Getting Back to the Frame Story

The frame story in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein is forgotten for most of the story, but revisited at the end.  It appears that Victor is in dire condition, and shows no sign of wanting to recover.  Walton says, "Behold, on these desert seas I have found such a [friend]; but , I fear, I have gained him only to know his value, and lose him.  I would reconcile him to life, but he repulses the idea," (Shelley, 157).  Walton has longed for companionship for a long time, and he has it taken away nearly right after he found it.  After the crew threatens to mutiny, it becomes clear that Walton with not achieve his dream after all.  But Victor's tale has shown that there could possibly be some value in not pursuing dreams that will inevitably hurt the dreamer and anyone around them.  The ends with Victor's death, and the monster's reaction.  The creation reveals that he was a slave to his impulses, and he too no longer wishes to live.  He promises Walton that we will go into the arctic desert, and allow himself to die.  It is assumed that Walton will return home, to his sister and family, valuing there company and lives much more than he did when he left.

Victor Finally Snaps

In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, the title character takes on a dramatically different personality throughout the book.  He initially seemed to be a innocent kid with real enthusiasm to experiment and achieve something new.  But this creation would prove to completely kill that Victor.  As more and more of Victor's loved ones die at the hands of his creation, guilt weighs on him heavier and heavier.  After the creation kills his wife on their wedding night, Victor is nearly without any relation in the world.  With this, he attempts to kill the monster at any cost.  Risking his life in a variety of ways, Victor chases the monster throughout the wilderness and to the North Pole.  Once on the boat and recovering, he hears that they my me turning around to avoid a mutiny.  He says to this, "I had determined, if you were going southward, still to trust myself to the mercy of the seas rather than abandon my purpose," (Shelley, 154).  Victor's loneliness has driven him to the point of true insanity, and he no longer cares about anything else in the world outside of the monster's death.

A Near Opposite Scene

In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, the title character finds himself in a familiar scene with peculiar differences.  It appears that the scene in which Victor is creating a companion for the monster is actually the near exact opposite of the original creation scene.  When originally Victor found that he was excited to endeavor on such a task, and now finds himself distracting himself and delaying.  Victor says, "Sometimes I sat with my eyes fixed on the ground, fearing to raise them, lest they should encounter the object which I so much feared to behold," (Shelley, 120).  This shows fear where there was once confidence and excitement.  Another notable difference between the two scenes is the role of the monster.  Originally Victor was the master over the elements, putting them together in order to grant the monster life.  But in the later scene, the monster had become the master, forcing Victor to give life to another creature.  Obviously another large difference is the fact that he destroyed the second creature, and took pride in this act.  The scenes differ greatly, yet they show an obvious connection.

The Creature Continues to Transform

In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, the creature continues to evolve to an interesting state.  Throughout his beginnings, the monster deemed docile and peaceful, and simply looking for companionship of anybody that would care for him.  But shortly after exposing himself to and being rejected by the family he thought were so noble, his heart becomes dark.  His immediate thoughts after putting himself out there was, "Cursed, cursed creator!  Why did I live?  Why, in that instant, did I not extinguish the spark of existence which you had so wantonly bestowed?" (Shelley, 97).  The family he had spied on had been put on a pedestal in his mind, they being the family that might be able to accept him.  But with their rejection and fear, he began to question the purpose of his life.  He soon realized that he needed some form of companionship, but would be unable to find it through a human.  His darkness continues as he kills Victor's little brother in order to attract him to his home town.  The monster that threatens that the brother will only be the first of his victims if he was not granted a partner.  When he was not, he indeed does follow through and kills Victor's best friend and his wife.  This rejection has twisted the monster's mind into the school of thought that violence is the superior way to achieve one's goals.

An Ironic Reaction

In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, the family the creature stalks has a rather ironic reaction when he reveals himself to them.  Through the observation of the family and their treatment of Safie, the creature believes he has a small chance of being accepted.  It is revealed that the family has experienced the pain and hurt of rejection by all society.  The De Laceys used to be a well esteemed family, but after an event things changed.  "They remained confined for five months before the trial took place; the result of which deprived them of their fortune and condemned them to a perpetual exile from their native country," (Shelley, 89).  This family has had exile thrust upon them, and it would be thought they would understand a similar creature.  Upon talking only to the blind father of the family, the creature finds encouraging words that make him feel a little bit better.  The father says if the family is good, they will take him in regardless of looks.  But upon the seeing children's return, the creature was beaten and feared until he left.  The family then proceeded to leave the area altogether.  This is counter to what most people, including the monster, would believe they would do, as the family had been through similar circumstances.

Quite a Transformation

In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, an extremely unexpected twist occurs.  After the death of William and execution of Justine, Victor feels overwhelmed with guilt.  He believes that his monster was the one who caused the deaths, and thus he took full responsibility mentally.  In order to try and find peace, he set out for the mountains, where we was relatively relaxed until he saw a figure sprinting towards him.  It was his creation, who appeared to have developed an incredible amount since being released two years ago.  The monster now has a full understanding and ability to use the English language, and was able to appeal to Victor's reason when Victor tried to attack.  The monster said, "You accuse me of murder, and yet you would, with a satisfied conscience, destroy your own creature," (Shelley, 69).  Through some circumstance, he has become a highly intelligent and well-read individual, referencing many stories and the Bible as he told his story.  The creature reveals that in his time, he discovered certain concepts, such as heat, night, and rejection from villagers.  He begins to spy on a family once he has found a hovel for himself, and begins to understand language and reading.  The beast considers these people his friends, yet they have never known he existed.  He feels a strong desire to reveal himself to the family, and possibly through the use of language convince them that he is not a monster.

A Very Dangerous Road to Go Down

In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, the title character begins down a mental path that is very dangerous.  After his creation receives life, it leaves Frankenstein's house.  The mentally put Victor out of any responsibility of the monster.  He went to school to learn for the sake of learning and was leading a relatively care free life with his friend Clerval.  But after two years he receives a letter, informing him that his brother has been murdered.  He immediately rushes home, only to spot the monster and immediately know that it is the killer.  However, the families adopted child, Justine, is tried and killed as the murderer.  Victor internally blames himself for all these deaths, along with the sadness he thinks he has brought upon the family.  He thought, "From the tortures of my own heart, I turned to contemplate the deep and voiceless grief of my Elizabeth.  This also was my doing!  And my father's woe, and the desolation of that late so smiling home..." (Shelley, 60).  Victor has mentally started down a dark road, claiming responsibility for the monster he created and abandoned.  This will likely lead him to pursue interaction with the beast, which could be dangerous.  His guilt could lead him to do something very destructive, such as chase the monster to the North Pole.

A Very Good Friend

In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, the title character reveals that after his creation gets away, he falls into a mild state of depression.  He is disinterested in the science that he had devoted his life and health to for the last two years.  But immediately upon success, he became scared of his creation.  As he fled his home and waited for the monster to leave, he ran into Henry Clerval.  Henry was a childhood friend who was always a very nice person, and very outgoing.  Throughout Victor's sickness, Henry provided him with the best heath care possible.  Clerval sacrificed much of his free time and ability to experience his new college campus in order to take care of his friend.  Clerval provided a person that kept Victor company and allowed him to heal emotionally and physically from the stress of creating the creature.  Although Clerval seems to be his best friend, Victor claims he, "could never persuade [himself] to confide to [Clerval] that event which was so often present to [his] recollection," (Shelley, 43).  This lack of ability to open up about an extremely traumatic event will likely lead to ongoing mental problems.  This unhealthy state could be one of the many reasons he seems to be in such bad shape when he is found by Robert, and why he always looks back onto the events that have transpired with a sense of doom.

A Story Seemed Doomed From the Start

In Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, the story is told through an interesting point of view.  The title character takes over narration beginning in chapter one, and he constantly eludes to the fact that his destiny was a bad one.  When the reader is introduced to a new character, it is almost always met with the same explanation at some point.  He claims that if the meeting had been avoided, he could have avoided the awful fate that he eventually met.  As the narrator, he seems to be looking back on the story and wishing he could change just one part of it, so the ordeal would never happen.  Another common theme he discusses is his destiny.  As he tells the story, he says he was doomed from the start, and his fate was set to be painful.  He says things such as, "Destiny was too potent, and her immutable laws had decreed my utter and terrible destruction," (Shelley, 23).  Victor as the narrator is a very remorseful and regretful person.  He wishes nothing more than to prevent the events that have ruined his life, but his only power now is to recount the woeful story.

Not Quite What Was Expected

In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, there are many events that go against the stereotypical story line of Frankenstein.  The most notable of misnomers about the story is who is Frankenstein.  While many people think the monster is Frankenstein, the creator is actually the title character.  Shelley's work focuses much more on Victor Frankenstein's life, and his path toward eventually bringing life to a sum of dead body parts.  He appears at first to be a likable man who is unable to find friends or support for his beliefs.  He desires to do something that nobody in the world has ever done before.  In American folklore, Victor is extremely proud of his creation, and laughs as it is struck by lighting, bringing it to life.  In the American classic however, he eludes to the fact that this was a bad idea, and immediately after he subtly slips "a spark of being" into the monster, he released he regretted it.  Victor said, "...but now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart," (Shelley, 35).  The creator ran away from his creation twice, and showed that he wanted nothing to do with it after it became apparent he had succeeded in bringing it to life.  With these and other differences present  it is necessary for the reader to go into the story with a fresh mind.  Folklore has made portions of this novel much more spectacular than they really are, and a biased reader could lose some of the meaning of the story if they only focus on the widely known and rather inaccurate events.

The Poor Son

In Larry Rottmann's APO 96225, a son is writing home to his mother.  His mother begs him to tell her every detail, yet he continues to write shallow letters that don't really mean much.  Upon continual urging of his mother, he finally gives in.  He tells about how he killed a man and helped kill women and children.  This prompted his father to write "Please don't write such depressing letters.  You're upsetting your mother," (Rottmann, 846).  This situational irony is humorous, but in a sad way.  At the end, the son reverts back to his shallow letters that don't quite tell the whole story.  This exemplifies the attitude of the Vietnam War in America at that time.  Many people wanted to know about the goings-on, but when they heard the truth it was so disturbing they preferred ignorant bliss.  The speaker seems a little resentful of the war as well.  He writes this as though the son is frustrated with the situation, but trying to make the people he cares about happy.

Craziness Is Good

In Emily Dickinson's Much Madness is divinest Sense, the speaker discussed the theme of craziness.  This is not necessarily insanity, but more the craziness a mad scientist possesses.  "Much Madness is divinest Sense- To a discerning Eye," (Dickinson, 830).  In this passage, she explains that it takes a wise person to realize that craziness is a good thing.  She goes onto say that the majority of people think it is dangerous.  They see it as a threat to themselves, and feel as if they need to take action.  The powerful majority will condemn any person who has a viewpoint different from their own.  Dickinson says they will be shunned and put in chains.  This shows that sometimes, the majority is not correct.  Usually, any person who is crazy enough to break the mold is ridiculed, yet sometimes they are later held as some of the greatest geniuses of all time.

What a Strange Funeral

In Emily Dickinson's I felt a Funeral, in my Brain the narrator tells of a very strange event.  The speaker describes a scene that is similar to a funeral.  There is one sense that is extremely central to the poem.  Hearing is referenced several times throughout the work.  The speaker would things like, "Kept beating-beating-till I thought my mind was going numb-" (Dickinson,776).  This likely is the pounding sensation one gets when they have a throbbing head ache.  She describes the events of the funeral, but she appears to be inside the coffin.  As they bury her, the noice gets louder until it is as if all of heaven is yelling at her.  Finally it all goes quite, and she says she is finished knowing.  This likely means the woman has gone crazy.  The head ache that caused the ringing sound drove her to an insane state that she was not able to return from.

The Strangest Man Ever

Herman Melville's Bartelby, the Scrivener followed the strange encounter between a lawyer and his employee.  The speaker seems to be a relatively normal lawyer of the time.  He prefers to tend things that did not involve a lot of human interaction, and his employees seem to indicate that he is alright with mediocrity.  But a new person is hired in the office, his name being Bartleby.  This new employee seem to have nearly no social skills, and is unable to function in a normal work environment.  Yet this employee is able to manipulate the speaker into letting him live at the office and do literally no work.  Bartelby simply would use the same phrase that enabled him to do or not do whatever he wanted, "I would prefer not to," (Melville, 650).  After going to extremes to get rid of Bartelby, like move his offices, he realized that he misses Bartelby for whatever reason.  Bartelby seems to mirror the speaker, as there was never a family mentioned or any activity other than work.  Through Bartelby similarity to the speaker, the speaker feels sympathy for Bartelby, and tries to protect him from the outside world.  Bartelby eventually dies in prison, which could symbolize that the speakers will die alone too.

The Sad Case of Miss Brill

In Katherine Mansfield's Miss Brill, the title character seems to be in a rather pathetic and sad state.  She goes to the park every Sunday, as a tradition, and simply watches the people.  She observes random interactions throughout the park, and even has a band to animate the actions with music.  But as the story goes on, it is apparent that this woman is in a lonely state of mind the forces her to look for some kind of companionship.  She mentally tried to convince herself that she belonged to the community when she compared them to an acting company.  She even thought to herself, "No doubt somebody would have noticed if [I] hadn't been there; [I] [am] part of the performance after all," (Mansfield, 185).  She is desperate to create the illusion for herself that people want her around.  She always takes a fur coat that still has the eyes of the animal, and talks to it as if it is a member of the audience.   Towards the end, she overhears two teenagers talking about how sad and weird she looks.  This prompts her to leave, pass her favorite bakery, and cry in her home.  Miss Brill wanted desperately to belong to the imaginary acting company, but she was stuck being part of the audience.