Before our class next Wednesday, you will want to write a summary of our discussion from today’s class. It should be at least 250 words, and it should include a synopsis of the assigned chapters from Frankenstein and a discussion of today’s lecture. This reflective writing will help you remember our course content, and it can be an opportunity for you to demonstrate your understanding of course material by bridging your thoughts to what we are covering during class by sharing your informed opinion, independent research, links to relevant material, etc.
19 thoughts on “After Class Summary: Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, chapters 9-18 (Vol II)”
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In Chapters nine to eighteen Clerval sends a letter from Elizabeth, stating fear for Victor’s illness and nervousness because of his slow absence. Elizabeth tells us that Justine Moritz, whose cousin and a family friend to the Frankenstein family, has arrived back to live in their home. As Victor’s recovers, he and Henry study Oriental languages and take tours to the Ingolstadt countryside. In these chapters we learn how Henry’s romantic appreciation of where they are at kind of has an uplifting influence on Victor’s health and psyche; But that all changes, when a letter from Alphonse Frankenstein informs him of a strangling death of Victor’s five-year-old brother name William. Reaching home to his grieving family, we learn that Justine has been accused of killing William due to the fact there was a discovered locket given to William by Elizabeth in Justine’s pocket. Though we know Elizabeth is innocent, Justine is forced to give an untrue admittance to the court, and not even Elizabeth’s emotional defense helps to stop Justine’s conviction. Victor soon becomes overwhelmed with guilt or feels no one will agree his old excuse of the creature; which leads him to isolation and a suicide attempt but he stops himself so he can protect the rest of his family from the creature. Victor travels to the Chamounix valley where he encounters the creature. The creature then relates himself to a fallen angel. Though Victor hates the creature with all his heart and expresses his anger towards it negatively, he’s still willing to listen to his creature’s story. He starts off with the sights and sounds of Ingolstadt were alike as newborn baby, daytime and nighttime and getting food and water in the forests and streams; to the creature Nature became his home and sort of a protected bubble. He desires company but, soon realized by the screams when he enters a small village he can’t; he often flees from place to place when folks see him. Afterwards he’s set to find his creator while on his mission to find Frankenstein, he rescued a little girl from drowning, and when he was paid in return with a bullet, he “vowed eternal hatred and vengeance to all mankind.” Afterwards within two months, in Geneva, he ran into little young William in the woods; who fought and called him “monster,” in responds the creature strangled William and plants the locket in the sleeping Justine’s pocket. Then after telling his story he wants a female creature made clearly for him. Frankenstein argues that the he will only make matters worse to destroy mankind if given a partner, and declines even with the creature’s threats of revenge; until Frankenstein only relents when the creature promises exile from Europe.
In today’s class lecture to the connection of the book Frankenstein, we found there are many elements in Frankenstein chapter one threw eight. The first is that the story is Science Fiction bringing new life from body parts of decease humans can’t be done and the fact the monster shows human emotion and can talk back in perfect sentences. The second is that there is an element of Scientific Revolution, with Victor Frankenstein there was a spark of Enlightenment of knowing the secrets of life and death and reading works from philosophers of the obsession of the elixir of life; which in the end helps his create his unnamed horror show of a monster aka the monster of Frankenstein. The creation of the monster was sort of a skepticism to young Victor, could what he read be done; they say in life the dead can’t come back but Victor proves that wrong it’s possible horribly possible I may add it kills his brother William. Furthermore it questions our beliefs as readers is it possible to happen in today’s world, well I think maybe not yet now but in the future I’m sure it can be possible or similar to the idea of bringing someone back to life once more and it becomes intelligent like us.
Mike Paar
After Class Summery
2/10/16
The second part of Frankenstein continued with Victor returning home after learning of the death of his brother. Although a housekeeper was accused of the murder, Victor suspected that the deed was actually committed by the monster. Thus Victor blamed himself for the murder purely due to the fact that the monster was of his own creation. This led to a long period in which Victor wallowed in mourning and guilt unable to break free of his own self accusations. He eventually departed home once again and wandered the wilderness only to finally encounter the creature atop Mont Blanc.
The creature detailed the time after his awakening as a state of confusion and innocence, wandering the wilderness and eventually going into hiding near the cabin of a family. There, the monster observed the family’s daily activities and learned to mimic them, their language and how to read. Desiring companionship, the monster waited for the right time to reveal himself before the family in hopes of acceptance. When he finally did so, the plan backfired and the monster was violently chased from the cabin back into the woods. Other encounters after that point resulted in violence as well. It wasn’t until a convenient chance encounter with Victor’s brother, William, that the monster learned that he too could commit acts of terror and ultimately killed William and framed the murder on the house keeper.
This part of the story concluded with the monster demanding that Victor create a female companion for him with the promise that the two of the them will depart Europe leaving Victor in peace. Although Frankenstein protests this request, he knows this is a task that must be completed, otherwise further acts of violence will visit him and his family.
The lecture continued on the discussion of the Scientific Revolution and its influence on the novel at the time. It also delved into the foundations and philosophies of Romanticism and its reaction to the Enlightenment. The lecture, as well, defined the differences between the Beauty and the Sublime, as laid out by Edmund Burke and how they related to what Frankenstein intended with his creation and what actually came to be.
Finally it laid out the definition of Gothic literature and how it both relates and conflicts with the themes of the novel. During this part of the lecture, I found myself wondering about other early possible examples of Gothic literature. Namely a number of Shakespeare tragedies, could they could possibly be defined as Gothic? Probably something worth looking into.
I took a look at the places where the creature travelved and Victor Frankenstein did also on google maps and this is what I found when looking at the locations —>
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Volume 2 begins with Victor feeling guilty that he can’t sleep at all. He enters a state of depression. He tried going on Lake Geneva and to the Swiss Mountains. He goes to Chamounix valley region to calm and gather himself. Victor tours around a nearby mountain and glacier on Mount Montanvert. There, he meets his creature. Victor ready to fight it to the death, it asks Victor to listen to what he has to say. They both go into the creature’s hut on the mountain. It begins with the creature as the narrator. The creature’s first memory was fleeing from a village and learned to live in a forest. It’s difficult for it to get food and shelter, but he manages to find a hovel attached to a cottage. Creature begins to watch the De Lacey family that lives in the house. The family comprised of the Felix, Agatha, and their blind father. The creature notices how each of the family member cares for one another, but he can tell there’s a gloomy atmosphere due to the family’s poverty and no food. De Lacey were originally from France, but was exiled from France to Germany. Creature learns French from the De Lacey family, practicing on his own. The creature wants to help out the family, so it secretly gathers resource and do repairs at night. It continues to do this from winter to spring. Felix meets Safie, a Turkish woman, his long lost love. Felix rescued Safie’s father and placed Safie in protection of a nun’s convent. Safie is not literate. While Safie is learning Felix’s language, it helped the creature as well because he wanted to learn from the start too. Creature considers the De Lacey family his protectors. De Lacey family had wealth and social power in France. Their downfall was where the French authorities discovered Felix’s plan to rescue Safie’s father and to subvert the biased justice system, while freeing a Turkish merchant from being executed. The creature began studying, reading books and notes that were found in Victor’s jacket that were in the nearby woods. It was all books that were influenced by the Romantic Movement. The creature states that the De Lacey family has started to do better, now that Safie is there. Creature sees the De Lacey leave their cottage, so it burns the cottage. It traveled to Geneva, where he meets Victor’s brother, William. It realizes who William was, so it murders him and plants evidence to point to Justine. The creature asks Victor to create a friend for it. Victor sympathized with the creature and agrees to create a mate for it. Victor returns to Geneva, studying on how to create the second creature. He tells his father that he wants to go to London for a tour and promises him that he will marry Elizabeth when he returns. September, he leaves Geneva and travels to London, going through France, Germany, and Holland. Henry Clerval joins Victor on his trip. They both arrive in London during the end of December.
During the lecture, we learned that in response to the Age of Reason, came a literary movement called Romanticism. Romanticism is not mainly about romance. It had more to do with imagination and power of human mind and spontaneous emotional response. Romanticism believes stuff seen in the world depends on the human mind to give it meaning. British Romantic period started in 1785 and ended in 1830. Williams Wordsworth wrote Lyrical Ballads, which lays out what Romanticism was. Wordsworth also spoke with Mary Shelley’s father and spoke with Edmund Burke. In 1757, Edmund Burke wrote an important book called Philosophical Enquiry into the Beautiful and the Sublime. In the book, Burke tries to figure out the fundamental way humans imagine the world.
Edmund Burke’s definition for sublime were: “vast in their dimension”, “rugged and negligent”, “loves the right line, and when it deviates it often makes a strong deviation”, “dark and gloomy”, “ought to be solid, and even massive”. Founded on pain – terror, danger, fear.
Edmund Burke’s definition for beautiful were: “The beautiful is comparatively small”, “The beautiful is smooth and polished”, “beauty should shun the right line, yet deviate from it insensibly”, “should not be obscured”, and “It is light and delicate”. Founded on pleasure.
We also learned about gothic, which is a literary genre that comes out of Romanticism. The first gothic novel was by Horace Walpole called Castle of Otranto. Characteristics of gothic literacy are: 1. Settings usually old, dark, isolated, overbearing, 2. Supernatural elements (ghost, demon, witches, etc.), 3. Always some kind of secrets that gets found out, 4. Often crosses boundary, 5. Emotional content of what we think of sublime: suspense, horror, foreboding, terror. Frankenstein is not considered as gothic because it’s missing the supernatural element.
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelly was burn in 1797 and died in 1851. Mary has unique parents, her father, William Godwin, was a minister that became an atheist, her mother, Mary Wollstonecraft, was a political activist that wrote “A Vindication of the Rights of Women” in 1792. Mary Wollstonecraft died 10 days after Mary Wollstonecraft Shelly was born, Mary Shelly learned about her mother through her writings.
John Darius
2/11/16
After Class Summary
Chapters nine threw eighteen were about how Victor Frankenstein was dealing with the tragic event that involved Justine Moritz unfortunately taking the blame for the murder of Victor Frankenstein’s brother William. Through these chapters, Victor Frankenstein is not able to come to peace with what had happened, and he begins to feel shame and regret for allowing Justine Moritz to take the blame for the murder. Sometime later on, Victor Frankenstein travels to a mountain on Mount Montanvert where he eventually comes face to face with his own creation he called a monster. During Victor Frankenstein’s confrontation with the monster, the monster begins to tell Victor Frankenstein his story. The monster explains how he later on begins to examine the De Lacey family. The monster also explains thT he later on began to realize just how different he was from everyone else in terms with how his body looked different from other people.
The monster began to realize there was no one else like him. While the monster examines the De Lacey family, he begins for the first time to feel emotions. He begins to notice how much the De Lacey family cared for one another and how much they loved one another as a family. While the monster focuses his attention on the De Lacey family, he begins to question why he is so different from everyone else. The monster also begins to question what he wants for his life. The monster later asks Victor Frankenstein to make a female companion for him, and that he promises to leave Europe. Victor eventually believes the monster and creates a female companion for the monster.
The middle of the book Frankenstein show how Victor inability to control what he created has tormented him even though Victor was successful in creating this creature he be came afraid of his own creation which led him to run away but soon return to find the monster missing but while Victor gazed into the mountains he encounter the monster who tell him his own story. Part II of the books the monster begin his own journey questioning his surrounding and by doing so he discovers pain and pleasure the monster begin to experience confusion and loneliness. The monster begin to learn language by listening to the De Lacey family he soon realized he was different from the others and he did not fit in society. The monster become in rage and set out to find his truth about his creator once he found Victor he began to tell his story Victor listen to the created and what he wanted since he was one of a kind and wanted a companion but Victor refuse to provide a mate for the creature but once the monster promise to leave into some jungle in South America Victor felt that it was fair for the monster to have his own mate and leave, but the monster never fully trusted Victor and always kept coming around to see if Victor has kept his promise of proving him with a mate.
In the middle of the book we discussed in class how victor was intertwine with the meaning beautiful and what is sublime. Victor created this sublime creature that’s he imagine to be beautiful but found himself completely overwhelm of his creation. Secondly in the gothic literature that’s is used in Frankenstein make the break into science fiction with super natural element that’s give life to this creature.
It was really interesting reading Frankenstein, it show perspectives of the Victor then after first 13 chapters it switch to the perspectives of the monster. It’s the first time where I experience such an element when reading and it really kept my attention on the novel for a bit. The story itself is full of sadness and grief on Victors life. He loses his beloved ones slowly after each chapter of the novel and it just makes him more depress. When Victor’s mother died he decided to cure death by trying to raise the dead yet creating a hideous monster. He left the monster loose into the world causing his youngest brother, William, get killed by the monster. When we are in the monster’s perspective, he wanted to fit in the society but due to his hideous form, people rejected him causing the monster to seek revenge on his creator, Victor.
The Enlightenment Age is where people set up the stage of science fiction. When the Enlightenment Age started in the England during the 17th century, people started to think of reasons. In this age everyone starts to develop knowledge. They question about everything from their old beliefs. They want to break away from their belief and making all humans equal. When the scientific revolution started there were a lot of inspiring scientist making new discovery. Copernicus argue about the Helio-centric of the world where Earth revolves around the Sun instead of the Sun revolves around us. Galileo establish the modern astronomy and Issac Newton develop mathematic.
In class we discuss the “…Sublime and beautiful” by Edmond Burke (1757). The sublime is described as vast, rough and negligent, dark, gloomy, solid massive and founded on pain. The sublime loves the right line and if it deviates, it makes a strong deviation. The beautiful is comparatively small, smooth, polish, carved by hand, should not be obscured, light and delicate and founded on pleasure. It shuns the right line and if it deviates, it deviates in sensibly (curves). Early science fiction writing is similar to the gothic genre but it does not have the supernatural. Science fiction tries to explain everything with science even if it is convoluted. In response to the Age of Enlightenment and Scientific Revolution came about Romanticism and The Gothic. The idea of romanticism is that emphasize emotion and nature.
For class we read the second volume of the novel, chapter 9 -17. In Chapter 9 Victor goes travelling to reflect on the things that had just occurred. He travels to Lake Geneva, Chamounix and Mont Blanc. In Chapter 10 Victor continues his travels and on Mount Montanvert he encounters the monster. The monster begin to recap what has happened to him from escaping to the present time. In chapters 11 to 16 the monster tells his story. The monster is unwelcomed where ever he went. The people would run in fear or attack him. He steals food to get by and shelter is hard to find. Eventually he finds the De Lacey family and for a while observes them. The De Lacey family includes the brother Felix, Sister Agatha and their blind father. The monster thinks the family should be happy as they have all of the necessities – food, shelter, and other people around them. For the family life is difficult, they use to be well of. They attempted to aid a friends and for that they have been exiled from France to Germany. The monster secretly aids the family buy gathering wood, and fixing their cottage. Felix’s lover Safie returned to his life. She brings along some servants and life for the De Lacey family improves. The monster has been educating himself by learning Felix’s language, listening to their conversations and reading one of Victor’s books that was in his jacket. The monster eventually makes his presence known to the family. First he talks to the father, the conversation goes well until the rest of the family returns. The monster is attacked by Felix, and is rejected by the De Lacey family. While the family is away the monster burns down their cottage. He eventually makes his way to Geneva and crosses paths with William. He murders William and places the locket on a sleeping Justine. In Chapter 17 the monster finishes his story and demands that Victor make him a mate or else he will destroy him. The monster argues that he should have a companion. After some arguing Victor agrees to make a mate for the monster.
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein opens with letters from Robert Walton to his sister while he is on a journey for knowledge of the earth’s poles. His ambition is highlighted as one of his sources of loneliness on the voyage. He feels that the other members of his crew are not suitable friends. This is when Victor Frankenstein enters the story and begins telling his tale of his problems with ambition. Beginning chronologically with the way he grew up.
Victor speaks of his family dynamic. He has loving parents and an adopted cousin, Elizabeth, of whom he speaks highly. He mentions his youthful interest in natural philosophy which leads him to study alchemists such as Agrippa, Albertus, and Paracelsus. Upon reaching 17, Victor is sent to an academy in Ingolstadt to increase his understanding of the world. He is greeted by Professor Krempe who is appalled by Victor’s studying of alchemy. He insists that Victor must restart his studies in the true scientists. Professor Waldman, however, encourages Victor to pursue his own dreams and desires. It is at this moment, Victor begins his descent into the deepest secrets science holds. He contemplates the possibility of reanimation and delves all of his time to this end His obsession with his work causes Victor to ignore his social life and many other aspects of a normal healthy life. He stops writing home, much to the dismay of his family who wish only for his wellbeing. Victor does in fact finish his creation but to his horror, the beautiful creation was actually a hideous monster that not even Victor could stomach.
Copied the wrong thing when I posted. Corrected is below:
Victor is called home because his brother has been killed. When he learns of the way the boy is killed, Victor knows that the act was committed by his creation. Justine Moritz who was once a resident of the Frankenstein household, is framed for this murder. A locket belonging to the Lady Frankenstein is found in her pocket. Justine decides to falsely confess to the crime and despite the declarations by Elizabeth to the court that Justine is innocent, she is still executed for William’s murder. Knowing the deaths rest solely on his shoulders, Victor is overcome with guilt. He secludes himself in hopes to be lost in the wonders of nature.
For a time, he is engrossed by the sights and smells of the pastoral scenes. He still can’t escape the reality of the world and once again comes face to face with his creation. Instead of killing his creator, the creature decides to tell his story from the moment he was given life to the present. He admits to killing William and framing Justine. The creature claims that he vowed revenge on humanity for treating him with such scorn wherever he went. Even after saving the life of a child, he was hated and shot. He demands that Victor creates a companion for him. That as with Adam and Eve, he deserved someone to be happy with and claims this female companion would quell his violent temperament. Victor reluctantly agrees after the creature promises to leave Europe in exchange for meeting his demands.
Victor’s isolation from the world to create this creature wears on him like a used car. His infatuation with immortality has become this creature. The creature as described, “His limbs were in proportion, and I had selected his features as beautiful. Beautiful! Great God! His yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath; his hair was of a lustrous black, and flowing; his teeth of a pearly whiteness; but these luxuriances only formed a more horrid contrast with his watery eyes, that seemed almost of the same colour as the dun-white sockets in which they were set, his shrivelled complexion and straight black lips.” Victor grew ill due to remorse from creating this creature. Clerval came to Victor’s aid in order to restore is health and lifestyle. Once this was accomplished a letter from Alphonse Frankenstein (Victor’s father) written about the death of William (Victor’s brother). Victor and Clerval travelled back to Geneva to grieve the death of Victor’s brother. Justine Mortiz was accused and convicted for the death of William. The family did not believe that she had done because of her caring far more than a servant. She died as a result. Victors conscious overwhelmed him, as he knew who the killer was, therefore set out on a journey. This would intersect paths with the creature. The creature convinced him to go to his layer and hear his story. He starts by the disregard and the neglect of his creator. Despise from his creator pushed him to fetch on his own. He became somewhat of a nomad with no direction. As time went on he felt hunger brought him to a barn where he hid. The creature did not dare directly interact with the family, as he learned from a time before when he was shot saving a girl from drowning. He learned from the De Lacey family how to speak French from watching them through the barn. He longed to be part of the family, finally made the attempt while the blind father was left alone. He explained how he had been at service to them and in return would only like to be part of the family. The son burst in and tears his father away from the creature and tries to hurt the creature. The creature knowing he was able to cause him major damage fled. The family sold their house and the creature grew in anger. The creature vowed to make the life of his creator miserable. He went on a journey to Geneva to cause destruction, which he did. The creature explains to Victor that he needs a companion and will cause more destruction, if he does not provide him one.
Romanticism is defined as “a movement in the arts and literature that originated in the late 18th century, emphasizing inspiration, subjectivity, and the primacy of the individual.” The imagination of the creature and the perceived feelings are shown in the novel. The imagery of the sublime and beautiful are not only seen the interpretation of the creature and man, but also in the descriptions of the places. Victor states that the glaciers and avalanches are sublime.
Second part of the novel from chapter 9 to 18 Victor was so sad because of the William and Justine execution. Then one day he decided travel to summit of Montanvert because natural sense and to get some fresh air. As he walked up to top of the ice glacier he saw that his creator was coming towards him. When he saw him Victor was so angry and told him go away but the monster convinced him to give him some accompany. Then the monster was telling him his story. It began with that day he left Victor house he was cold, hunger, thrust etc. He was looking food and he entered a old man hut but he was scared and run away from him. But later on he decided to stay in cottage from there he can see that they seem unhappy because he was stealing their food. Times he stopped stealing food and but he had learned their language. But he was still lonely and alone because he was everybody in the village have somebody to take care of them but he doesn’t. So end of the chapter 18 the monster asked Victor to make another female monster so he could her all the time. After that Victor decided to make another monster for him….
In today’s lecture basically we talked about Scientific Revolutions. It begins with works of Corponikos (1473-1543). After that came Universe is noble of human beings. Then we talked about Scientific methods such as theories, hypothesis, experiment etc. We also talked about Industrialism which is Romanticism but British Romanticism begin in 1785 and ended in 1830. In 1757 Edmund Burke wrote a book name “….Sublan and Beautiful…..”. Sublan means solid and massive, danger, fear, pain etc. Lastly, beautiful means smooth, polish, it can hidden, its light and delicent etc.
During the second volume of the book “Frankenstein” by Mary Shelley victor receive the sad news that his youngest brother William was murder. Justine was the first suspicious for the crime since evidence brought all the fact point to her. Victor knew she would not do such a crime, he was more than sure that his creation(monster) had something to do with this murder. Victor couldn’t accepted what he had done and that is why tried to get alone with himself and try to understand travel to different places like Mont Blank, Chamounix and Lake Geneva. During his journey to Mount Montavert Victor meet with the monster, they talk to each other and there’s when the monster start telling victor how he had suffer all this time that he had been away, he said he wasn’t accepted by the people because of his aparience of monster they usually attacked him or run away, people didn’t support him at all, the only way he found to survive was stealing food, more than this there was a bigger issue which was shelter, he couldn’t fine it easily because of his giant side. He meet the De Lacey Family there is when he started learning from the them how to speak French from watching them through the barn. He went inside the house when the father was alone, the father was blind. Everything went good until the rest of the family arrived to the place. The son of these started hurting him, he was just trying to explain all what he had done for the family. But after they treaded him that way he didn’t accepted and a feeling of anger and none control over him took over the creature. The monster accepted that he was the one who killed William, Victor’s brother. He asked victor for someone that can be with him, if not he will cause more destruction that what he had done. After all victor accepted to prevent more damage.
During class lecture prof. Ellis explain define romanticism which is not a romantic telenovela stories, it has to do more with imaginations and the power of human mind and the spontaneous emotional responses. This word come from the British romantic period started in 1785 and end it 1830. He also explain the difference between sublime and beautiful. Sublime according to Dr. Ellis means more solid and massive and rounded of pain, terror and fear. While beautiful is light and delicate and it been found more in pleasure. He also went through a gender call gothic that is what make a novel science fiction. Some characteristic of these are setting, supernatural elements, secrets, crossing boundaries and emotional context.
Mathew Tackett
2/13/2016
After Class Summary
During today’s class we examined the next chapters for Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and delved a little further into the world of Science Fiction. The reading was discussed openly in class and from the basis of everyone Frankenstein’s monster was given a personality and almost human like characteristics.
The death of William was discussed as was Victor placing the blame on the monster despite the planted locket in Justine’s pocket. During Justine’s court appearance Elizabeth bursts out in an uncontrollable emotional display that stop’s Justine’s conviction despite the evidence. This spurs Victor to feel guilty and almost kill himself because he knows the creature he created is at fault for what has happened. In Chamounix, Victor finally encounters the creature he has sought so long and feels nothing but utter disgust and hatred for. The creature explains his life from birth almost like a child, he explains his desires and that he once saved a child’s life. When his rescue was returned with malice he vowed an eternal hatred and vengeance to all mankind. He also tells Victor he wants a bride.
After much discussion in class we then started to relate the book to parts of Science Fiction. We discussed how a book like this because of how it tries to explain everything is labeled into the Science Fiction category. It’s pretty clear that the time period in which the book was written provided a ton of influence. Lecture also postulated that Gothic Literature was related to the themes of Frankenstein and how it shares many things with our current work of fiction.
Chapter nine begins with a depressed Victor who is suffering due to his brothers death and the execution of Justine, the shock has been affecting his mental health. His father Alphonse decides they should go to the family home in Belrive to cheer them up. Victor finds some short lived solace in this trip, but would soon be haunted again by his despair. Here he decides to travel to the summit of Montanvert, he remembers how the view had affected him the first time he saw it. Again Victors solace is short lived as his creation spots him at the summit and moves in quickly towards him. This encounter leads to the creature expressing himself to victor after leading him to a cave. He tells him of how he learned to speak by mimicking villagers he had encountered, how he survived by essentially stealing from them and then feeling guilty. After some time he learns some history of the village, knowing the stories of some villagers. This brought an incredible feeling of loneliness for the monster, but when he attempted to interact with the villages they pushed him away, leading the creature to despise humans, and killing William. The creature demands a bride to never be alone and to avoid senseless acts due to his loneliness. Some of the things discussed in the class included Natural Philosophy which was the word used for Science. With the age of reason came Romanticism, which has to do more with the human experience and emotions, a period which lasted from 1785-1830. A few quotes from Edmund Burke about the Sublime and Beautiful. It can be inferred that victor is a romantic due to his journey with nature. Finally the literary genre Gothic was discussed with Its characteristics, the important ones being its dark setting, supernatural elements, secrets to be found, and boundaries crossed.
In class, we discussed many themes and terms used in Science Fiction, as well as more works of science fiction. As spoken of in class, Sci-fi started in the Age of Reason/Scientific Revolution. People were able to explain human beings and other phenomena that were not explainable before the age of reason. After this came the Romantic Age (romanticism), which focuses on imagination and emotional responses from the readers. This age created an age where readers were able to use their imaginations and were able to feel the emotion coming from the pages (British Romantic Period). There was also this theme of the sublime that was brought up in the lecture. Sublime is to be scary and beautiful all at once, much like Frankenstein’s monster. Victor wanted the monster to be both beautiful (a symbol of resurrection and life) and it ends up being feared, “out of the norm”, bigger than others. The sublime also relates to the gothic themes which can correlate with sci-fi.
In the assigned reading, we see Victor return home after the deaths of his brother William and Justine. He comes home and finds that his father and sister have changed since the deaths of their brother and Justine. The home he once knew as a child had changed. He felt nothing but hatred for the beast that did this to his family and his life, and wanted nothing more than to destroy him. Victor decides to travel through the valleys towards Chamounix; wanting his own solitude to think about his emotions. On the trip, he runs into the monster he had created. The monster confronts Victor as Victor gives the monster a piece of his mind, telling him how angry his is and how he wants nothing more than for his destruction. The monster threatens Victor to listen to his story or he will destroy the life Victor has left. Feeling it as his duty as the creator, he goes with the monster. The monster tells Victor of his experiences: how we felt a rush of all his senses as he first saw the light; his life of solitude and scavenging. Any human activity he had led with the townspeople chasing and attacking the monster. The monster would watch the interactions between people in their houses. After trying to be friendly, however, the people chased the monster out back into solitude. The monster longs for companionship, and realizes after many violent attacks on him by others, that he can inflict violence as well, and kills Victor’s brother William. After this, the monster finds Victor and demands that Victor create a female companion for the monster, or violence will come to his family.
One point that was interesting to me is that although his human activity was mostly negative (having someone scream in fear just looking at you, then to throw stones and attack you isn’t very positive), the monster would scavenge houses and watch the interactions between the individuals that lived there. He found beauty in watching the interactions between this one girl and her family. The book also mentions the word sublime many times, and I think that we can relate that word into the monster. Although scary and feared by people, the monster does have feelings, and feels beauty in watching people and their interactions and affection for one another. Although he can be cruel, we see relations between Walton and the monster: this longing for a companion who can relate to them.
Volume two of Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein Victor feelings the guilt of his brother’s death and the execution of Justine, is laid in very melancholy state. His father feeling the grief of his son and the family, take Victor and the rest of his children to an excursion to the family home at Belrive. Victor being in Belrive reminisces on his childhood, which brought him some relief, but on rainy day victor is brought up with his old feelings of despair and guilt. Victor being struck with his old feeling decides to wanders into the summit of Montanvert, to find so recollection with nature, to change his drearier attitude for the better.
While on his trip, Victor comes across the murderer of his brother, his ghastly creation, at the top of the summit. Feeling overwhelmed with hate, Victor attacks the creature but the creature possessing inhuman strength and reflex easily avoids Victor’s assault. Approaching Victor in a charismatic way he persuades Victor to listen to his origin and why he is what he is now.
The creature began the story with the night when Victor created him. He explained that after being brought to life he retreated into the wilderness, where he learned the sensations of cold, hunger, thirst, and even how to bring warmth, by ensuing flames with wood. The creature went on to speak about his encounters with mankind. One Instance he had found refuge in a hovel next to a cottage, where he observed the occupant of the cottage, consisting of a blind father and his young son and daughter.
By observing them day and night he learned that they were unhappy due to their poverty, feeling guilty of haven stolen food form them, he gathers wood for then and leaves in at there doorstep fully replenished daily. He learned of the dialect of their language, learning that sound of the mouth produced words and how words can be written. He learned of the beauty and ugliness of mankind, realizing his own deformed figure. Watching the cottagers for many months he became affectionate towards them, and wanted their love and he later prepares himself to encounter them, but before doing so he made it appoint to master their language.
The monster knowing that the father being blind will not fear his form of give any prejudice to him, he decide to show himself to him first, but with his children finding him in the presence of their father, they unlike their blind father found much prejudice and fear of the creature, and thought there father was in danger. So the children attack the creature and ran him out of their father’s presence and out of the cottage.
In the wake of this rejection, the monster swears to revenge himself against all human beings, his creator in particular and heads toward the hometown of his creator. On his way to Geneva he saves a girl from drowning and then is shot by the man who accompanied the girl. After this event he felt more hate toward mankind.
When the creature neared Geneva he encounters Victor’s younger brother, in the woods. When William mention his father name, the creature become engulf with rage upon knowing that he is the family of his creator and he then strangles and kills the boy and later frames Justine.
On the conclusion of his tale the monster wishes that Victor being the cause of his turmoil and pain with brought his existence must provide him with some another creation like himself to accompany him in his life.
Angela Teeraj
Frankenstein (Vol 2)
Hoping it would lift their spirits from all the tragedies they’ve had to endure, Victor and his family travel to Chamounix Valley. They explore the mountains and take in the sights, moving them away from their depression. It is shortly after this that Victor encounters the creature he created. Miserable and desperate, the creature begs Victor to speak with him. Although Victor hesitates, he eventually agrees and the two go off to discuss the creature’s life thus far.
The creature begins to tell Victor of how he’s managed to survive on his own. He informs him of his discovery of essentials like clothing, fire and food. But his biggest discovery was when he came upon three cottagers. He observed them from a distance for months by watching their mannerisms. The creature was able to learn of human nature by observing the cottagers. He also managed to teach himself French through studying books. But the most important observation he made was how unlike the humans he was. He envisioned his story similar to Adam, but often felt like Satan in the world. Still, wishing the cottagers would see past his demonic exterior and befriend him, the creature decides to reveal himself to them. He became enraged at his failed attempt and was chased away by the mortified cottagers. The creature fled to Geneva where he crosses paths with Victor’s younger brother. When William mentions that he is the son of Alphonse Frankenstein, the creature takes his vengeance and strangles the boy to death. He takes the picture of his mother William had been carrying and places it in the servant girl’s dress, he comes across sleeping in a barn. After informing Victor of his misery, the creature convinces Victor to make him a female companion. He persuades Victor that with a female companion he will no longer be compelled to kill.
During our class discussion we go over romanticism: “a literary movement that has to do with imagination, power of the human mind, and spontaneous emotional response”. We see romanticism as a reoccurring theme in Frankenstein. We also define the terms “sublime” and “beautiful”. We also discuss why Frankenstein is classified as science fiction and not gothic. Although Frankenstein possesses gothic elements it provides reasoning to the supernatural occurrences, such as the rise of the creature. We also go over the background history of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, and analyze the different influences behind Frankenstein. Shelley’s mother was a pioneering feminist and a writer. Her father was a minister who became an atheist. Both her parents became major impacts behind her writing.
From the beginning of the story up to chapter twelve most of the story was told through the eyes of Victor. He has changed from the ambitious adventurer in to a wreck. He has to deal with the murder of his younger brother and the execution of Justine. As we move on victor and the monster finally have a show down. However, instead of a fight to the death with the monster he have a plea and this is point Shelly gives the monster’s perspective. The monster begs Victor to hear his side of the story and what his struggles and experiences he faced trying to assimilate to this new world. The monster goes on to explain his journeys and the people he meets on the way. During his travels he came across a family hiding out in a cabin and through this family he learned how to read and the language. He also learned the relationships humans dealt with and the series of emotion tied with those relationships. As the monster goes on explaining himself I victor finds him to be less of a monster and even feels pity for him despite the monster telling him the truth of how he accidentally killed his brother. After presenting his story to Victor all the monster pleaded for was to be loved, loved in the way in which he saw the family in the cabin. However, the monster knew that there was no one on earth who could love his presence, so he asked for a woman who he could share his love with and vanish forever with. Although this seems fitting it raises a problem for Victor. This means he has to return to his gruesome acts and recreate another hideous monster.