Frankenstein Mega Revision

Frankenstein PowerPoint Summarisation

The Modern Prometheus

• Prometheus was the only Titan that didn't rebel against Zeus

• He was assigned the task of creating man,

• Became too fond on man

• Caused Zeus to tie him to a rock and force a vulture to eat his liver that would regenerate every day

• Shelly positions Prometheus as a scientist

Paradise Lost

• Fictional account of the book of Genesis

• Victor defies God in a similar way to Satan

• The Creature craves a companion (Eve) but Victor refuses

• The childhood of Elizabeth and Victor is likened to the garden of Eden

Walton & Victors Parallels

• Solidarity

• Self-Educated

• Obsessed with their mission

• Overconfident

Opinions of the Creature

• Likened unto Satan

• Passionate responses that are often seen as romantic

• Isolation and loneliness isn’t productive

• Literature is useful for teaching

Knowledge

• Victor seeks knowledge while not thinking of the potential ramifications

• Walton parallels

Education

• Romantics favour natural education over a formal one

• Victor is self-eduacted

• The Creature learns from the DeLacy family

Family

• Shelly lost her mother early

• Elizabeth’s mother dies at childbirth

• Victor does not care for the Creature that he should parent

• Victor shows a great level of neglect

Gothic Influence

• fascination of the supernatural

• gothic architecture designed to feel magical or otherworldly

• characterised by apprehension and the premonition of disaster

• Action tends to occur at night or in the dark

• Motifs include revenge, death, doppelgängers, and a family curse

Romantic Influence

• Grand and picturesque

• Creature is moved by the natural world

• Victor does into nature to think

• Walton seeks to conquer nature

• interest in irrationality and delirium

• Self-consciousness must be transcended

• The Creature is indicative of Victors narcism

• Victor acts out his romantic view of becoming God

Walton - Ambition

• Waltons Ambition Threatens to elicit the demise o f himself and the crew on his ship

• Waltons ambition is a significant element ninth novel, and is developed through the letters ton Margaret, as he initially starts out full of ambition, before having to rein it after believing he was going to free in the Arctic

• “I have lost my hopes of utility and glory”

Walton - Isolation and Companionship

• Walton and the Creature make parrelells, as they both desire “the company of a man”

• “I desire the company of a man who would sympathies with me; whose eyes would reply to mine“

• Walton tells of a profound sense of loneliness and isolation during his expedition

Walton - Family and Love

• Loves his sister

• “My swelling heart involuntarily pours itself out thus. But I must finish. Heaven bless my beloved sister”

Walton - Morality

• Reflects victors selfish and ambition nature

• Decides against “pursuing the same course” as Victor

• “I cannot lead them unwillingly into danger

Clerval - Ambition

• Drawn to the spirit of adventure

• Sort of a travelling merchant

• “He loved enterprise, hardship and even danger, for its own sake”

Clerval - Isolation and Companionship

• Main companion of Victor, takes care of him in times of need"

• “My dear Frankenstein, how glad I am to see you! How fortunate that you should be here art this very moment of my enlightening”

Clerval - Family and Love

• Cares for Victors family

• Difficult relationship with father

• “My dear Victor, what for gods sake is the matter”

Clerval - Morality

• visits Victor when he is in Ingolstadt

• remains loyal to Victor when Victor becomes isolated

• Happy for Victor when he is given the opportunity to study even when he isn’t

Justine - Ambition

• Does not fear death, she welcomes it with hope of he own absolution

• “ I did confess, but I confessed a lie. I confessed that I might obtain absolution, but now that falsehood lies heavier in my heart than all my other sing”

• “Yet she appeared confident in innocence and did not tremble, although gazed on and execrated by thousands, for all the kindness which her beauty might otherwise have excited was obliterated in the minds of the spectators by the imagination of the enormity she was supposed to have committed.”

Justine - Isolation and Companionship

• happy being alone

• Resolute

• Accepting of isolation

Justine - Family and Love

• Left her home and abusive mother after her mother died

• Taken in by Alphonse, treated with love

Justine - Morality

• Does nothing immoral but is still greatly punished

• Accepts her fate

• “I rest my innocence on a plain and simple explanation of the facts which have been adduced against me”

Alphonse & Caroline - Ambition

• Selfless

• Adopt Willian, Elizabeth and Justine, put others before themselves

• “My mother prevailed on her rustic guardian to yield their charge to her. They were fond of this sweet orphan”

Alphonse & Caroline - Isolation and Companionship

• Alphonse isn’t very accepting of Victor love for science

• “My father was not scientific, a nd I was left to struggle with a child’s blindness, added to a studious thirst for knowledge”

• Believed in the marriage and companionship of Victor and Elizabeth

• “My children, my firmest hopes of future happiness were placed on the prospect if your union

Alphonse & Caroline - Family and Love

• Caroline dies looking after an ill Elizabeth

• Caroline represents goodness

• “They seemed to draw inexhaustible stores of affection”

• “my mothers tender caresses and my fathers smile of benevolent pleasures”

• “Think of us with affection”

• My parents were possessed by the very spirit of kindness and indulgence”

Alphonse & Caroline - Morality

• Alphonse is sympathetic towards Victor

• Consoles Victor in moments of pain

• Encourages Victor to remember the importance of family