Before our next class (two weeks from today), post a comment of at least 250 words summarizing what you have read in Volume 3 of Frankenstein and the lecture notes that we discussed during today’s class.
If you have not finished reading Frankenstein, use the upcoming break to catch up on your reading, and continue with the next assigned readings: H.G. Wells’ The Time Machine (abridged) and E.M. Forster’s “The Machine Stops.” Links to these stories are available on the syllabus page.
Rebecca Delgado
ENG 2420
Professor Ellis
Due: September 27, 2017
Frankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley uses the brain as a virtual reality stimulator. This means that everyoneâs experience with the novel will be different depending on our life experiences. The world experiences we have is not exactly how the world itself is since we do not have direct access to every experience. This allows us to imagine what is going on in the story. The way I perceive the story may be completely different from another due to us living separate lives.
Also, the novel is a critique of the Age of Enlightenment by its issue of community, social responsibility and isolation. Victor, against his better judgment does experiments that are advised against. He tends to go to isolated places to do so, and then fails to keep those around him safe as an end result. Due to his hubris (excessive pride leading to downfall) and need to create life, the life he created ended up killing loved ones and inadvertently himself.
In Volume 3, the Creature tells Victor that he wants a companion so he won’t be lonely anymore and that the two of them will move to South America to leave him alone. Victor begrudgingly agrees and goes to a desolate island in Orkney to make the female counterpart. As he makes the female Creature starts panicking that they both will kill people and rips her apart. The Creature witnesses this and tells Victor that on his wedding night Elizabeth will be killed. Unfortunately on his wedding night the creature kills Elizabeth. At this point the Creature has killed 4 of Victor’s loved ones; William, Justine, Professor Clerval and Elizabeth. Than, Victor vows it is his lifeâs mission to find and kill the Creature.
Victor and Captain Walton meet and Victor tells the tale of what happened. At that point of his journey he is very sick and passes away. Walton finds the Creature crying over Victorâs lifeless body comes aboard and says that Victor is one of many victims he’s had. Walton finds himself terrified of the way the Creature looks. Eventually, writing his sister about all that was seen while on his voyage.
Brianna Grant
Eng2420 E255 Science Fiction
Prof. Ellis
City Tech
18 September 2017
Assignment #2
During lecture on September 13,2017, Professor Ellis expounded on how ones mind inadvertently processes reality and science into classifications. He provided thorough mind sets in which these classifications were exhibited and supplied circumstantial evidence related to the text and so much more.
He began the lecture by elaborating on Victor’s initial knowledge before going to Ingolstadt. He then expounded on the biology of the mind. Hence, this has been a philosophical scientific debate between natural philosophers. Thus, this has separated these individuals into two groups the empiricists and and the rationalists. Empiricists use evidence and conclusion to classify real processes that create results. Empiricists are individuals that believe that the mind is a blank state that acquires information through language and knowledge and empirical trail and error. Hence, this classification is a major piece of information especially because we now know that Mart Shelley sided with empiricists. Lastly, the empirical view at that time does not have to do with developing a soul and is the main reason why Mary Shelley sided with them.
Subsequently, the next classification of the biology of mind that Professor Ellis expounded on was rationalists. Rationalists believe that the mind isn’t a blank state. A famous rationalists would be an individual by the name of Des Cartes. Des Cartes believed that the sight of the soul was the pencils gland as a result of it only being one of them present in the brain in which he stated in his 1662 work entitled “Treaties of Human.” Lastly, he expounded major topics such as issues of community, social responsibility and isolation that was presented in Frankenstein.
Saif Ahmed
Professor Ellis
ENG 2420
9/26/2017
Volume 3 Chapters 17-24
Throughout the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley Wollstonecraft many series of events take place as the main character victor finds his passion in another field of work and learning the work and through the natural experience of the natural world and Science, Victor Frankenstein creates his monster and the name is Frankenstein. At first the monster was like Victors baby and he did not know what to do as when a newborn is born. So Victor as time goes on the monster becomes upset with a lot of things in this world and does not know what to do. The Monster started to take the lives of Victors close relatives and friends. Through all of the Monsters experience he became aggressive. Victor on the other hand went away thinking the monster will not follow him, Victor regretted the being he created that takes life away. The Monster Approaches Victor and requests that the creator make him a companion and he told victor that he will go to South America somewhere and they will never find him. Then Victor leaves with Henry to England itching to start the Experiment, Victor starts gathering pieces and is almost finishing the female counterpart. The Monster is outside just staring and waiting for the companion to be complete. Victor aa he was about to complete one thought came to his head thinking what if this female counterpart disagrees to go to isolation in South America and what if they create more of these devils the world will be engulfed by devils. So he dismantles the female monster, Frankenstein outside is enraged and tells victor I will see you on your wedding day with Elizabeth. So Victor constantly thinking of his marriage day and Frankenstein confronting him Victor gets on a boat back to his home. Victor Almost stranded lands in the shores of a small town and the people accuse him of being the murder that killed a man not too long ago, and right as they went to show him the body Victor sees his friend Henry dead. Victor stays in prison and someone visits him. Victor thinks it is the monster but it is his father. His father takes him back home and they start arranging for the wedding but Elizabeth wants to know if he had any relationship with anyone else while he was gone. Victor did not, they continue with the marriage and victor wanted to tell Elizabeth a secret after marriage. Elizabeth screams and victor runs to her and see a gruesome scene. A couple days later Victors Father passes away. Victor is now alone and he swears he will find the monster at any cost, he heads to Walton and while there the narrative continues from Waltonâs point of view. Walton sees Victor Dead and leaves for some time then hears weeping he goes into the room where Victorâs body lies and sees a hideous creature as Victor explained to Walton the creature weeps and says it regrets killing its creator and that he deeply regrets becoming an instrument of evil and he also tells Walton his suffering and then the monster leaves the boat into darkness. This story shows Through Victors Arrogance of Science lead to many Deaths of his loved ones and that he never nurtured the monster as if it was his own and never gave it a chance and it became evil because of Victors choices. The Monster is a child basically did not know right from wrong and as a baby it needs to be nurtured taken care of. Now because the Monster was never reason with life of Victor is over because he could not take care of the creation it finished his life in retaliation.
Jia Du
ENG 2420
Professor Ellis
9/26/2017
On September 13, 2017, we started the class off with a discussion on the second half of Frankenstein. We talked about the characters, their behavior, and their story in the novel. Then the next topic we discussed was Biology of mind. There were two types of field people focused on, Empiricist and Rationalist. John lock was an Empiricist, and Mary Shelly was an empiricist. Next discussion was Theory of mind. The professor explained, Theory of mind is like a powerful ability for us to mind read. It allows us to make educated conclusions on what choices others would make, what they are feeling, thinking, and helps us engage in the story. Then the next topic we jump to was hubris; the presumption or behavior is perceived as arrogant and disrespectful. It is pride and self-confidence. We compared this to the story of the Gods and the novel, Frankenstein.
In Frankenstein Volume 3, Victor halts the creation of a female monster and refuses to marry Elizabeth until he completes the promise made to the monster. He goes to work for his father in Geneva but wants to start doing his own things. He eventually started the creation of the female monster but he ended up destroying his work which infuriate the monster and was later charged of murder. He fell ill and was sentenced to prison. But due to the lack of evidence he was set free and left with his father to Geneva. Later on, the story Victor and Elizabeth starts planning their wedding but Victors mind was always thinking about the monster. Eventually the monster kills Elizabeth and his father dies later on. With no one left in his life and everything taken away from him, the monster successfully dehumanizes Victor which resulted his extreme hatred and revenge towards the monster. Victor goes off looking for the monster and he meets Walton. He tells Walton his story and later on he dies. After his death, Walton discovers the monster in his chambers crying in sorrow. The monster tells Walton about his suffering and with Victor dead, he is also ready to die too.
Justin Tam
ENG 2420
Professor Ellis
September 27, 2017
As we move on to volume three of the reading which is Chapter 18-24 of Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, Frankenstein is traveling with Henry while gathering the required research once again to create a female companion for the monster. One thing I find interesting was that all these destinations that Frankenstein and Henry traveled to was done by Mary and her husband prior to writing the novel which some might speculate is the reason Mary included it which makes sense. Frankenstein later departs alone to make the final preparations creating the companion for the monster but at the very last moment, he had a thought of what if he created another one of these monsters and the two of them starting breed, heâll be responsible for dooming humanity. So, he tore the inanimate corpse to pieces while the monster was watching. This eventually leads to the death of his good friend Henry and then Elizabeth herself when they just married. This caused Victor to chase after the monster and we then find ourselves back at the beginning of the novel where Victor meets captain Walton. Victor then passes away and the captain finds himself meeting the monster himself besides creator.
During class lecture, Professor Ellis talks about the biology of the mind. Does the human mind start off as a blank-state (tabula rasa) or is it inherent? Mary was one of people who believed and sided with John Locke who was an empiricist meaning Locke believed we acquire things like language through trial and error from the start with a blank state. That anyone can repeat experiments done to see if it is true themselves. On the other hand, we have rationalists such as Rene Descartes, âI think therefore I am.â Descartes found the pineal gland in the brain which was only in one spot, he believed this to be the spot which was a signal between the brain and soul since no other spots in the brain have the pineal gland. Moving on to theory of mind which is mind reading or brains ability to understand or imagine what someone might be feeling such as emotion and motivation. This is shown by the characters in the novel such as the monster with the De Lacey family when he observed them, when they felt sad and happy.
One other thing mentioned during the lecture that I found interesting was about hubris which comes from Greek mythology, âit is the presumption or behavior perceived as disrespectful, arrogant, transgressing the limits of what is appropriate, it is pride.â Such as when Prometheus gave fire to the humans and Zeus chained him to a rock and have his liver consumed by an eagle daily, Prometheus was viewed as a hubris because of this. As with Frankenstein being a hubris throughout the novel, especially when creating the monster with no second thoughts of consequences, even more so when he abandoned the monster the second he came to life.
Alex Giffen
Professor Ellis
ENG 2420
9/27/2017
The summary of the last chapters in Frankenstein pick up after his encounter with the Monster. After Victor promises to build a mate for the Monster he decides to move far north to be in as much solitude as possible. Victor is almost done his second creation when he sees his original monster peering at him. In that very moment he decides he cannot have these creatures live to procreate and decimate humanity. He then destroys his newest project, ripping it apart with his hands. The monster vows his revenge on Victor’s wedding day, but he strikes sooner as well. Henry, Victorâs friend he left with, was murdered by the Monster and Victor is blamed. After spending months in jail Victor s taken by his father to return home. When it is finally the day that Victor is to be married, he is anxious the entire day. During the night he wanders his home looking for the Monster. What Victor failed to realize is that the Monster was there for his wife. The Monster murders Elizabeth and disappears. Victor tells his father and when he passes Victor vows to hunt down his creation. We come back to Robert, and after a few days Victor passes, never finding his Monster. However, after he passes the Monster appears to Robert. Now that the Monster has no one he is ready to die as well and he escapes the ship to die in the icy wasteland.
In conclusion, the novel Frankenstein is a critique on the Age of Enlightenment. It tells of how science can be both negative and positive for society. The best way for science to help society is if it is open and available for all. It has tones of positives and negatives fighting against each other. For example, Victor against the Monster, and in the end no one wins. Mary Shelley writes for social responsibility, community and of isolation.
Randy Valcourt
09/26/17
English lecture
In the final volume of Frankenstein the modern day Prometheus we continue from the scene where victor has promised to give his Monster a bride in order for the monster to stop his vengeful actions against him. So in order to do so victor travels with Clerval his friend and they headed North while Clerval remained in England Victor went on all the way to one of Scotlandâs isolated islands in order to do what he felt was an evil deed. When he began his work again and made the female body that would be the monsters bride when he was almost finished the monster appeared. In seeing the monster the thought that the monster could reproduce with its bride and make horrendous children crossed his mind and in fear he ripped the stitched corps apart right in front of the monster. Later we see that the monster continued his revenge spree and killed Clerval and framed victor for his death. Later we find victor is baled out of jail by his father and receives a letter from Elizabeth confessing her love for him. It was at that moment that he was finally happy that he realized that he was about to lose everything for the monster did say that if he betrayed him âI will be with you on your wedding nightâ. At first victor believed that the monster would kill him in a dramatic show down between a creator and his creation. However he later realized that the next victim of the creature was his new bride Elizabeth. It was on there wedding night that monster came to shed his vengeance even though victor was armed he was not fast enough to same his wife, and it was at that moment victor swore he would seek vengeance on the monster. However he never got the chance after telling his story to Captain Walton he later succumbed to his sickness and fatigued. The monster late comes and finds the died victor and cries proclaiming that he is now truly alone and will one day die alone. The story of Victor Frankenstein is as true as the books title â Frankenstein a modern day Prometheusâ. Just like Prometheus Victor shows hubris, he creates a new being without consulting any one and without giving the idea a second thought. Victor had to much pride in his abilities for the monster can into the picture. The Monster is basically the nemesis of victor, itâs a punishment brought forth by victors hubris. Because of victors wanted to play god he lost everything and everyone he ever loved to the monster he created. Just like how Prometheus was punished for giving his creation man fire from the gods.
Jessica L. Roman
Prof. Ellis ENG2420 E255
September 25, 2017
Frankenstein Vol. 3
The final installment of Mary Shelleyâs Frankenstein addresses the moral and ethical issues of Victor Frankensteinâs work. Whereas the first two volumes focus more on his personal guilt these later chapters act as a critique and cautionary tale of the ramifications of scientific advancement gone awry. This also touches on the responsibility the techno scientific community has to their work and to humankind.
A recurring themes presented in this novel is that of the hubristic offender and their nemesis. Throughout the novel, Victor is continually facing the repercussions of his actions, it continues in this volume when Victor takes a yearlong trip through England with Henry Cerval. The purpose for this trip, according to Victorâs father, was to raise Victorâs spirits with a hope he would be ready to marry upon his return. However, this was a guise to facilitate the research required to create the Creatureâs mate and deliver on his promise. Knowing what he must ultimately do before returning to Geneva weighs heavy on his sprits and Victor is rather morose while Henry is light and free-spirited. In this respect, they are counterparts or doppelgangers of one another. Victor and Henry eventually part ways so Victor can commence his work in secrecy.
One evening after months of work on the Creatureâs mate, Victor, while looking at the grotesque creation before him, has a moral and ethical epiphany. What if this science, this technology that he has wrought brings him peace and happiness but leaves the rest of humankind at the mercy of creatures that could wreak havoc on civilization, as he knows it. Then, in full sight of the Creature he already brought into the world, he destroys its possible mate and only chance at happiness. Having been betrayed and hurt once again by humans, and most importantly his creator, the creature confronts Victor and promises to exact his revenge on Victorâs wedding night. Victor, not understanding the hurt he has caused and the extent to which the Creature means to take his revenge, assumes this will be a battle resulting in his death.
The creature commences his revenge and one by one takes everything Victor loves. Firstly, on the same night as Victorâs betrayal, the Creature murders Henry and frames him for it. While Victor is awaiting trial he beings to lose more of his mind than before, he never truly recovers from this. When he returns home the looming threat of the Creature makes him hesitate to wed Elizabeth immediately. Eventually Victor does marry and as promised the Creature appears that night, however it is Elizabeth who is murdered. The Creatureâs also indirectly causes the death of Victorâs father, who has lost his wife and all but two of his children.
The remainder of the novel details Victorâs desire for revenge, he vows to follow the creature and no matter what the cost exact vengeance for his loved ones. This is what eventually leads Victor to Captain Waltonâs ship and the narration of this tale. While on Captain Waltonâs ship, which is still surrounded by ice, the crew has become restless and concerned with never making it home. They send in a representative to the Captain and explain if they are ever freed from the ice the ship must be turned around. Captain Walton finds himself struck between the crew whose lives he is responsible for and his pride. Victor encourages the crew to stick by Waltonâs plan and complete their venture. However, in the end, Captain Walton leaves it to a vote of the crew even though it costs him his only chance at fulfilling his dream. This is another instance where we see the doppelganger relationship, in this case in regards to pride.
In the end, Victor never exacts his revenge and dies before the ship can head back for England. Upon his death, the Creature shows himself to Walton and explains that Victorâs death is another by his hand. He laments that he never wanted to take the lives he did. However, how could he be expected to live this existence in solitude with no place in the world? Not even his own creator cared if the life the Creature never asked for would be one solitude. All the creature desired was what Victor experiences most of his young life, happiness, companionship and love. With that, the creature vows he will be of harm no longer to any other human, he declares he will end his life because only in death will his pain and loneliness cease. There is no positive resolution for any character we meet; Victorâs genius never brings him glory and all but one of his family die, the Creature is never accepted and Captain Walton is forced to swallow his pride and return to England.
Correction from last reply: The tragedy is that Frankensteinâs own monster killed his youngest, sweetest brother, but the monster is logical enough to know holding onto a distinctive heirloom will only get him in trouble and unwittingly puts Justineâs head in the noose. This is the reality of the five degrees of separation theory. What are the chances that a random person found near the murder was a close relation of the family and only cause more strife for the family?
Had Frankenstein accepted his creation, taught him ethics and accepted him into his family as his mother had always encouraged him to do, perhaps the story wouldâve changed and the monster wouldâve ended up being more a bodyguard and comrade. One cannot create a perfect human when a creature is left to their own devices, because survival instinct is brutal and cruel.
As we conclude the story of Frankenstein, Victor has become coerced into creating a woman creature for his monster. As he works in solitude in the Orkneys, his fear, anger and self-pity cause him to fall into a deep depression. His reasons for not finishing are sound: what if the female rejects the murderer and he has unleashed two ugly bumpkins with anger problems, what if they procreate and unleash their grossness upon the world, what if his original monster doesnât honor his vow and decides to stay amongst civilization. In another fit of impulsive action, Victor destroys the woman, only to seal the fate of his comrade and best friend Clerval. Being accused of murder seems appropriate, but the law sees the holes in the stories and he is left with his father to return to Geneva. Victor satisfies his familyâs wishes and marries Elizabeth, knowing full well that his promise to his monster was not fulfilled and in fact thwarted and, surprise-surprise, our poor Elizabeth is the next victim to the monsters vengeance. And so Victor realizes his life will never be left alone to live with the monster alive and pursues him with courage we didnât realize he had. The results are not happy, because Victor is already sickly, depressed, and unprepared and so dies shortly after his story is told. Walton meets the creature and hears that the creature has learned remorse through all his murderous actions and has banished himself to the ice.
In lecture, we spoke at length about the theory behind how the monster learns to talk. I am still skeptical that he truly couldâve learned how to talk with the small cultural lessons the De Lacey family provided their new wife, but we all know this is a story. Shelley believed that the knowledge was inherent, that we learned though immersion and as humans weâre instinctively able to learn through empirical trial and error. However, there is some rationalism in her argument, because although the monster learns to talk, he does not need to be taught that Victor will lie to him. We spoke at length on how Frankenstein has hubris, the inability to believe he could do any wrong, the belief that what he was doing was superior and –as the monster calls him– self-devoted. Frankenstein only causes pain and suffering the more he tries to do what he thinks is best.
Continuing off from the last major reading of Frankenstein, it was mentioned that Victorâs brother was murdered by Justine. Upon which Victor and Elizabeth have both believed her to be innocent of the crime. Through the story we see that even though their doubts have merit, it falls on deaf ears. As the story progresses we understand that Victor believes the true culprit to be his creation, who had done the deed. In which fate brings them to confront each other. Last we saw of the creature was that he had the mind of an infant, ignorant to the world, as well as showing that he was indeed also innocent to the show world as well. But time had past since they last saw each other, and the creature explains his tale to Victor, another narrative within a narrative. So we hear how the creature came to be in his intellectual state, and learn that heâs experienced a lot of trails and tribulations upon leaving his creator, to the point that he avoided human contact upon unnecessary violence against him because of his appearance. His refuge happened to be made in the shadows of a kind family called the De Lacey, they were the model family of what the creature used to learn from. He ended up using deductive reasoning to piece together his intelligence, from experience and listening, to gain levels of speech, understanding, and reading. Upon gaining this knowledge he also became aware of himself, noting that his differences from man, was a hindrance upon itself. So much so that heâs come to realize his destined fate is that to be alone, as even his creator abandoned him based on his hideousness. His last vestiges of hope in finding companionship was based on the De Lacey family, but even that was ill received as he was chased out, furthering his depression. Leading him to seek other lodgings possibly returning to his maker, in which he saved someone only to be met with violence again, as recurring theme. His emotions having gotten the better of him, the creature ends up committing an unforgivable act, destroying his innocence, by murdering William and placing blame on Justine. This was enough to enrage Victor once more on his creation, who has come to bargain on Victor creating a companion for himself.
Victor agreed to do it once more and heads up again in seclusion to do his experiment, only to realize that thereâs no trust between him and the creature, how could he believe that the deal would hold true, and if they would be happy with each other, considering their appearance would be similar and meet the same kind of condemnation in the eyes of others. He destroyed the newest creature, upon seeing this the creature, flew into a rage and vowed to make Victor forever miserable, and stated off committing more acts of violence against his creator, starting with Clerval. He was murdered and Victor was framed for the deed, further bring Victor into despair, and the final straw was the wedding night of Victor and Elizabeth, which not only ended her life, but the heartbreaking news ended his fatherâs as well. This spurred Victor on a path of revenge leading him to decline in health in which his obsessive personality had taken over once again. He spent years in pursuit of his creation just to end it, finally bringing us back to the beginning where Captain Walton and Victor meet.
Finally succumbing to his illness, Victor passes away and his creature, finally appears once more, only to lament his actions and seek retribution and forgiveness on what he brought upon his creator. He destroyed the life of Victor in a fit of rage and envy, which he finally understood, and it destroyed the virtues he learned of and sought to have, where he admitted his innocence was no more, because of the murders heâd committed. Understanding the tragedy created by Victorâs hubris and the creatureâs envy, he made his parting speech to Walton, and let it be known that he will seek his end, as atonement for his crimes.
Overall the story ends with a great deal of understanding that science is neither evil or good, but rational and what we make of it. But aside from that, we also see that there needs to be a leave of humility in what is being studied and pursued, unlike Victor who sought out to make his mark by overstepping boundaries. Not only that, but we also learn that obsession can be the end of all, Victor lead a life from one obsession to another, which in the end left his health poorer than before, ultimately putting an end to him. Finally we are also shown that, like most Science Fiction stories will tell us, is that understanding and getting to know the different and unknown, ultimately is a good thing, if the creature was given a chance before being chased off by, every human encounter heâs had, his innocence would still be intact, heâd be contempt with his design and life.
Gabriel Higuera
ENG 2420 E255
09/27/17
At this point, Victor and the monster encounter each other and Victor agreed to make give the monster a female companion, but after some careful thinking Victor realized how bad of an idea this was. He scrapped the idea and the monster in fury, swore his revenge on Victor. From this point the remainder series of events include murder of Victor close loved ones by the monster himself. The interpretation I perceived reading the book all the way until the end, was how everything just came full circle. At first Victor was obsessed with his trade up until he achieved his goal, he immediately realized how much of a mistake this was. Very similar to how the monster realized, that after Victorâs death, he was then truly alone, what he very much dreaded. The monster mention how he was going to set his body on fire so it can only be ashes, as the only trace left of him. This is somewhat symbolic as fire was one of the first things he saw and learned about.
Mary Wollstonecraft Shellyâs Frankenstein, is acclaimed as a critique of the age of enlightenment. At a time when different technologies were being discovered and experimented. It was easy for any person to lose track and unveil something that should not have. It promotes good judgement and caution for the unknown. Especially during the time published where ânatural philosophersâ were in the pinnacle of discovery. It could still be applied to todayâs world, as we have our own discoveries like AI or self-driving cars.
Christopher Gonzalez
September 27, 2017
Professor J. Ellis
ENG 2420 â E255
After completing Volume III of âFrankenstein,â by Mary Shelley the novel truly took a turn. While Victor was no stranger to tragedy in the beginning of the book, his life as well as those around him soon were in danger of the creature he has created. While the creature was born unaware of the worldâs knowledge he soon learned language and common history to the point that he spoke like a well learned man. I believe hearing his side of the story was of great importance in this part of the story, I even grew sympathetic towards him. While the daemon committed heinous acts, he had reasons for his malice. The creature did not ask for life but was granted it anyway as a result of Victorâs obsession with the secrets of life. He was left alone after Victor, his own creator abandoned him in disgust. The creature spent a great deal of time watching the De Laceys, learning of their history, language and more out of both fascination in mankind as well as companions. When befriending them failed all he wanted was a companion and so he threatened Victor to create one for him or he and those he love would be in danger, a promise more than a threat as he had confessed to killing William, which in turn led to Justineâs death. Victor reluctantly accepted his proposal and in exchange the monster would leave Europe but he soon changed his mind thinking of how his actions could take a turn for the worst. The creature watched as he tore apart what was meant to be his mate and in his anger, killed his closest friend Henry and framed Victor, killed his newly wedded wife, Elizabeth and became the focus of Victorâs life who hunted him across Europe and Russia. While Victor might be the human and his creation the monster, Victor seems more the villain, having abandoned his creations, keeping it a secret from friends and family, who were in danger because of him.
During the lecture of September 13th, we discussed the scientific and philosophical debate on whether the human brain has inherent information or a blank slate. Empiricists believed the mind is indeed a blank slate and gains knowledge through the empirical method, which Mary Shelley favored, while rationalists, who were correct, believed that there is innate knowledge within the mind. I found it interesting discussing how one can imagine what another is thinking and is a form of âmind reading.â This is something we do in everyday life but never truly stop to consider it, at least I donât, as it feels innate or subconscious.
Paul Chandipersaud
Prof. Ellis ENG2420 E255
September 27, 2017
Frankenstein Chapter 18-End Summary
We begin with Henry and Victor traveling to England. Victor leaves is home in order to complete the request made by the demon he created in that of making the demon a female companion. Victor and Henry travel through England and Scotland and after a while Victor decides to must part from Henry so he can begin his project on the female monster. Victor beings his project in the Orkneys islands spending hours upon hours trying to create the female monster. This project was different from Victors first. He was so indulged in creating his original demon, he was blind to the grotesque environment he was working in and now he sees it while working on the second demon. After a while Victor begins to question his actions to if he should create this female demon. He thought what if the female demon doesnât accept the demon as her companion, what if she neglects him and goes on her own, how would that affect the demon, what if they do accept each other and have âdemon childrenâ together. Suddenly Victor looks at the window and sees the demon grinning at him and a sudden rage consumed Victor and he tore apart what was supposed to be the demons female companion. The demon then entered the lab and swears vengeance on Victor for tearing apart the female demon. The demon threatens Victor telling him âI will be with you on your wedding nightâ. After their altercation, Victor cleans up his laboratory and gets the pieces of the female demon and throws it in the middle of the ocean. Victor ends up falling asleep in his boat and wakes up in the shores of Scotland. The people in town are immediately rude to Victor because they suspect him of a murder that happened the night before. They take him to Mr. Kirwin where Victor is filled in about the murder of the person the night before, soon after they take Victor to see the body of the deceased and it turned out to be his dear friend Henry who has black marks around his neck that Victor believes came from the demonâs doing. The shock of this death made Victor ill and he spent the next couple of months sick and in jail for the murder of his friend. Mr. Kirwin felt sympathy for Victor and ended up writing a letter to his father and his father comes to see Victor after reading about his situation. He stays with Victor until his court trial, where Victor was found innocent, then the two departed back to their hometown of Geneva. When Victor gets home he assures his beloved Elizabeth about their wedding and wants to get married soon but Victor remembers what the demon told him about his wedding night. Victor goes away with Elizabeth to a family cottage but now Victor is consumed with what the demon told him seeing how their wedding is closer in date. Victor leaves Elizabeth alone to check around the house but when he returns to her, she has died. The demon murdered her the same way he did his brother and friend. A couple days after his father hears this news, he also died. The broken Victor tries to tell people who is responsible for these deaths but no one believes him so he takes it upon himself to kill his creation. He beings tracking the demon and the demon wants Victor to track him as if they were playing some kind of game. For months Victor follows the demons trial, and the demon leaves hints and clues for Victor. During his pursuit, he ends up to where we began the story, with Walton. In the end Victor sees himself as being just like the demon. Consumed with vengeance on killing him just like the demon killed his family.
Pierre Polycarpe
Prof. Ellis ENG2420 E255
September 27, 2017
Frankenstein Summary
The story of Frankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft by Mary took place during the 18th centuries also known as the age of the enlightenment period. Frankenstein is a critique of the age of enlightenment It was a period where people questions and reason.
In Frankenstein Shelly frame her nested (narrative) ideas through Victor, a hubristic man whom has âthirst for knowledge.â Victor learned about the enlightenment thinking when he decided to create a monster by collecting body parts during night time.
As mentioned in our last class, knowledge from science and rationality can have a positive or negative impact on society and I strongly believe that we can relate that throughout Frankenstein. Our main character Victor went through a lot of trouble to create a monster. As soon as the monster come alive Victor freaked out and turned his back on the monster. At this point, one can argue that that the monster experienced the age of enlightenment. He felt alone, rejected from society but most important his creator. Imagine a mother walking out on a child right after birth. The monster felt the same way. His creator was not around to coach him, teach him the differences between good and bad, hold his hands etc. Instead the monster had to develop his own sense by observing the society he lived in.
In Volume 3, Victor made a deal with the monster which entail creating a female partner. As Victor is creating the female monster, he doubts and started to realize that this may not be a good idea after all. What if the monster decided to populate and take over. The monster became angry at Victor for not keeping his part of the deal. As a result, the monster swear that he would kill Elizabeth, Victorâs future wife.
The story has a tragic end because the monster killed Elizabeth the night of Victorâs wedding and Victor died on a ship [in Captain Waltonâs arm] running away from the monster that he created.
Sharon Rios
Science Fiction
The entire novel is a revelation that a manâs action leads to consequences, similar to Prometheus when he decides to give humans the gift of fire. They are both tortured to always be reminded what they have done. For Victor, it is the haunting of his creature and the death of his loved ones. At the end, both Victor and his creation die. Victor’s tragedy was foreshadowed by his selfish and irrational actions in creating the monster, whereas the creature dies in despair. Victor dies in the company of Walton, who understands him and cares for him as a friend. Although, the creature dies entirely isolated.
In class, we discussed Victorâs theory of mind with his creature. After creating him with such dedication and desire, he is then repulsed and runs away in fear and regret. His creature eventually gives him an ultimatum of either creating a companion for the creature to stay occupied and content or for Victor to be the companion. Victor agrees to make him a companion, but then chokes right after he puts everything together. He rips the pieces of the body part in a gruesome manner right in front of the creature, which makes the creature go crazy. Victor and his creature are clear opposites. The monster just desperately wants a friend, because he feels the human characteristic of social interaction. Victor is more like a monster for abandoning, shaming, calling his creation a devil.
Mellissa Valle
ENG 2420
Professor Ellis
Frankenstein through the novelâs end
Victor trying to forget his pain enters a series of questions about the human being, his fears and his impulses.
Frankenstein’s monster begs him to listen and sympathize with his suffering, since he argues that if someone has suffered the consequences of his experiment is himself. Finally Victor agrees to listen and begins his story.
He remembers how difficult it was to realize his human condition and start to distinguish, smells, lights, sounds, get food and understand a little what he started to live. After his first experience with the humans who from the beginning demonstrated his rejection, he walked through the fields until he saw a community with small villages, he settled down taking care that his hut was sufficiently covered in the eyes of the others and from there inside dedicated to observe the neighboring cabin through a window, was able to know well, the language and human behavior by those who felt a strong attraction, getting to rejoice by their sayings and sharing their unhappiness. The neighboring family was composed of the father, an elderly man, blind and playing the flute in a way that made Frankenstein’s heart tremble; Felix, son of the older man and brother of Agatha, the youngest of the house
Eventually Safie arrives. Little by little the esteem and respect of the creature grew to the family, to whom occasions and without noticing their presence, he helped, bringing them fresh food and wood that he cut himself. The idea of ââbeing able to approach them and show their gratitude and affection robbed them of sleep. Several days he was planning the time when he would introduce himself to the family. He came to the conclusion that the best moment would be only the old man, because of his blindness he would not judge him for his physical appearance but by his good feelings. So, one afternoon when everyone went out for a walk he knocked on the door. The old man kindly greets him and they start a friendly talk about the supposed traveler’s family who fears no to be well received, the old man asks him who is involved but he gets desperate because the others were already approaching. When the family enter they freakout , Agatha comes out screaming and Felix wanting to defend his father takes his cane and lashes against him who runs away to his home. Poor creature.
He continues his story and goes to the part where he kills a child who struggling with him tells him that he is the son of Mr. Frankenstein so, finding in his death a possibility of revenge kills him and steals a portrait of a beautiful woman who deposits later in the clothes of a sleeping girl. At the end of this story, he begs his creator to make for him a female equal to him so that he will not feel so alone and despised by all and be able to erase his ideas of revenge and hatred against him and the whole world. A mixture of feelings and numerous images cross the mind of Victor, who for a moment believes that effectively making a companion for him will keep him and his family forever, promising to fulfill his desire.
On his return to Geneva, Victor is much more animated which brings joy to his father, who reminds Victor of the old commitment he has with Elizabeth, letting him know that nothing would be happier for the family at that time than their expected union . Victor is convinced of his love for Elizabeth and tells his father that he will marry her as soon as he arrives from his trip, since an unexpected event sends him back to England for a while. Elizabeth happy about the news of her wedding and at the same time concerned about Victor saying goodbye to him by agreeing both his next link. Victor and Henry set out on a trip to England and bid farewell to Scotland so that Victor could finish his work and be free to return to Geneva. Being in his laboratory Victor questioned the possible consequences of creating another being equal to the murderer of his brother and taking into account that he could not control the life and the good or bad feelings of which he would come, through then to give up on his promise by the well of humanity and of his own family. Seeing the presence in the window of his persecutor and convinced that he would not recreate such a miserable being, destroyed the body. The creature went crazy, vowed revenge by saying: “I shall be with you on your wedding night “and left.
Victor received a letter from Henry asking him to go back to him London, two days later Victor embarks, the reception by the inhabitants of the place is aggressive and he is been blamed for the recent murder of a man whose witnesses claim to have seen a man alone in a boat near the scene of the murder. Victor is horrified to see that this body is the one of his dear friend Henry Clerval. He falls seriously ill and his father comes to visit him worried about the health of his son and astonished by the news of Henry’s death. Thanks to the company of his father, Victor manages to recover and finally leaves free when checking his stay in another town at the time of the crime.
Back in Geneva, they are getting prepared for the wedding of Victor and Elizabeth .VĂctor still worried about the threat of Frankenstein. The wedding was celebrated in peace and on their honeymoon they went to lands near the White Mount. When Elizabeth is left alone in a room the creature fulfilled his threat and killed her. After the terrible death of Elizabeth, Victorâs dad fall terribly ill and died. Victor promised to revenge the death of his family and went in search of his enemy. After a long journey he is rescued by a ship that saw him in danger of dying drowned in the ice floes. He recovers a little and tells Robert Walton, captain of this boat, his long and unhappy life, until a victim of the disease, thanks Walton his kindness and dies đ
Walton continues writing letters to his sister telling her the whole story when suddenly hears a loud noise. It is the creature, sad about the death of his creator asks for forgiveness and commits suicide throwing himself from the window to the iceberg near the ship, lost in the darkness dragged by the waves đ
In class, we talked about Biology of mind and the two types of ground that people focus on, both Empiricist and Rationalist. We spoke of Theory of mind as well, which is the ability to point out mental states principles, intentions, desires, and knowledge in others and helps us to be involved in a story. We also talked about the word Hubris, the excessive pride toward or defiance of the gods. We compared this to the story of the Greek Gods and the novel, Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. Prometheus which was a Titan in Greek mythology that gave fire to man and was punished for it.
From Chapter 17 to the end of Mary Shellyâs Frankenstein, After his fateful meeting with the monster on the glacier, Victor puts off the creation of a new, female creature. However, while working one night, Victor begins to think about what might happen after he finishes his creation. Thinking that the two creatures might have children, creating âa race of devils…on the earth.â Victor then destroys his female creation as the monster looks on, promising to be with Victor when he gets married to Elizabeth. During his wedding night, Victor is seemingly prepared for an attack from the monster. But puts two and two together quickly when he after he finds Elizabethâs dead body, the monster was gunning for her and not for him, in an effort to make Victor as lonely as himself. Victor decides to track the monster, continuing his pursuit into the cold North. There, he meets Walton and the story comes full circle. He tells Walton his story, dying on the ship
Summary to end of Frankenstein.
The monster begins to tell his tale to Victor. Because the monster has learned that no one will come near him he begins to observe a family while hiding in the woods. The family lives in a cabin and the monster watches them daily. The monster learns many things about the world. Food can grow out of the ground, he learns the language that they use, he see emotion, sad and happy, people cry and laugh. He starts to steal food from their garden but learns it hurts the people that live there, so he begins to help them do chores without them knowing. He wants to interact with the family but he is scared because of how everyone else has treated him. Eventually he tries to talk to the family but he is told to go away. He feels no one will accept him and asks Victor to build him a companion. Victor agrees but while Victor is building the companion he decides to stop on the chance that he could start an entire new population so he destroys his work. The monster sees this and is extremely mad, then takes a boat and heads off to sea. Victor follows that monster traveling many miles. It seem Victor wants to rid the world of the monster that he created. Eventually Victor catches up with the monster but he dies from sickness. An interesting thing about Frankenstein is that originally the monster is seen to be the bad person, but actually it seems that Victor is the bad person and the monster just wants companionship and people to accept him.
Jacob Banschick
Prof. Ellis
ENG2420
Frankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, is a story of blind ambition, hubris, and all the misfortune it entails. As we reach the end of the novel, Victor is to create a companion for the monster, only to change his mind mid-way through the procedure. Victor reasons thereâs no guarantee she and the monster may stay in seclusion as promised. Worse yet, she and the monster may give birth to a race of devil-creatures, as monstrous as their parents. The monsterâs menacing (or at least what he perceives as malicious) grin outside his window is the final conviction he needs, and he then destroys the incomplete creation, much to the dismay of the monster observing from outside. Distraught, the monster then vows, if he is to remain alone and in solitude, than he shall make his creator feel his pain as well. By the novel’s end, the monster has killed all of Victorâs acquaintances; Henry, Justine, Professor Clerval, Elizabeth, and with the indirect murder of his father, Victor is well and truly alone. He becomes completely dehumanized, developing a lust for vengeance, much like the monster did, completing his transformation. He lives only to pursue the monster, and eventually kill him. Shortly after imparting this story to Walton Victor passes, but but before requesting Walton continues to finish the monster in his stead. However, this ends up being as unnecessary, as the monster appears by Victorâs bedside shortly after. He promises to Walton that he shall take Victor’s body and dispose of it, as well as himself, in a funeral pyre as he laments his actions as a tool of evil. In the end, weâre left with the monsters final thoughts. That, even after his death, and the death of his creator, the struggle to understand what he truly was will go on.
In the lecture, we began by discussing the second half of Frankenstein, then we went into the biology of the mind itself, and the source of our experiences and knowledge, which can be separated into two groups; Rationalism and. Empiricism. After which we went into the theory of the mind – how we make educated conclusions based on what choices others make – and briefly touched on what Asimov calls âThe Roving Mind.â