English Lit: Frankenstein

Seite 1

Structure, Narrative and Form.

FORM:

Gothic Genre: characterised by an atmoshpere of mystery and a pseudo-medieval setting.

Dark setting: 'a dreary night of November'

Low Lighting: 'my candle was nearly burnt out'

Extreme Landscapes: 'the dashing waterfalls around spoke a power might of Omnipotence' + 'I seek the everlasting ices of the north, where you will feel the misery of cold and frost, to which I am impassive'

Death and Madness: 'memory brought madness... a real insanity possessed me' + 'I was tempted to plunge into the silent lake, that the waters might close over me and my calamities forever' + 'his eyes closed forever' - Victor's death, not ambiguous like the Monster's.

Evil Deeds -> Downfall: 'I considered Satan as the fitter emblem of my condition... the bitter gall of envy rose within me' (link to 'I ought to be thy Adam; but I am rather the fallen angel' - Paradise Lost allusion.

Doppelgangers: the Monster and Victor are Gothic doubles, similar in personalities (a desire for knowledge which in the end harms them; isolated); suggests that the monster is a darker side to Frankenstein ('my form is a filthy type of yours'); Victor and Walton are also doubles, driven by ambition and both face consequences because of it (links to the cyclical structure).

Epistolary Novel: written in the form of letters; allows direct address to the reader and insights into the characters feelings, as well as adding tension as - beginning with Walton - we only know part of the story.

STRUCTURE:

China Box Narrative: Walton -> Frankenstein -> Monster.

Monster at the core; the core of Frankenstein too.

The monster is seen as the forbidden 'box' hidden at the heart of Shelley's story which Victor foolishly opens, unleashing havoc.

Concentric Rings: narratives enclosed within each other; inescapable interreactions between the characters.

Frame Narrative: story within a story - once more inescapable; allows for equal judgement of the characters.

Cyclical Structure: doubling and doubling plot devices (constant repercussions of ambition, and constant isolation an abandonment) - allows for a moral story.

Freytags' Pyramid: Walton = exposition; the Monster's creation = climax; Victor's death = denouement.

Seite 2

Symbolism, Imagery and Setting.

SYMBOLISM:

Light: symbolic of knowledge and its dangers.

Walton calls the Arctic a 'country of eternal light' and Victor says his discovery of life was like a 'sudden light broke in' upon him; their new knowledge can illuminate and benefit mankind.

However, Shelley uses light to present the dangers of ambition, such as the power and danger of electricity and the tree that was 'utterly destroyed' by lightning - dangers of pursuing knowledge (such as forbidden knowledge: life - just like in The Modern Prometheus).

Darkness: symbolic of the mysterious and disturbing, and mental anguish.

Victor's experiments are conducted in darkness - 'midnight labours' - and Victor says Clerval's death made him feel 'a darkness' around him.

IMAGERY:

Biblical Imagery: link to Paradise Lost.

Images of Good:

Women are associated with heavenly imagery; Elizabeth is described as being 'heaven-sent' and having a 'celestial stamp.'

Images of Evil:

The Monster is associated with Satan, saying: 'I ought to be thy Adam; but I am rather the fallen angel.' - the fallen angel being Satan.

Victor calls the Monster the 'malignant Devil.'

Victor is linked to God, for he plays a God-like role in the creation of life; however, he is punished for this and is also linked to Satan as punishment for imitating God, for he is said to be 'like the archangel who aspired to be omnipotence.'

Nature Imagery:

Victor uses natural imagery to describe his ambition for science, saying it was (simile) 'like a mountain river' that became a 'torrent' that ruined him - presents him as the passive victim that was carried along by the powerful force of ambition, and that he's therefore blameless.

Extreme weather is an aspect of the Gothic genre.