Frankenstein

1. Frankenstein Pallavi Dev Ashley Riley Tate Smith Colin Ramby Akshay Kala

2. Prompt • Choose a distinguished novel or play in which some of the most significant events are mental or psychological; for example, awakenings, discoveries, changes in consciousness. In a well-organized essay, describe how the author manages to give these internal events the sense of excitement, suspense, and climax usually associated with external action.

3. Literal Meaning • Describe how the author, Mary Shelley, provides a sense of climax to events that are primarily psychological.

4. Correlation to Novel • In this novel, both Victor Frankenstein and the creature he creates experience significant psychological issues. • Victor becomes mentally ill after he realizes the consequences of creating the creature, almost dying from stress and mental fatigue. • Similarly, the creature experiences stress and rage when he is not accepted by other humans. • In the novel, the author adds suspense and excitement to these events by using several literary devices.

5. Pivotal Moments • “I paused, examining and analysing all the minutiae of causation, as exemplified in the change from life to death, and death to life, until from the midst of this darkness a sudden light broke in upon me – a light so brilliant and wondrous, yet so simple, that while I became dizzy with the immensity of the prospect which it illustrated, I was surprised…” (Shelley 31). • This scene describes Victor’s discovery of the “secret of life”, which will allow him to create the creature. Shelley employs various literary devices to describe Victor’s thought process and build the suspense of this scene. Antithesis is present in the words “life” and “death” and “darkness” and “light” to emphasize the contrast in Victor’s scientific mind before the discovery and after. Shelley’s diverse use of grandiose, descriptive adjectives and nouns such as “brilliant”, “wondrous”, “dizzy”, and “immensity” also show the great importance of this moment in the novel and add excitement to the epiphany in Victor’s mind.

6. Pivotal Moments • “It was already one in the morning…my candle was nearly burnt out, when, by the glimmer of the half-extinguished light, I saw the dull yellow eye of the creature open; it breathed hard, and a convulsive motion agitated its limbs” (Shelley 35). • “It was dark when I awoke; I felt cold also, and half frightened, as it were, instinctively, finding myself so desolate” (Shelley 71). • These quotes describe the awakening of the creature, both in the points of view of Victor and the creature. The creature’s first glimpse of the world is an important psychological moment, as he is overwhelmed with sensory information and emotions. The creature’s birth was also an awakening for Victor, in the sense that he suddenly realizes the horror and fault in his invention. Both quotes are enhanced by Shelley’s vivid diction and complex sentence structure. This moment has extreme significance in the novel, as it is the beginning of the expansion of the conflict between benevolence and evil in the creature and remorse and mental stability in Victor.

7. Literary Devices “The wind, which had fallen in the south, now rose with great violence in the west. The moon had reached her summit in the heavens and was beginning to descend; the clouds swept across it swifter than the flight of the vulture and dimmed her rays, while the lake reflected the scene of the busy heavens, rendered still busier by the restless waves that were beginning to rise. Suddenly a heavy storm of rain descended” (Shelley 143-144). • This quote shows symbolism as for the moon creates the mood for the Creature showing darkness and leading into what the creature will do next such as killing Elizabeth. This awakens a beast and rage inside of Victor causing him to feel angry and grief and eventually his death as he makes his pursuit to kill the very being he created “I closed not my eyes that night. My internal being was in a state of insurrection and turmoil; I felt that order would thence arise, but I had no power to produce it. By degrees, after the morning’s dawn, sleep came. I awoke, and my yesternight’s thoughts were as a dream. There only remained a resolution to return to my ancient studies and to devote myself to a science for which I believed myself to possess a natural talent.” (Shelley 28) Foreshadowing- As Victor was telling Walton about his passion for Knowledge and the desire to know the secret of life it foreshadowed victor’s new-found love for science. At the same time it shows that Victor is will become so consumed in his studies that he will not think of any of the consequences of his actions. These actions involve the creation of the creature and Victor not fulfilling his responsibility as the creature’s creator.

8. Literary Devices “You have destroyed the work which you began; what is it that you intend? Do you dare to break your promise? I have endured toil and misery; I left Switzerland with you; I crept along the shores of the Rhine, among its willow islands and over the summits of its hills. I have dwelt many months in the heaths of England and among the deserts of Scotland. I have endured incalculable fatigue, and cold, and hunger; do you dare destroy my hopes?" "Begone! I do break my promise; never will I create another like yourself, equal in deformity and wickedness.“ (Shelley 518) As Victor breaks his promise it awakens the cruelty and malice in the creature. Shelley uses foreshadowing and repetition to show the creatures intention to show what he is going to do. That he felt hurt and causes a change in the creature that turns him from dark to vengeful and hateful. This choice Victor had made caused the creature to tip over the edge and go after Henry and finally his soon-to-be wife Elizabeth.

9. Examples “I imagined that the monster seized me; I struggled furiously and fell down in a fit…for I was lifeless, and did not recover my senses for a long, long time. This was the commencement of a nervous fever, which confined me for several months.” (Shelley 38). Victor’s reaction to his creation foreshadows a dire relationship between the two. His encounter with his creation is extremely brief, yet is still enough to nearly kill Victor. Victor’s illness is also the beginning of a trend in which the creature seems to haunt Victor at all times.

10. Examples “A flash of lightening illuminated the object, and discovered its shape plainly to me; its gigantic stature, and the deformity of its aspect, more hideous than belongs to humanity, instantly informed me that it was the wretch, the filthy daemon to whom I had given life. What did he do there? Could he be (I shuddered at the conception) the murderer of my brother? No sooner did that idea cross my imagination, than I became convinced of its truth…” (Shelley 50). Victor’s realization that his creation may be the murderer of his brother is a turning point in the novel. Up to this point, Victor’s creation had been only a small factor in Victor’s life. Victor had mostly been able to push the memories of his creation out of his mind. However, his brother’s death and the realization that he might been indirectly responsible for it, force Victor to confront the idea that his creation may be the murderer.

11. 6 Step Thesis: Simple Sentence: The awakenings galvanized. Add an adjective and adverb: The significantawakenings fervently galvanized. Add a prepositional phrase: In Frankenstein, the significantawakenings are fervently galvanized through Shelley’s utilization of sophisticated diction, antithesis, and visual imagery. Add an appositive phrase: In Frankenstein, the significantawakenings, the creature being born and Victor realizing the faults in his creation, are fervently galvanized through Shelley’s utilization of sophisticated diction, antithesis, and visual imagery. Add a subordinate clause: In Frankenstein, the significant awakenings, the creature being born and Victor realizing the faults in his creation, are fervently galvanized through Shelley’s utilization of sophisticated diction, antithesis, and visual imagery as though they were tangible beyond their psychological nature.

12. 6 Step Thesis: Add a triad of absolute phrases: In Frankenstein, the significant awakenings, the creature being born and Victor realizing the faults in his creation, are fervently galvanized through Shelley’s utilization of sophisticated diction, antithesis, and visual imagery as though they were tangible beyond their psychological nature, giving the novel a sense of horror, heightening the emotion of main plot events, and bringing the characters’ internal thoughts to life.

13. Sources • Shelly, Mary. Frankenstein. New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1994. • http://www.literature.org/authors/shelley-mary/frankenstein/chapter-23.html • Images from: www.signal-watch.com, lsapples.blogspot.com, www.google.com