Though it has been called the first science fiction novel, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein was written to frighten people. The very thought of writing a novel of terror shows a supernatural desire, one distinct characteristic of Gothic writing. There is some overlap between the Gothic and Science fictions. In the early chapters of Frankenstein several Gothic elements are noticed. The "hero-villain with a secret" becomes quite clear as Frankenstein learns of the death, which he believes is caused by his own creation. In turn, he believes it's his own fault, an inner conflict. We can look to the "deary night of November" when the monster came into being as a Gothic element (Shelley, 48). Moreover, look to the supernatural of bringing life, though also a science fiction element. The scientist is filled with "emotions at this catastrophe" knowing he has created a monster nearly from its first breath (Shelley, 48). These elements, among others, help animate the novel and feel the terror originally hoped for by Mary Shelley.
One of the first elements I noticed was the dark and yet foreboding feeling the reader gets constantly. Just like any other Gothic novel, the reader always feels the situation is dark and depressing, yet just around the corner a catastrophe is waiting to spring up at any moment. Also the foreshadowing of the end in the last letter is another common element. My personal favorite element is the main character always has to lose sanity in a Gothic novel. Just as most Edgar Allen Poe books have the "wake up in the middle of the night with a cold sweat", Shelley has this in her book too, showing the first sign of our main character, Victor, losing sanity.
One element I have noticed is supernatural activities. Victor's ability to "bestow animation upon lifeless matter" (p38 my book) has the qualities of a supernatural gift, spooky, unheard of, and possibly dangerous. I also found the feeling of emotion in the novel to be overwhelming. Victor is overwhelmed with grief, sorrow, and despair, but also experiences bitter-sweet joy when reminiscing about his past.
The entire book of Frankenstein is made up of gothic elements. A few elements include the following: malevolent witches, wicked tyrants, gloomy castles, demonic powers, monstrous apparitions and curses, ominous portents, etc. By adding gothic elements to Frankenstein, Mary Shelley wants her readers to have fear, terror, and sorrow. Also, she uses particular gothic qualities to allow readers to get mysterious/foreboding feelings about something in the book.
* A gothic element that I came across was in chapter 5. "I embraced her, but as I imprinted the first kiss on her lips, they begin livid with the hue of death."
* Another example of a gothic element that caught my eye came from chapter 9. (pg.81, bottom of the page) "Ruined castles hanging on the precipices of piny mountains; the impetuous Arve, and cottages every here and there peeping forth from among the trees, formed a scene of singular beauty."
Some Gothic elements that appear in the novel become apparent as early as the letters Walton writes to his sister in the beginning. Walton finds himself isolated, surrounded by ice and fog that amplifies his lonely suffering amidst this eerie and mysterious arctic environment. As Victor continues to tell his tale, his story never ceases to release the dark and gloomy mood of his tragic life. This novel continues to incorporate Gothic elements into its story with the addition of the supernatural act of bringing life into a lifeless object: the upbringing of his creature.
One of the gothic elements that I saw throughout the novel is the idea of isolation. At the beginning of the book there is no real sense of isolation and loneliness with his family and with Elizabeth however once he leaves the comfort of home and arrives at college he becomes isolated. Isolated from the world and from the comfort that he felt around his friends and family. He feels as if he has nobody to help him out and be with him. He makes this creature in order to have a companion, who eventually does become a friend for some time. As Ashlyn said above this novel was written to scare people. The sense of isolation and loneliness only enhances the purpose of the book adding suspense and fear to the readers.
One of the common characteristics of a gothic novel are the lonely frightening settings. Shelley uses these settings to emphasize the solitude and isolation from people the creature feels. We can see how isolated the monster feels when he says, “The desert mountains and dreary glaciers are my refuge. I have wandered here many days; the caves of ice, which I only do not fear, are a dwelling to me, and the only one which man does not grudge.” (Shelley, 79) This also shows how he has been rejected by mankind and was forced to migrate to the secluded mountains. Dreams and visions are another common trait in a gothic novel. After creating the monster, Frankenstein falls asleep, and dreams about holding Elizabeth, but as he kisses her she turned into the corpse of his dead mother.
I agree with Clay and Daniel. Many times throughout the book we hear of isolation. This feeling follows Victor to college and to England. Ironically, his feelings are a reality to his creation. He is literally isolated. Anyone who sees him runs away. This element seems to show the difference in Victor and his creation. Victor choses to isolate himself, but the society choses to isolate the "monster."
I think one of the prime elements that could be considered "Gothic" is the many unfortunate events that start the book in the first place. Victor has already experienced death and gloomy times; such as visiting depressing orphanages and living through his mother's death. The darkness that he experiences in the orphanages develops understanding about how Victor views the different appearances of the children he sees. He is already judging the faces of pain and suffering by first looks; Chapter 1, pg. 36, "The four others were dark-eyed, hardy little vagrants; this child was thin and very fair. Her hair was the brightest living gold, and despite the poverty of her clothing, seemed to set a crown of distinction on her head." He recognizes that social status, well-being, and personality might offer insight into the other individual. Amidst the tool of useful educated guessing might be, however, judging a book by its cover all the time does not discover all the elements of a human being or the soul. He only bases his conclusion off of observing, like a scientist, but is led astray because his logic is flawed. The mere appearance of "distinction" does not guarantee absolute innocence, and vice versa. The child he saw in the orphanage could have been extremely disobedient or depressed.
In the case of this story, the gothic elements show within they way the characters speak and the events that happen to them. There is always something happening with each chapter and, more often than not, these events are not exciting. The story even starts out with a rather tragic incident of Victor's mother's childhood. I agree with Jared as many times throughout the book we see someone in isolation. However, they are soon to be "rescued" even for a short time, but they still have some figure that represents society without actually being in it; whether it be Henry when Victor alienates himself from the world, or his father when Victor's mother is forced into solitude after her father dies.
Some gothic elements shown in the novel are that of a 1) grotesque nature in this case being the mutation or image depicted of the "monster", 2) revenge, conveyed in one way shown when the monster murders Elizabeth to get back at Victor, 3) the pursued-protagonist in a sense that he both pursues and becomes pursued by the monster and 4) villain-hero shown in the argument whether or not Victor is a villain or hero with his obtaining of the higher knowledge, just to name a few. These elements add to the novel by putting you in a dark, scary, suspenseful, and overall eery authentic mind set which helps you to understand, imagine and have a since of experience on just how the era and time period of Frankensteins story was depicted.
Though it has been called the first science fiction novel, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein was written to frighten people. The very thought of writing a novel of terror shows a supernatural desire, one distinct characteristic of Gothic writing. There is some overlap between the Gothic and Science fictions.
ReplyDeleteIn the early chapters of Frankenstein several Gothic elements are noticed. The "hero-villain with a secret" becomes quite clear as Frankenstein learns of the death, which he believes is caused by his own creation. In turn, he believes it's his own fault, an inner conflict.
We can look to the "deary night of November" when the monster came into being as a Gothic element (Shelley, 48). Moreover, look to the supernatural of bringing life, though also a science fiction element. The scientist is filled with "emotions at this catastrophe" knowing he has created a monster nearly from its first breath (Shelley, 48). These elements, among others, help animate the novel and feel the terror originally hoped for by Mary Shelley.
One of the first elements I noticed was the dark and yet foreboding feeling the reader gets constantly. Just like any other Gothic novel, the reader always feels the situation is dark and depressing, yet just around the corner a catastrophe is waiting to spring up at any moment. Also the foreshadowing of the end in the last letter is another common element. My personal favorite element is the main character always has to lose sanity in a Gothic novel. Just as most Edgar Allen Poe books have the "wake up in the middle of the night with a cold sweat", Shelley has this in her book too, showing the first sign of our main character, Victor, losing sanity.
ReplyDeleteOne element I have noticed is supernatural activities. Victor's ability to "bestow animation upon lifeless matter" (p38 my book) has the qualities of a supernatural gift, spooky, unheard of, and possibly dangerous.
ReplyDeleteI also found the feeling of emotion in the novel to be overwhelming. Victor is overwhelmed with grief, sorrow, and despair, but also experiences bitter-sweet joy when reminiscing about his past.
The entire book of Frankenstein is made up of gothic elements. A few elements include the following: malevolent witches, wicked tyrants, gloomy castles, demonic powers, monstrous apparitions and curses, ominous portents, etc. By adding gothic elements to Frankenstein, Mary Shelley wants her readers to have fear, terror, and sorrow. Also, she uses particular gothic qualities to allow readers to get mysterious/foreboding feelings about something in the book.
ReplyDelete* A gothic element that I came across was in chapter 5. "I embraced her, but as I imprinted the first kiss on her lips, they begin livid with the hue of death."
* Another example of a gothic element that caught my eye came from chapter 9. (pg.81, bottom of the page) "Ruined castles hanging on the precipices of piny mountains; the impetuous Arve, and cottages every here and there peeping forth from among the trees, formed a scene of singular beauty."
Some Gothic elements that appear in the novel become apparent as early as the letters Walton writes to his sister in the beginning. Walton finds himself isolated, surrounded by ice and fog that amplifies his lonely suffering amidst this eerie and mysterious arctic environment. As Victor continues to tell his tale, his story never ceases to release the dark and gloomy mood of his tragic life. This novel continues to incorporate Gothic elements into its story with the addition of the supernatural act of bringing life into a lifeless object: the upbringing of his creature.
ReplyDeleteOne of the gothic elements that I saw throughout the novel is the idea of isolation. At the beginning of the book there is no real sense of isolation and loneliness with his family and with Elizabeth however once he leaves the comfort of home and arrives at college he becomes isolated. Isolated from the world and from the comfort that he felt around his friends and family. He feels as if he has nobody to help him out and be with him. He makes this creature in order to have a companion, who eventually does become a friend for some time. As Ashlyn said above this novel was written to scare people. The sense of isolation and loneliness only enhances the purpose of the book adding suspense and fear to the readers.
ReplyDeleteOne of the common characteristics of a gothic novel are the lonely frightening settings. Shelley uses these settings to emphasize the solitude and isolation from people the creature feels. We can see how isolated the monster feels when he says, “The desert mountains and dreary glaciers are my refuge. I have wandered here many days; the caves of ice, which I only do not fear, are a dwelling to me, and the only one which man does not grudge.” (Shelley, 79) This also shows how he has been rejected by mankind and was forced to migrate to the secluded mountains. Dreams and visions are another common trait in a gothic novel. After creating the monster, Frankenstein falls asleep, and dreams about holding Elizabeth, but as he kisses her she turned into the corpse of his dead mother.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Clay and Daniel. Many times throughout the book we hear of isolation. This feeling follows Victor to college and to England. Ironically, his feelings are a reality to his creation. He is literally isolated. Anyone who sees him runs away. This element seems to show the difference in Victor and his creation. Victor choses to isolate himself, but the society choses to isolate the "monster."
ReplyDeleteI think one of the prime elements that could be considered "Gothic" is the many unfortunate events that start the book in the first place. Victor has already experienced death and gloomy times; such as visiting depressing orphanages and living through his mother's death. The darkness that he experiences in the orphanages develops understanding about how Victor views the different appearances of the children he sees. He is already judging the faces of pain and suffering by first looks; Chapter 1, pg. 36, "The four others were dark-eyed, hardy little vagrants; this child was thin and very fair. Her hair was the brightest living gold, and despite the poverty of her clothing, seemed to set a crown of distinction on her head." He recognizes that social status, well-being, and personality might offer insight into the other individual. Amidst the tool of useful educated guessing might be, however, judging a book by its cover all the time does not discover all the elements of a human being or the soul. He only bases his conclusion off of observing, like a scientist, but is led astray because his logic is flawed. The mere appearance of "distinction" does not guarantee absolute innocence, and vice versa. The child he saw in the orphanage could have been extremely disobedient or depressed.
ReplyDelete-Sam
In the case of this story, the gothic elements show within they way the characters speak and the events that happen to them. There is always something happening with each chapter and, more often than not, these events are not exciting. The story even starts out with a rather tragic incident of Victor's mother's childhood.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Jared as many times throughout the book we see someone in isolation. However, they are soon to be "rescued" even for a short time, but they still have some figure that represents society without actually being in it; whether it be Henry when Victor alienates himself from the world, or his father when Victor's mother is forced into solitude after her father dies.
Some gothic elements shown in the novel are that of a 1) grotesque nature in this case being the mutation or image depicted of the "monster", 2) revenge, conveyed in one way shown when the monster murders Elizabeth to get back at Victor, 3) the pursued-protagonist in a sense that he both pursues and becomes pursued by the monster and 4) villain-hero shown in the argument whether or not Victor is a villain or hero with his obtaining of the higher knowledge, just to name a few. These elements add to the novel by putting you in a dark, scary, suspenseful, and overall eery authentic mind set which helps you to understand, imagine and have a since of experience on just how the era and time period of Frankensteins story was depicted.
ReplyDelete