For this week’s Weekly Writing Assignment, add a comment to this post that summarizes some of the highlights from your reading of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and this week’s lecture (posted above).
Take time to read the comments of others in the class on this post and the previous posts–especially the first Weekly Writing Assignment post where everyone introduced themselves. Feel free to reply to other folks in the class if you share an interest in SF or discover a connection that you would like to share. Consider our OpenLab Course Site as the place where we can discuss and meet others studying the same topic. While our class might be asynchronous and online, it doesn’t have to be without community and connection.
It is important to note the great amount of stress, misery, and fear that the creature has caused Victor. From losing everyone who Victors care about due to the muder done by the creature, to having to live with the fear of being murdered by the creature, to being acussed of murder. The creature has reigned terror on Victor’s life. There have been scenes where Victor had stood up for himself however. For example, when he was creating the creature’s partner, he realized the potential disaster this may entail and destroyed its developing body in front of the creature. However, him standing up for himself, did him no good. It actually made things much worse. His courage lit a flame under the creatures intent to ruin Victor’s life causing it to kill Henry, which later led to Victor’s incarceration and illness. Upon his freedom, Victor’s life became even worse. Still dealing with the illness, Victor vows to finally marry Elizabeth until the creature murders her the night before their wedding. A truly tragic scenario that motivates Victor to finally destroy the creature. In the span of the creature’s lifetime, it had practically ruined Victor’s life. Motivated by revenge, Victor travels all over Europe to track down the creature with cues but fails to do so and later dies. He lives the mission to track the creature in the hands of Walton, whom the novel’s narrative switches to. Throughout the novel, it is important to note whose narrative is being spoken. During this week’s class lecture, Professor Ellis highlighted and discussed Frankenstein’s Narrative Frames. Within the novel, the story is being conveyed to us from different points of view. We initially begin with Walton and his letter, then proceed to Victor Frankenstein’s narrative along with the creature’s narrative , and then finally end with the creature and Walton’s narratives. The sense of different narratives, tells us as the reader about different nattrives of the characters which helps us get a better overall sense of the story being told. A key point that I want to make and include in my notes is that this entire story and situation that occurred to Victor is because of his passion for nature. If he had followed in his father’s footsteps or had not had a passion to create a creature life, then his demise and those around him would have never happened.
Some things I’ve noticed is that Victor decided to create another monster. He also told his father he will marry Elizabeth once he gets back from his trip to France. While Victor and Henry are away, Henry wants to relax and take it easy but Victor is still studying up on scientific material. I also noticed how Victor goes to a secluded island and proceeds to make another monster, but he is not proud of doing so. The creature pays him a visit and Victor destroys the second creature in front of him. Victor ends his second creature project and disposes of it. He drifts in his boat until he ends up at another island and the people are hostile towards him. Victor was confused. He eventually gets taken into custody for a murder. Victor is in a trial because people saw the creature put the body of Henry at the beach. I noticed that Victor is in his mind about all the horrible things that have happened. He either directly or indirectly caused most of these horrible incidents. In the lecture the professor brought up that in Frankenstein you see the use of biochemistry, anatomy, and galvanism. There are plenty of examples of those. For example the creation of his because he was experimenting with corpses. It also shows a bit of anatomy to find all the pieces he needed to assemble to make the creature. Once the creature is alive it uses similar methods of thought to Victor. He uses logic and reasoning to make the decisions he does. We also see how the creature is a blank slate and learns information through his experiences with it.
The level of despair that Victor falls to due to his sense of guilt is quite astounding as now he feels responsible for the death of both his youngest brother and Justine, who was considered basically family as well. Even though he manages to eventually find some peace of mind on his lone trip to the valley of Chamounix and later the summit of Montanvert, this moment is short lived as he once again encounters his creation. I was really surprised as I did not expect to get the point of view of the creature. The creature goes over his experiences from the moment he escaped he was created in up to when he was spotted by Victor outside the village. He goes over how he learned through trial and error, and more surprisingly, how discovered the feeling of compassion, the urge to love someone, and the misery that is his existence, leading to his hate towards the world. It was shocking to learn that through time, the creature genuinely grew fond the De Lacey and his family to the point where he secretly shared in both their happiness and misery alike. He helped them from the shadows, and through observation alone, learnt about history, human society, and even how to read, write, and speak. It is really saddening how he was harshly rejected by humans regardless.
Reading from this point of view I had an interesting thought come to my mind. As a reader, we sympathize with the monster as we know he did not do anything to deserve his misery. However, when giving it some thought, it is hard to imagine that anyone, whether from the past or the present, would have reacted any differently from how it is described in the story. I guess the phrase “We fear what we do not understand” really applies in this case.
In week 3’s lecture Prof. Ellis mainly went over with the Frankenstein’s narrative frames. This means, the story about Victor Frankenstein told the story about himself to Captain Walton, when they encounter on their way to the North Pole, then Captain Walton told the story to his sister in the letter. In my point of view, this is like a narrative within a narrative. Next, we learned from what makes Frankenstein a SF with few different explanations. Frankenstein was a science saturated novel, and was created in the way of galvanism, but today was call it electrophysiology. The biology of mind and the tabula rasa. Tabula rasa as known as the blank slate, as the creature was born with an empty mind with no knowledge or anything. On to the next have something calls Hubris, this is a presumption, disrespectful and transgressing the limits. The creature that Victor created becomes his nemesis from his downfall. In the way of Critique of the age of Enlightenment, Victor used a method of science and created something that makes negative effect to the society.
In the novel, from chapter 9-17. The creature becomes Victor’s nemesis after his creation of the creature. His younger brother William was murdered by the creature, and then his house maid Justine took the blame for the murder. After Justine’s death, Victor encounter the creature face to face and asked Victor to create a mate for him as a bride or a companion. Victor had no choice but to grant the creature’s wish to protect the Frankenstein family from danger. During the time of Victor’s second creation, he destroys the creature’s mate in front of him. His courage for standing up against this monster has led things much worse into a nightmare. Henry was later found killed, and Elizabeth even got murdered by the creature before the wedding. After the creature had completely destroys the Frankenstein family Victor goes on the hunt all over Europe to take down that monster.
Throughout the reading of Frankenstein there is one thing that really stand out in front of me and is a movie call Pet Sematary (2019). Victor created the monster from a dead matter and bring it back to life, but in the movie of Pet Sematary said “whatever is dead they don’t come back the same”, “sometimes dead is better”. I would like to relate those ideas together as one from Frankenstein and Pet Sematary. Victor made a mind-blowing creation from his madness ambition, but it ends up causing a negative effect to mankind. In Pet Sematary shows whatever is dead is better to stay that way because if you make a reincarnate something or someone from the dead, they won’t come back the same.
One of the highlights from this week’s reading was how tragedy particularly in the form of the death of a loved one can really affect somebody. After William was killed and Justine was wrongly executed Victor explains how he was so guilt ridden he had thoughts of taking his life, believing that he would finally have some peace of mind. Only on coming to terms with the fact that this would also cause heartbreak amongst his family did he change his mind. Elizabeth for example who is usually everyone else’s source of joy became so anguished and miserable after believing that Williams death was her fault, that she had to be consoled by other people. It was a very realistic portrayal of how you are not the same person when you are in mourning. It was also interesting how Shelley was able to take Victor’s creation from a science experiment gone wrong to a monster with very human like characteristics. For instance he displayed emotions of both guilt and kindness when he first felt badly for stealing food from the neighboring family in the cottage, when they had little to begin with and then he went on to leave them firewood nightly. This revelation helps the reader get a feel for what type of being the monster is. Even after his pleasant treatment of the family in the cottage he still lashes out and kills Victor’s brother William after being rejected by the family. This confession reminds readers that no matter how many human traits he possesses he is still a monster.
In this week’s lecture, The professor brought up the different points of view in Frankenstein. In this novel, the story has three points of view. It starts off with Walton and his letters to his sister. Then shifts into Victor point of view when Walton and Victor meet. While in Victor’s narrative, the creature’s point of view is being told by Victor to Walton. And at the end, the creature laments to Walton about Victor. In the second half of the lecture the professor talks about what makes Frankenstein science fiction, and talks about the science in Frankenstein and it being a science saturated novel. This novel hinges on new sciences of biochemistry, galvanism, and anatomy. Another aspect is the biology of mind and the tabula rasa. The key to biology of mind is does the human brain have any information when born or is a tabula rasa, a blank slate. Another aspect is Hubris. Hubris is the presumption or behavior perceived as arrogant, disrespectful, and transgressing the limits on what is appropriate. And the last aspect is that the novel Frankenstein is a critique of the age of enlightenment.
In the novel, William is murdered by the creature and everyone puts the blame on Justine. She couldn’t deal with pressure of everyone, so she die taking the blame for the murder. The creature asks Victor for a female creature, so he can be happy and feel thankful towards Victor. Victor proceeds to create the female creature, then destroys it in front of him. Victor’s actions infuriated the creature. Which caused him to kill Henry and Elizabeth. Victor went out for revenge all over Europe. Ultimately passing away failing to find him.
Justine faces punishment for William’s death and, Victor battles with his demons in grieving and his responsibility for William and Justine’s deaths. This event reminds me of The Vampire Diaries franchise. The deeper connections begin at the surface of vampires arising from the 19th Century pre-civil war era come back to their hometown in Mystic Falls, Virginia. As their storyline progresses, the idea of a “bad person” shapes itself to determining one’s background. Victor feels responsible for what his creation has done, and the creature might look guilty on the surface. The vampires in TVD looked at the first few impressions viewers have had of them, the creation felt betrayed by Victor, and that rage and abandonment have caused his trauma and short temper. Likewise, Stefan and Damon, the main vampires who’ve returned to their hometown, have a history of numerous murders around the United States. The roots go back to their psychological trauma caused by a woman both brother vampires loved and how their infatuation and fascination with the vampire species caused their father to murder both of them, causing them to wake up as new vampires. The spin-off to The Vampire Diaries, a series called The Originals, portraying the backstory of trauma and neglect of the ‘ultimate evil original’ vampire known as Niklaus. The Vampire Diaries trilogy often covers doppelgangers are the ancestors of main characters, but from the beginning of human history – Frankenstein faced similar challenges as Klaus has. The creature faced the trauma of abandonment once again with the De Laceys, who has taught him everything he knows but rejected him in the end. The biological galvanism connects the creature to Klaus in very similar ways starting with the creature’s intensity in anger from abandonment for being a ‘monster’. Likewise, Klaus was born a werewolf and then reborn a vampire after being fed vampire blood and murdered by his father. The creature’s constant rejection from the happiness and family he desired but was denied by Victor and the cottagers demonstrated an interesting parallel in how we view our typical horror stories and the doppelgangers that they reflect from one another through different stories and their scientific elements.
Overwhelmed with guilt over the events that have taken place, Frankenstein tries to find comfort in nature. He travels and eventually comes across the Creature who then begins to narrate his own story from the moment he fled Frankenstein’s apartment. We learn from the Creature about how he first began to perceive his surroundings or the way he learned on his own how to survive, as well as how he came into contact with other people, most of whom would run away from him. In an effort to keep away from others, the Creature comes across a cottage where he is able to peer inside while he hides in a hovel attached to the house. He observes the family and their actions and begins to also instruct himself on the ways of humans, such as the language and history but also begins to form a view of himself and an understanding of human bonds. The Creature eventually approaches the head of the household who is blind, in hopes of being able to interact with someone who might not judge him by his appearance but is soon found out by the rest of the household who drive him away. The Creature then arrives at the present where he reveals to Frankenstein how he came upon William and the crimes he then committed, claiming that he acted out of loneliness. He demands then that Victor make him a female companion to prevent him from committing more murders. Victor reluctantly agrees.
Frankenstein is considered science fiction because it is a “Science Saturated Novel” meaning that it is filled with science and scientific terms and more particularly biology. The idea of a living thing being created was inspired by galvanism the idea that scientists could use electricity to stimulate or restart life. Which is precisely how the Creature came to life.
The highlights of the lecture are that Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley published the novel Frankenstein in 1818 anonymously because at that time women were not allowed to study, or even think. It was until her second edition of 1823 where she publishes the book with her name as author. The origin of the book Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus was in June of 1816. A year without summer and it was unusually cold. Consequently, the story is related in epistolary form This mean that is told through letters from The Captain Robert Walton and his sister Margaret Walton Seville. Interestingly, this story is related first with the letters of the captain Walton to his sister Margaret. Victor Frankenstein tells his story to the captain Walton. Then, V.F tells captain Walton the story that the creature related him and then, the story finish with last letter from captain Walton to Margaret and the creature.
The Highlights of the Novel Frankenstein From Chapter 19 to the end are that Victor Frankenstein is traveling to Scotland to create a female partner to the creature but and in the time when he was creating her, he started to think that creating the female partner to the creature could create a race of evil because they could procreate, and he decided not to create her. While V.F destroys what he was creating, the creature swear revenge against to V.F in the day of his marry. Then, V.F travels back to Geneva to get marry Elizabeth and start to prepare his wedding and V.F is afraid of the promise of revenge of the creature. At the wedding night, the creature kills Elizabeth and V.F decide leave Geneva going after the creature. After, is when V.F meets Captain Walton and after meets the creature and the creature kills V.F. At the end, several weeks after the captain Walton meets the creature near the death body of V.F and he said that deeply regrets having become an instrument of evil, with his creator death , the creature is ready to die and after the creature disappears into the darkness.
Victor Frankenstein finds himself in a predicament unknown to the natural world. Through resurrection, he creates a being with thoughts and feelings. The mess of sewed cadavers grows sentient. In Buddhism, they regard animals as sentient beings because they possess Buddha nature, a life force that allows potential to enlightenment. In Genesis 2:7, Yahweh forms a man out of dust by breathing life into his nostrils. The breath of life is only reserved for Yahweh, the future Jesus; the breath of life brings humans and God closer because they are the only ones to possess “immaterial singularity”. In Islam’s corpus of hadith it warns painters to not depict sentient beings as they can create “the breath of life”, an act that would be punished on the Day of Judgment. Mentioned in the lecture, the tabula rasa says the human is born as a blank slate to be given life (I believe this represents not the monster’s ability to be sentient, but rather its learning empirically, that Locke’s theory suggests). God forms the original man just the same way as Victor Frankenstein fashions the monster, the only way to stop the monster is to create Adam’s Eve. In the major religions, the ability to use the breath of life is reserved for God and the closest to him: so is Victor Frankenstein being punished?
In science fiction the idea of resurrection, an ability reserved for God (whoever that is), permeates the genre. In the new 2021 television show “WandaVision” (spoiler alert), they explore resurrection when the superhero Vision is resurrected after being killed by Thanos. Vision, like the monster, is a derivative of tabula rasa. He is created by a robot named Ultron, given the “breath of life” to kill Ultron’s creator. The monster seeks vengeance against Frankenstein for creating him into such a lonely existence in the same way Ultron wants to kill Dr. Hank Pym.
In further writing I would like to explore the idea of rebuilding i.e. when Frankenstein uses corpses to rebuild a monster. Vision rebuilds Ultron with adamantium. Humans are built through DNA.
The narrator, Victor Frankenstein, described the creature as an abhorrent demon. He feared his own creation. Through the narrator’s description, I imagined that his creation must be acting like a wild beast: it does not have the intelligence of a human and only has the rampant instinct of an animal. But I was wrong. When the narrator met his creation for the third time, specifically in chapter 10, I thought they were going to fight to death like two feral animals. But, to my surprise, the creature talked like a human! In a formal and intelligent way, he conveyed his thoughts to the narrator using sensible words, not claws and fangs. I have not expected this plot twist. It is, in my view, one of the best moments in the novel.
In Chapter 15, the creature finally met the cottage family in person. When I read that part of the novel, my heart string was being pulled tightly. I was just as nervous as the man-made creature. That thrill and suspense left an everlasting impression in my mind. Undoubtedly, it is another one of the best moments in the book.
Our lecture points out four major reasons why Frankenstein is considered a SF. I can follow the explanation without a problem, until the third part. I am surprise to see that “hubris” is also one of the reasons. I thought that hubris and science fiction don’t really a significant or concrete connection; any type of fiction can have a hubristic character or theme. But I could be wrong. I wonder if this is common quality existing in every SF.
This week we went over some important terms that relate to Frankenstein and some ways you can become a better writer. To begin writing is a skill that has no shortcuts. As simple as this might sound but the only way to get better at writing is to write. Any form of writing such as blogging can contribute to becoming a better writer. We also reviewed important terms such as narrative frames which is a way the writer can tell a different part of the story within the story. This is a technique that was used by Marry Shelly to tell the point of view of different characters in her version of Frankenstein. In Frankenstein after victor had successfully bought his creature to life that it had disappeared on its own. Fallen from his excitement of his creation he severely injured himself which resulted in him not being able to return home to his family in the spring when he intended. Henry who helped victor during his injury felt that their creation needed to be kept a secret. Eventually it was time for victor to return home upon hearing of a family emergency, his brother had been murdered and the blame was being pointed towards his servant Justine. Later victor strolls near the area where the murder took place, he feels uneasy as if something is watching him. He spots the monster that was responsible for the murder and tries to convince everyone that Justine is innocent. Justine is deemed guilty and sentenced to execution. Victor was seen as crazy when trying to vouch for justines innocence, the only way she could possibly be saved was if he revealed his creation.
This week we went over some important terms that relate to Frankenstein and some ways you can become a better writer. To begin writing is a skill that has no shortcuts. As simple as this might sound but the only way to get better at writing is to write. Any form of writing such as blogging can contribute to becoming a better writer. We also reviewed important terms such as narrative frames which is a way the writer can tell a different part of the story within the story. This is a technique that was used by Marry Shelly to tell the point of view of different characters in her version of Frankenstein. In Frankenstein after victor had successfully bought his creature to life that it had disappeared on its own. Fallen from his excitement of his creation he severely injured himself which resulted in him not being able to return home to his family in the spring when he intended. Henry who helped victor during his injury felt that their creation needed to be kept a secret. Eventually it was time for victor to return home upon hearing of a family emergency, his brother had been murdered and the blame was being pointed towards his servant Justine. Later victor strolls near the area where the murder took place, he feels uneasy as if something is watching him. He spots the monster that was responsible for the murder and tries to convince everyone that Justine is innocent. Justine is deemed guilty and sentenced to execution. Victor was seen as crazy when trying to vouch for justines innocence, the only way she could possibly be saved was if he revealed his creation.
Week 3 lecture brought up so many points and interesting facts in regards to the novel Frankenstein, Modern Prometheus. Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley first published the novel anonymously in 1818 because of backlash. Back then many believed that female authors would not be accepted by the public. She later revealed to be the author in her 2nd edition in 1823. Then the 3rd edition was released in 1831 and it was told in an epistolary form which means it was in letter form. Professor Ellis talks about the novel’s narrative frames. Which is the way the story is being constructed snd conveyed to the reader. The story has three frames first is starts with Walton, with his letters to his sister. Then Victor’s point of view and while Victor’s view is being told he brings us the creature to Walton. Then it ends with the creature’s point of view being told to Walton. In the lecture, there was a discussion on how Frankenstein is science fiction. It id s science saturated novel. The novel’s plot covey new ideas like galvanism, biochemistry, and anatomy. Another point in the lecture is the biology of mind, which is a theory that when humans are born our minds are a blank slate also known as Tabula Rasa. we also learn that the novel was a critique of the age of enlightenment. The highlight of the novel ends, Victor Frankenstein dies wishing that he could destroy the Monster he created. The Monster visits Frankenstein’s body. He tells Walton that he regrets the murders he has committed and that he intends to commit suicide. Frankenstein’s death suggests that he has not learned much from his own story. He causes his final collapse by trying to continue his pursuit of the Monster: “You may give up your purpose, but mine is assigned to me by Heaven, and I dare not.” Frankenstein begins the story-driven and ambitious to create the Monster and at the end of the novel, he remains driven and ambitious in his quest to destroy the Monster.
This week’s lecture of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley’s Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus demonstrates how Victors hubris attitude leads to him creating his own nemesis being the creature. Even though the creature turns out to be the nemesis to Victor in many ways they are alike. Victor constructs the creature with a pompous attitude and by surpassing all acceptable limits of society. The creature ends up being Victors nemesis because he goes on to take the lives of Victors brother William and Justine ends up being executed for the death of William. Victor experiences loss from the hands of his own creation. Victor and the creature though share similarities like being isolated from the community for being different, Victor with his focus on science and the extremes of it and the creature due to his appearance. The creature was “born” a blank slate but as we read the conversation between the creature and victor we see that the creature shows an imperialist form. With his experience of fire the creature can determine that he can keep himself warm, make food more edible and that he knows that he can burn himself with the same fire due to the experience of burning his hand, showing a rational mindset. The creature also experiences people’s harsh reactions towards him which causes him to want to take revenge against them. Victor agreeing to the creatures request for a mate shows how far he is willing to go to get rid of the creature which would not have been in his way if it wasn’t for his experimental ways and willingness of pursing science.