thought of Elizabeth, of my father and of Clerval – all left behind, on whom the monster might satisfy his sanguinary and merciless passions.” (Shelley 177) He says these things because he is aware of them, but he never does anything. I believe that he is a coward and evades what he knows is going to happen, or he is too stupid to even notice what can happen next. The monster has told him that he will be there with him on his wedding night so he finally decides that he will confront the monster once and for all. “I would sell my life dearly and not shrink from the conflict until my own life or that of my adversary was extinguished.” (Shelley 202) Again he says this and he does go looking for him, but he doesn’t stay with Elizabeth to protect her from the monster, which I believe he does on purpose to evade having to fight the monster. It was so obvious that the monster was going to try to kill Elizabeth, since it was the most precious thing in Victor’s life and it would finish ruining him. When Victor shoots from the window it is already too late because the monster has escaped.
What I believe Shelley was trying to portray in the novel was the sense of messing with nature and science because Victor has this passion for science when he created the monster and this monster ends up destroying all those that he loves. What we get from reading this novel in the modern era is that everything that you do will have its effects and they will come back to you. Victor did wrong in creating and monster and leaving it behind with no responsibilities to it and the monster finished him.
Victor's foolish actions had some serious consequences. He didn't comply with the monster's demands and therefore had to cope with the violent repercussions performed by the monster. Henry Clerval was assasinated by the beast, and this greately affected Victor. To make matters worse, he is accused of the murder."'For that matter' replied the old woman, 'if you mean about the gentleman you murdered, I believed that it were better for you if you were dead'"(Shelley, 184). Victor enters into a state of shock, guilt and remorse. He is extremely saddened by his friend's death, and his strong emotions are accompanied with convulsions and fevers that almost kill him. He sometimes also enteres in a state of insanity. "Memory brought madness with it, and when i thought of what had passed, a real insanity possesed me; sometimes I was furious and burnt with rage, sometimes low and despondent"(Shelley 197). The consequences of Victors decisions have brought upon him terrible agony and insanity.
Victor's creation turns to be the source of the destruction of his life. He loses the dearest people in his life. he loses his dearest friend, his wife, and after that, he loses his father too. He was imprisoned in a dungeon where he deeply thinks about what has become of his life. "I lost sensation, and chains and darkness were the only objects that pressed upon me. Sometimes, indeed, I dreamt that I wandered in flowery meadows and pleasant vales with the friends of my youth, but I awoke and found myself in a dungeon. Melancholy followed, but by degrees I gained a clear conception of my miseries and situation and was then released from my prison." But of course his release from prison would not bring back what he has already lost. This is Shelley's expression of the melancholy for the dear things that are lost, a very Romantic theme. Victor thinks about what he has lost for his creation, the loss of everything that is dear to him. As the repercussions are completed, and Victor sinks in melancholy, he will probably now only want to stop the source of his misery.
Victor has a gifted mind, his intelligence is unmatchable and is capable of doing amazing things like creating life. Although he has exceptional intellectual powers, he is a weak man. He recurrently breaks down at the sight of loss “ when I saw the amrk of the fingers was mentioned, I remembered the murder of my brother and felt extremely agitate; my limbs trembled, and a mist came over my eyes” (shelley 181), he formulates excuses to avoid his responsibility, and does not take action against the beast and instead tries to find in compassion a quick solution fir the problem but us too weak to act upon it as we saw in chapter 20. Although these three chapters constantly make reference of victor’s life consuming guilt, all the events that occurred in these chapters are due to his cowardice he shows in through out the book. He was to coward to deny the creature petition, to coward to finish what he promised, and was to coward first of all to acknowledge the creature and formally confront the creature. Now he must attain to the consequences, the death of Clerval, and Elizabeth at the hands of his creation.
The romantic era was known for the evasion of reality and its problems by seeking refuge in their imagination and the appalling sight of nature. In my opinion Shelley shelly tried to portray this common practice with the popular affluence of science through victor’s achievements. In the story we learn that victor evades reality by running away from the creature and seeking refuge in nature, and seeks the tranquility of his mind through sleep where his dreams can take over his crude reality. In those time evasion of reality might have been considered a way to repress feelings. But in today’s society evasion is an act of a weak person who isn’t man enough to stand firm and strong, a way to avoid the dirty and painful work of finding a real solution and answer to the problem. What I got from this is that people in that era were to weak minded to confront the the vile government and by repressing their feelings the found a viable solution that in the end gave root to nothing.
Victor's feelings of repent, remorse, and revenge are obviously present within the lines of chapters 21, 22, and 23. All he talks about in chapters 21 and 22 is how he is ever so sorry that he created this preposterous being. He doesn't understand how he could've ever imagined he wouldn't have caused destruction. For all this he blames himself because he knows he created the creature. Yet his cowardice is still evident because he did not want to confront the creature. Yes, he did carry a gun and sometimes a dagger but he was always afraid. He was afraid of his own footsteps, but something happens in ch. 23. The monster messes with his beloved Elizabeth and a spark ignites within him. Finally he gets the courage to do what he should've done in the first place, seek and destroy the monster. "I do not doubt that he hovers near the spot which I inhabit; and if he has indeed taken refuge in the Alps, he may be hunted like the chamois, and destroyed as a beast of prey (Shelley)." He wants to go out and seek his revenge. His thirst has awakened.
Shelley's appeal, nowadays, is different than in the romantic era because times have changed. In the romantic era her appeal would've been to the sensitive side of the public because she uses eloquent and elaborate language to describe Victor's emotions. However, in the modern era this is seen as wonderful, but the emotions are seen differently. We view Victor as a coward because we are used to seeing hero take action and confront their problems. Victor is viewed, in the modern era, as a modern wimp.
http://www.literature.org/authors/shelley-mary/frankenstein/chapter-23.html
"My father was enraptured on finding me freed from the vexations of a criminal charge. [...] I did not participate in these feelings, for to me the walls of a dungeon or a palace were alike hateful. the cup of life was poisoned forever, [...] I saw around me nothing but a dense and frightful darkness". (Shelley 188)
By this point, all that Frankestein expresses is deep regret. He does not manage to find any happiness or hope in his life. He destroyed his own self when he gave life to the creature. When comparing a dungeon to a palace, Victor proves that he does not see the difference in between light and darkness any more. Everything seems dead to him now, and only the terrible feeling of repentance haunts his days. This is how he is facing the consequences of what he has built, cowardly and filled with remorse.
There is a strong and obvious change in language from the romantic era to our modern time. Shelley's readers in the past probably read her book with sorrow and compassion for Victor, as she relates her story with strong and impacting vocabulary and uses the techniques of the romantic era. However, nowadays, this language does not impress us that much. Instead of feeling pity for the protagonist, we criticize his childish manners and disapprove of his naivete.
The obvious statement in these chapters is revenge-- both the monsters and Frankenstein's. However, this is not simple revenge- the monster's at least. The creature wants to get an eye for an eye with Victor. In the beginning (with the boy's and Justine's death) we thought that the creature was killing them because they were the closest to Victor and would hurt the most-- but in reality, the creature wants Victor to feel as alone in the world as he is. He begins by mistakedly killing the boy, but once we get to Eliabeth's death, it is much more thought through. The creature could have killed Alfonse, but he doesn't because Victor specifically "killed" the creature's soon-to-be "wife". This is following an eye for an eye exactly. "She was there, senseless and inanimate, thrown across the bed, her head hanging down and her pale and distorted features half covered by her hair." (Shelley 203) is sort of what the creature would have said when Victor "trembling with passion, tore to pieces the thing on which [he] was engaged".(Shelley 171)
Victor's revenge is different- he merely wants to end his misery when he has no one else left. He yearns to kill his masterpiece because he has hurt him too much, but he doesn't really analyse the situation as much as the creature, mainly because there is nothing more that can hurt the creature more- there is only his life to his existence.
I think Shelley intends to warn us about meddling too much with the unnatural, but also that this association can make th meddler lose his humanity. Victor is, as a cause of all this "misery" no longer as "humane" as he was before- even he says that Clerval was like his link to society when he's in the remote island. This can also be seen when natural phenomeni no longer have the same effect they had on him as before- the Rhone being the slightest exception.
I get that one has to think of the consequences of one's actions before pursuing certain tasks. If this is an innovation for example, one has to think of all the different (unintended) results and how one could handle these. I think that we've lost too much of the appreciation of nature because of the scientific explanations we have for natural phenomena.
Chapters 21-23 makes a strong theme on guilt. As Victor falls ill due to his monster's actions, Victor is also psychologically affected."I was a shattered wreck-the shadow of a human being. My strength was gone. I was a mere skeleton, and fever night and day preyed upon my wasted frame"(shelly189). Filled with guilt and despair, Victor is wasted and weak. Due to "the death of William, the execution of Justine, the murder of Clerval, and lastly of [his wife](Shelly205)" and the loss of his father, Victor feels extremely guilty and responsible for the deaths of his dearest family and friend. As Victor feels that he had "unchained an enemy," he also feels guilty. "How they would, each and all, abhor me and hunt me from the world did they know my unhallowed acts and the crimes which had their sources in me!" (Shelly191). Victor blames himself for the cause of letting the bloody monster unchained and he also feels helpless as well as wishing for his own death as he could no longer take the pain. Later on, Victor confesses to his father that he is "the assassin of those most innocent victims;they died by [his] machinations. A thousand times would [he]have shed [his own] blood, drop by drop to have saved their lives" (Shelly192). This clearly shows how Victor lives with guilt and his hopeless and helpless regretting his earlier actions.
I think Shelly intended to say is that Victor's guilt makes him blind and guilt itself prevents Victor to take action upon the monster and bring an end to his misery. "Oppressed by the recollections of [his] various mistfortunes"(shelly190) Victor takes pills in order to sleep and this shows his way of escaping reality Instead of taking action and facing reality, just like in Romantic era where people dwelled in imagination to escape their real life miseries.
I as a reader got the idea that Victor is a weakling unable to achieve what he planned from the very beginning. I also got that being too close to unknown knowledge can bring danger to present possessions.
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