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Romanticism in Frankenstein Edna Gomez (Greek Tragedy (Noble: a king or…
Romanticism in Frankenstein Edna Gomez
The Sublime
Ice is continually used throughout the letters which can be tied to the idea of the sublime which describes nature as immensely powerful yet incredibly destructive. When Walton's ship is stuck between glaciers and he sees the figure on the sled, the glaciers are marvelous but cause fear to the crew and their situation. Because Romanticism ideals derive from divinity in nature, the magnificent glaciers is where divinity in any form is abundantly found.
Victor Frankenstein describes the sublime scenery in nature from within his childhood Swiss home: "the sublime shapes of the mountains; the changes of the seasons; tempest and calm; the silence if winter, and the life and turbulence of our Alpine summers" (Shelley Volume I Chapter II pg 38)
"While I watched the tempest. so beautiful yet terrific" (Shelley Volume I Ch VII pg 77)
Victor studies how the human body is built and then how it dies and decays.
"the dead calmness of inaction and certainty which follows and deprives the soul both of hope and fear" (Vol II Ch I pg 93)
The creature is compared to the thunderstorm: evidence of his incompetence of a God and of his hubris and violation of nature
Isolation
Walton writes to his sister of his loneliness and hopelessness of finding a friend he can talk to among the sailors and common people.
Victor finds himself alone and mad for two years while he gives life to the creature, driving him to madness
Nature (human and object)
Walton has a want for knowledge on his journey
Rape: human nature to try to know too much
Victor violates nature: the creature and the deaths he causes symbolize a backlash
Henry takes Victor out for a walk in nature and it calms him. Henry teaches him to respond to nature as a spiritual force and to become aware rather than violate it.
Characters
Robert Malton: the audience for Victor's story,.Captain of the ship and he finds a friend in Victor
Victor Frankenstein: The Tragic Hero
Elizabeth Lavenza: Victor's adopted orphan sister/cousin seen as a light/divine
Caroline Beaufort: Victor's mother (deceased, Scarlet fever) who's death stimulated Victor's scientific investigation in natural philosophy to have the power to prevent/defeat death so nobody has to go through death
Ernest: Victor's younger brother
Henry Clerval: Victor's close friend moderates Victor's obsessiveness of science
Justine Moritz: taken into the Frankensteins' care
William: Victor's younger brother (murdered) 1st consequence of creating a creature by having too much power
Alphonse Frankenstein: Victor's father who is a respected lawyer
Waldman: Professor that inspired Victor and told him alchemists/natural philosophy promised nothing (believed in empiricism: trial by error, knowledge by experience)
Margaret Saville: Robert's sister lives in England
The creature Victor brought to life: "His yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath; his hair was of a lustrous black, and flowing; his teeth of pearly whites; but these luxuriances only formed a more horrid contrast with his watery eyes, that seemed almost of the same colour as the dun-white sockets in which they were set, his shriveled complexion and straight black lips." (Vol I Ch V pg 58)
Greek Tragedy
Noble: a king or queen or someone of high standing or someone brave
Flaw (Hamartia). Hubris: excessive pride
Catharsis: the turmoil the tragic hero goes through
Victor Frankenstein describes his joyful childhood which somewhat foreshadows the demise of that childhood.
Victor describes his fascination/obsession, in philosophy and life and death, as his ruin
Prometheus: created man and gave them fire and was punished by getting eaten by birds which symbolizes a tragedy.
Victor moves from intrigue to hubris: the creation of humans was the power of God not his power.
Dramatic irony: Justine is grateful to Victor for believing she is innocent yet Victor in a way caused her death but cannot tell her
Victor has a breakdown after he creates the creature: start of his turmoil. Henry takes him for a walk in nature.
Irony: Victor was too obsessed with violating nature that he becomes blind to the glories of nature.
Setting
Geneva: french speaking place
Ingoldstadt
Setting: Geneva
Isolation
Frankenstein's creature feels alone and wants a friend as he travels through towns and gets attacked by people.
The creature demands Frankenstein to create another female human as hideous as himself so he can have a companion and leave him alone
As the creature watches the family in the hut, he longs for friends and dreams of them welcoming him into their home
First feeling of the creature was rejection: the townspeople rejected him and his creator rejected him
Nature (Human and object)
Human nature to fear a beast: the family feared the creature while the blind De Lacey did not fear him and trusted him BLINDLY
Frankenstein walks through nature and ice which calms him as he realizes he must acknowledge nature instead of violating it
Both the creature and Frankenstein end up disregarding humanity: frankenstein by creating a human and the creature by killing William
Sublime
Fire is seen as both warming yet destructive
Mont Blanc: the peak of the mountain is so powerful and immense
Greek Tragedy
Frankenstein's disregard of his creature and not taking responsibility for his creature begins the backlash of his tragedy.
Victor's family was doomed to break and his life was meant to be destroyed once he violated nature: his fatal flaw caused his catharsis
Characters
Felix: the son of De Lacy
Agatha: the daughter of De Lacey
Safie: Felix's Arabian lover
De Lacey: the blind father
Characters
Henry Clerval is the creatures first victim in his wrath against his creator Frankenstein by choking him on the Irish land. "black prints"
Elizabeth is the creatures second victim as he throws her against the wall and chokes her
Frankenstein's father dies of heartbreak after Elizabeth's death
Greek Tragedy
Victor's catharsis begins once his family and closest friend begins.
The deaths of his family symbolize the tragic ending of the tragic hero
Victor causes his own death over revenge for the creature
Nature (human and object)
Victor becomes scared of the thought of the creature and his lady creature reproducing and creating abominations
Nature has become unsettling to Victor while Henry marvels at the sublime of nature
The creature is seen as an evil being to Victor and Robert but they do not realize the creature lashes out because of neglect and mistreatment
The creature sympathizes once Victor dies
Sublime
Victor sees the sublime as destructive and powerfully dangerous rather than beautiful
The sublime represents Victor's struggle and fear as he chases the monster
Knowledge
Victor's obsessive revenge plan on the creature drives him to his death, Walton learns from his tale and listens to his crew to go back south away from the north pole.