Frankenstein Literary Analysis
Frankenstein Literary Analysis
Friends will determine the direction and quality of your life. Loneliness is a battle that all people will once face at a certain point in their life; it is how they handle it that determines the outcome of that battle. In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein loneliness is the most significant and prevailing theme throughout the entire novel. Shelley takes her readers on a wild journey that shows how loneliness can end in tragedy.
Robert Walton is the first character introduced that is lonely. “I desire the company of a man who could sympathize with me, whose eyes would reply to mine.” (Shelley 10) Walton tries to mend his loneliness by writing letters to his sister, but it is just not enough. Communicating by reading and writing letters is just not as good as communicating with a person to face. This allows Shelley to use the epistolary writing style to increase the levels of loneliness throughout the novel. Another way Shelley created the feeling of loneliness is the setting. No place on earth is more desolate and abandoned then the North Pole. Walton’s loneliness indirectly fuels his passion to pursue the passage to the North Pole, no matter how many lives he must risk to do it. The friendship that forms with Walton and Victor ultimately saves the lives of the crew and Walton himself. Victor Frankenstein has a pretty happy child hood where he has one best friend Henry Clerval. It’s not until Victor goes to college that he becomes truly alone. Victor is not willing to meet new people. “I believed myself totally unfitted for the company of strangers.” (Shelley 26) It is that attitude that leads to his isolation. His relationship with his family is almost resentful because they don’t support his ideas. His intellect also presents him with a problem with relating to other people. The ultimate isolation factor is his journey to create the monster. Frankenstein himself is at fault for bringing loneliness upon himself
Friends will determine the direction and quality of your life. Loneliness is a battle that all people will once face at a certain point in their life; it is how they handle it that determines the outcome of that battle. In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein loneliness is the most significant and prevailing theme throughout the entire novel. Shelley takes her readers on a wild journey that shows how loneliness can end in tragedy.
Robert Walton is the first character introduced that is lonely. “I desire the company of a man who could sympathize with me, whose eyes would reply to mine.” (Shelley 10) Walton tries to mend his loneliness by writing letters to his sister, but it is just not enough. Communicating by reading and writing letters is just not as good as communicating with a person to face. This allows Shelley to use the epistolary writing style to increase the levels of loneliness throughout the novel. Another way Shelley created the feeling of loneliness is the setting. No place on earth is more desolate and abandoned then the North Pole. Walton’s loneliness indirectly fuels his passion to pursue the passage to the North Pole, no matter how many lives he must risk to do it. The friendship that forms with Walton and Victor ultimately saves the lives of the crew and Walton himself. Victor Frankenstein has a pretty happy child hood where he has one best friend Henry Clerval. It’s not until Victor goes to college that he becomes truly alone. Victor is not willing to meet new people. “I believed myself totally unfitted for the company of strangers.” (Shelley 26) It is that attitude that leads to his isolation. His relationship with his family is almost resentful because they don’t support his ideas. His intellect also presents him with a problem with relating to other people. The ultimate isolation factor is his journey to create the monster. Frankenstein himself is at fault for bringing loneliness upon himself
Cited: Coulter, Susan. "Frankenstein - A Cautionary Tale of Bad Parenting." Mary Shelley and Frankenstein. June 2001. Kim W. Britton. 27 March 2007 Zimmerman, Lee. "Frankenstein, Invisibility, and Nameless Dread." American Imago 60.2 (2003): 135-158. Project Muse. John Hopkins U. Kingwood Coll. Lib., Kingwood. 27 March 2007