The Hours
Essay Two
In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, one of the major themes is the idea that the monster is a representation of the monster within all of us. Also, that the romantic age, which was prominent during the time in which Shelley was writing, was one of the conflicting mindsets that led to Victor Frankenstein’s manipulating and controlling nature, which throws him out of his mind and down a destructive path towards the creation of the monster. In The Casebook of Victor Frankenstein, Peter Ackroyd takes the metaphors and themes present in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and makes them more literal in his reimagined work. In Ackroyd’s novel, he sets out to inform the reader that the horrors shown in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein are more real than we would like to believe due to the effects of Romanticism, the Enlightenment, and Atheism.
Peter Ackroyd’s intent when writing The Casebook of Victor Frankenstein was depict the metaphor present in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein in a more realistic manner. One of the main themes that Ackroyd reimagines form Shelley’s book is the theme that the monster exists within all of us. In Shelley’s version, the monster and Victor feel as though they are “two sides of the same soul.” Although they are two separate things, they both feel as though there is some sort of connection between them. In Ackroyd’s reimagining, instead of having Victor and the monster as two separate people, he depicts them as just a split personality of Victor. As Victor tries to flee the city, he claims, “I had the most curious notion that someone else was running beside me.”1 Victor also feels as though he “might have been fleeing from someone.”2 As he is running, Victor “was about to fall upon the ground when, to [his] astonishment and fear, something seemed to lift [him] up and save [him] from falling.”3 Even early on it is apparent that his split personality has begun, and we see the monster beginning to take shape. He has the unknowing urge to be one with
In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, one of the major themes is the idea that the monster is a representation of the monster within all of us. Also, that the romantic age, which was prominent during the time in which Shelley was writing, was one of the conflicting mindsets that led to Victor Frankenstein’s manipulating and controlling nature, which throws him out of his mind and down a destructive path towards the creation of the monster. In The Casebook of Victor Frankenstein, Peter Ackroyd takes the metaphors and themes present in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and makes them more literal in his reimagined work. In Ackroyd’s novel, he sets out to inform the reader that the horrors shown in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein are more real than we would like to believe due to the effects of Romanticism, the Enlightenment, and Atheism.
Peter Ackroyd’s intent when writing The Casebook of Victor Frankenstein was depict the metaphor present in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein in a more realistic manner. One of the main themes that Ackroyd reimagines form Shelley’s book is the theme that the monster exists within all of us. In Shelley’s version, the monster and Victor feel as though they are “two sides of the same soul.” Although they are two separate things, they both feel as though there is some sort of connection between them. In Ackroyd’s reimagining, instead of having Victor and the monster as two separate people, he depicts them as just a split personality of Victor. As Victor tries to flee the city, he claims, “I had the most curious notion that someone else was running beside me.”1 Victor also feels as though he “might have been fleeing from someone.”2 As he is running, Victor “was about to fall upon the ground when, to [his] astonishment and fear, something seemed to lift [him] up and save [him] from falling.”3 Even early on it is apparent that his split personality has begun, and we see the monster beginning to take shape. He has the unknowing urge to be one with