By Jacob and Alexander and Zach

1. DICTION IN Frankenstein By Jacob and Alexander and Zach

2. Some General Trends With Respect to Diction in the Novel • Frankenstein’s train of thought and reasoning are confusing and difficult to make out at times. This portrayal of Frankenstein shows his yearning for the impossible and how by pursuing it, he only becomes further tormented by its impossibilities. • Filthy/Dirty imagery is commonly associated with the creature and Frankenstein while he is working on the creature. In the most literal sense, the very limbs of the creature are putrid as they are from corpses of the deceased. • Purity/Innocence associated with Frankenstein’s loved ones and sister. They are helpless to his mad lust for truth and knowledge and succumb to the power of his wretched creation.

3. Letters to Ms. Saville • These are the utterances of an optimistic and introspective mind and as such, are long, drawn out, and grand. • Note highly Latinate diction (ie agitation, enthusiasm, expedition, ardour) which is preferred in the world of science for its neutrality. • Highly reflective and introspective—does not allow for many pauses between contemplation. Possibly another source of this lack of brevity: he may also be very excited to make contact with his sister after having not contacted her over an extending amount of time. • “These reflections have dispelled the agitation with which I began my letter, and I feel my heart glow with an enthusiasm which elevates me to heaven; for nothing contributes so much to tranquillise the mind as a steady purpose--a point on which the soul may fix its intellectual eye. This expedition has been the favourite dream of my early years. I have read with ardour the accounts of the variousvoyages which have been made in the prospect of arriving at the North Pacific Ocean through the seas which surround the pole. You may remember that a history of all the voyages made for purposes of discoverycomposed the whole of our good uncle Thomas's library. My education was neglected, yet I was passionately fond of reading. These volumes were my study day and night, and my familiarity with them increased that regret which I had felt, as a child, on learning that my father's dying injunction had forbidden my uncle to allow me to embark in a seafaring life.” pg. 12 Latinate words bolded Childhood memories

4. Volume 1 Passage 1 • “Thus strangely are our souls constructed, and by such slight ligaments are we bound to prosperity or ruin. When I look back, it seems to me as if this almost miraculous change of inclination and will was the immediate suggestion of the guardian angel of my life--the last effort made by the spirit of preservation to avert the storm that was even then hanging in the stars, and ready to envelope me. Her victory was announced by an unusual tranquillityand gladness of soul, which followed the relinquishing of my ancient and latterly tormenting studies. It was thus that I was to be taught to associate evil with their prosecution, happiness with their disregard” Ch. 2 • Apostrophe is used in this passage as Frankenstein refers to “his guardian angel” “the spirit of preservation”. • In this passage the author uses a lot of hyperbolic diction with the use of words as: “the last effort made” “avert the storm”. In my opinion Shelley does so in order to create a pivotal moment in which the fate of Frankenstein would be decided.. The use of these powerful, impactful words, creates a sense of inevitable predestination for Frankenstein. • This passage comes at the end of Chapter 2 of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein as Victor Frankenstein is contemplating the sciences that he desires to encounter in his life. In deep reflection, Victor incorporates strong emotion into his thought process revealing the mood in which he is thinking. • In the first sentence, Mary Shelley specifically uses words such as “strangely” and “constructed” to represent the ambiguity of the existence of humanity. The sentence continues with the usage of “ligaments” to refer to life’s connection to either success or failure. Overall, this sentence represents a feeling of balance of Victor’s thoughts as he is explaining his point of view on life. • Continuing with this same idea, the second sentence goes on to explain how fate guides the path of life when Shelley uses the words “miraculous change of inclination” and “guardian angel of my life.” Victor believes that fate has already determined the outcome of his life and that he is just being guided on his predestined journey. • The specific diction that Mary Shelley chooses to incorporate in her novel helps to connect the sentences in order to reveal a final reflection on his thought process. The third sentence of this passage reveals Victor’s acceptance of these ideas when he uses the words “victory” and “ tranquility.” • By the final sentence of the passage, Shelley comes back to the ideas of balance when she compares the words “evil with their prosecution” and “happiness with their disregard.” Overall, the diction in this passage helps to link the ideas in an eternal cycle as the passage is deep with emotion and well balanced.

5. Volume I Passage II • But it was in vain: I slept, indeed, but I was disturbed by the wildest dreams. I thought I saw Elizabeth, in the bloom of health, walking in the streets of Ingolstadt. Delighted and surprised, I embraced her; but as I imprinted the first kiss on her lips, they became livid with the hue of death; her features appeared to change, and I thought that I held the corpse of my dead mother in my arms; a shroud enveloped her form, and I saw the grave-worms crawling in the folds of the flannel. I started from my sleep with horror; a cold dew covered my forehead, my teeth chattered, and every limb became convulsed: when, by the dim and yellow light of the moon, as it forced its way through the window shutters, I beheld the wretch -- the miserable monster whom I had created. He held up the curtain of the bed; and his eyes, if eyes they may be called, were fixed on me. His jaws opened, and he muttered some inarticulate sounds, while a grin wrinkled his cheeks. He might have spoken, but I did not hear; one hand was stretched out, seemingly to detain me, but I escaped, and rushed down stairs. I took refuge in the courtyard belonging to the house which I inhabited; where I remained during the rest of the night, walking up and down in the greatest agitation, listening attentively, catching and fearing each sound as if it were to announce the approach of the demoniacal corpse to which I had so miserably given life. • The horrific and vivid imagery in this passage allow us to view the overall mental deterioration of Frankenstein after the creation of the creature. The word choice allows us to see how vile and wretched Frankenstein’s dreams are and how he so quickly associates these negative descriptions with the creature. “…wretch – the miserable monster…” “…but as I imprinted the first kiss on her lips, they became livid with the hue of death…” It seems as if Frankenstein may feel a sense of guilt at this moment in time almost like a person who has nightmares after committing a crime.

6. Volume II Passage I • "The words induced me to turn towards myself. I learned that the possessions most esteemed by your fellow-creatures were high and unsullied descent united with riches. A man might be respected with only one of these advantages; but, without either, he was considered, except in very rare instances, as a vagabond and a slave, doomed to waste his powers for the profits of the chosen few! And what was I? Of my creation and creator I was absolutely ignorant; but I knew that I possessed no money, no friends, no kind of property. I was, besides, endued with a figure hideously deformed and loathsome; I was not even of the same nature as man. I was more agile than they, and could subsist upon coarser diet; I bore the extremes of heat and cold with less injury to my frame; my stature far exceeded theirs. When I looked around, I saw and heard of none like me. Was I then a monster, a blot upon the earth, from which all men fled, and whom all men disowned?” • Irony: “by your fellow-creatures…” The creature implores his creator to consider for once whether or not men are the actual sub-humans, considering how materialism and appearance outweigh their own moral standards. • • Rhetorical Question: “Was I then a monster…” The creature begs the readers to contemplate the central motifs of the book—what a monster is how society as a whole tends to incriminate those who are different. In this more powerful approach, the readers look inward for answers and are included as a player

7. Volume II Passage II • "I continued for the remainder of the day in my hovel in a state of utter and stupid despair. My protectors had departed, and had broken the only link that held me to the world. For the first time the feelings of revenge and hatred filled my bosom, and I did not strive to control them; but, allowing myself to be borne away by the stream, I bent my mind towards injury and death. When I thought of my friends, of the mild voice of De Lacey, the gentle eyes of Agatha, and the exquisite beauty of the Arabian, these thoughts vanished, and a gush of tears somewhat soothed me. But again, when I reflected that they had spurned and deserted me, anger returned, a rage of anger; and, unable to injure anything human, I turned my fury towards inanimate objects. As night advanced, I placed a variety of combustibles around the cottage; and, after having destroyed every vestige of cultivation in the garden, I waited with forced impatience until the moon had sunk to commence my operations. • Antithesis: "But again, when I reflected…" The creature builds his case of happiness and connectedness to contrast with his current state of isolation and rage. • • Pace: The passage is quick. Though the sentences are not short, the action is kept up by constant use of commas. It has the effect of showing his ideas as quickly falling on one another in a state of rage and confusion.

8. Volume III Passage I • “How mutable are our feelings, and how strange is that clinging love we have of life even in the excess of misery! I constructed another sail with a part of my dress, and eagerly steered my course towards the land. It had a wild and rocky appearance; but, as I approached nearer, I easily perceived the traces of cultivation. I saw vessels near the shore, and found myself suddenly transported back to the neighbourhood of civilised man. I carefully traced the windings of the land, and hailed a steeple which I at length saw issuing from behind a small promontory. As I was in a state of extreme debility, I resolved to sail directly towards the town, as a place where I could most easily procure nourishment. Fortunately I had money with me. As I turned the promontory, I perceived a small neat town and a good harbour, which I entered, my heart bounding with joy at my unexpected escape.” • In this passage Shelley uses antithesis in that she compares a “clinging love” and “misery”. These two things are seemingly incompatible but for Frankenstein’s deranged and distraught mind these things are interconnected. • This portrayal of Victor is ironic because Victor is supposedly a man of science but when he is confronted with the consequences of his “civilization” he tries to escape and is severely punished for it.

9. Volume III Passage II • "Fear not that I shall be the instrument of future mischief. My work is nearly complete. Neither yours nor any man's death is needed to consummate the series of my being, and accomplish that which must be done; but it requires my own. Do not think that I shall be slow to perform this sacrifice. I shall quit your vessel on the iceraft which brought me thither, and shall seek the most northern extremity of the globe; I shall collect my funeral pile and consume to ashes this miserable frame, that its remains may afford no light to any curious and unhallowed wretch who would create such another as I have been. I shall die. I shall no longer feel the agonies which now consume me, or be the prey of feelings unsatisfied, yet unquenched. He is dead who called me into being; and when I shall be no more the very remembrance of us both will speedily vanish. I shall no longer see the sun or stars, or feel the winds play on my cheeks. Light, feeling, and sense will pass away; and in this condition must I find my happiness. Some years ago, when the images which this world affords first opened upon me, when I felt the cheering warmth of summer, and heard the rustling of the leaves and the warbling of the birds, and these were all to me, I should have wept to die; now it is my only consolation. Polluted by crimes, and torn by the bitterest remorse, where can I find rest but in death?” • There’s a paradox in the passage when the creature says “He is dead who called me into being”. This is a paradox because how can someone be born if their creator is dead prior to their birth. • The use of the words “Light, feeling, and sense” usher the reader into his sense of impending doom. • There is also a rhetorical question when the creature says “…where can I find rest but in death?”. This is a rhetorical question because the ultimate rest in a human beings life is in death as human beings enter an eternal sleep. *Interesting creature= human?

10. FIN