Frankenstein - Chapters I - VIII

From the beginning of the novel, I personally disliked Victor Frankenstein, and feel that he is an unreliable character who is narcissistic in his interpretations of life. The novel commences with a description of Frankenstein's childhood, who he grew up with and how his parental figures met. It is told that he travelled a lot around Europe, before settling in Geneva - which parallels the life of the creator of this distinguished novel, Mary Shelly. Chapter II divulges in Victor's relationship with his adopted sister Elizabeth - whom he calls 'Cousin'. The narrator describes her as a “Calmer and more concentrated disposition” to that of Victor. This suggests that she levels out his erratic behaviour and earths him. Continuing, the chapter progresses to describe more of Victor’s young adulthood, and how he becomes infatuated with scientific experiments. Chapter III tells the story of how, at the age of seventeen, Victor was introduced to the University of Ingolstadt – which at the time retained a reputation for Liberal thinkers, and was not the typical upstanding university. After a long goodbye from Victor’s friends and family, Frankenstein arrives at the University eager to learn about authors such as Cornelius Agrippa, Paracelsus, and Alburtus Magnus, all of which were deemed as “nonsense” by one of his teachers - M. Krempe. Distraught by this, Victor slog’s through the laborious task of meeting and greeting his fellow academics, and eventually becomes a good acquaintance of M. Waldman. His unorthodox views, similar to Victor, spur Frankenstein on to create the Creature. Chapters IV and V tell the story of how the Creature came to life and I feel that these chapters are the most fascinating to study because they allow the reader to see into the mind of a mad scientist who is following his passions and ignoring society’s unwritten conventions, in order to discover something unique to him – in modern terms it would be classes as his ‘guilty pleasure’. These chapters of exploration are comparable to those of Robert Walton at the start of the novel, which is why it could be argued that Walton is a bad narrator – because he permits his own personal life and experiences to influence the novel, and therefore manipulate the outcome. Chapters V, VI and VII divulge into the consequences of creating the Creature and how they affect Frankenstein psychologically and physically because he becomes seriously ill, requiring the help of his long-term friend Henry Clerval. Eventually Victor returns home in good health, to find that the Creature has killed William, his younger brother, and Justine – a local girl with no family to depend upon other than the Frankenstein’s – is being held responsible.

Upon reading these few chapters the reader gets an immediate sense of how mentally unstable Victor becomes. At any sign of the Creature – whether metaphorical, physical or imaginary – Victor becomes even more obsessed than previously thought. Even at the beginning of the novel the reader can see that it is going to end badly for the protagonist because he is too self-absorbed. The moral of the story could be that men should not attempt to play the figure of God or “Play with Fire” because they will be punished. The reason why no one had made scientific discoveries like this before is because people were too afraid of being burdened with guilt if something went wrong.

Frankenstein and Mary Shelly

·         Born in London 1797 named Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin.

·         Her mother, Mary Wollstonecraft , was a feminist – but she died 11 days after she was born.

·         Her father was a philosopher

·         She stayed in Scotland, after travelling around, and fell in love with Percy Shelly – who was a poet – and they eloped.

·         Scandal and debt caused them to move to Switzerland – she was only 19 years old at the time.

·         Lord Byron, was their neighbour, to which they had long conversations with.

·         Mary has a vivid nightmare and thus was the creation of Frankenstein.

·         Because it was written by a young woman – it was very shocking and was therefore first published by an anonymous writer.

·         Percy and Mary married in 1816, but unfortunately he drowned.

·         She died in Bournemouth  in 1851.

·         The Preface to Frankenstein was written by Percy Shelly.

·         Because she was bought up to be a liberal thinker, she had the freedom to write.

Frankenstein - Religious and Philosophical Contexts

·         1818 – the country was at the height of the Christian grasp.

·         Christianity thought you had a perfect or painful eternal life

·         Heaven or hell.

·         Emphasis on the soul – it lives on after death.

·         Frankenstein’s creature is made out of dead people, afterlife revoked?

·         Frankenstein is playing God?

·         Does Creature possess a soul, if he’s not born naturally?

·         ‘Origin of Species’ – undermines church philosophy.

·         Society was more liberal – people thought of the church less and science more.

·         Creature struggles with the value of friendship and love – is this an attack on the Christian God? Is the world too immoral to be a perfect creation by a perfect God

·         Superstition – ‘Dracula’, ‘Dr Jekyll’ share elements of the supernatural and fear with Frankenstein.

Frankenstein and Romanticism

·         18^th – 19^th Century – “Valued Imagination and emotion, rather than rationality

·         Pushing boundaries

·         Rebellion against aristocrats

·         Anti-society

·         Music – depressive

·         “rite of Spring” Ballet – caused riots

·         More emotion rather than structure.

·         Literature – Keats, Blake and Coleridge – who worked with Wordsworth - was possibly bipolar?

·         Liberal thinkers, anti-religion

·         Colloquial language

·         Idolises pure nature, hated symmetry and perfection

·         Marginalised sections of society

·         The Voyage of Life – Thomas Crusoe.

Frankenstein and The French Revolution

·         Bankruptcy and huge debt

·         French aid in American Civil War

·         Louis 16^th – taxed the lower class (which was 92% of the total population)

·         Mass discontent led to mass riots and the death of Louis 16^th.

·         Jean-Jacques Rousseau promoted civil liberties.

·         Nationalism came from the French Revolution

·         Rights of Man

·         Class system

·         British Constitution

·         Social Reform

·         Frankenstein came out of unchecked intellectual ambition

·         The French wanted radical change

·         Social, political and religious reforms caused upheaval across Europe

·         Frankenstein is a romantic book caused by disillusionment.

Frankenstein and Science

·         Mary Shelly met Erasmus Darwin

·         What did Shelly know about science?

·         Galvanism is the contraction of a muscle that is stimulated by an electric current.

·         “Spark of being”

·         Critics called Frankenstein a  “negative view of science”

·         Science is a metaphor for irresponsible actions.

·         Political novel over a scientific

·         1931 – 1^st film version – genetics are responsible for personality?

·         ‘normal’ and ‘criminal’ brains

·         Science fiction creator.

Frankenstein - The Letters

-        The letters set up what the novel is about.

-        Similar to Macbeth - Macbeth sends a letter to Lady Macbeth explaining what he's planning to do.

-        Evil forebodings due to exotic place.

-        Pathetic Fallacy?

-        ‘playing’ and ‘delight’ = positive

-        Joy from the unfamiliar

-        Frightening – “rose tinted spectacles” romantic

-        Gothic or Romantic?

-        References to solitude – his internal paradise

-        Juxtaposition of beauty and exploration – prolepsis of Chapter V.

-        “Numb” the mind

-        The soul – a Gothic invention

-        Personal reference and exploration – not scientific

-        A man driven by self interest

-        It breaks boundaries – physically and geographically.

-        Romantic or scientific?

-        Potentially romantic

-        Macbeth and Victor obsessed with knowledge and power

-        Smug – exaggerating – reliable narrator? Arrogant.

Reading Journal - Act V.

Act V – Scene I:

·         Lady Macbeth – wash your hands – guilt

·         The guilt has driven her to insanity.

·         Is Lady Macbeth sleep walking? And is she really being visited by Banquo?

·         She has followed her husband into insanity.

·         Lady Macbeth is vulnerable – Macbeth has killed children, therefore if Lady Macbeth has had children and lost them, does she empathise with Macduff’s grief?

·         A woman and family have been killed; Lady Macbeth is now hiding behind her gender at the start of the play, now however she is scared because a woman has died at the hands of Macbeth. The possibility that she could die as well has entered her mind.

·         She questions her character and personality.

·         Another role reversal of Macbeth and his wife.

·         Guilt, remorse, blood and dreams.

·         Macbeth and Lady Macbeth – they fluctuate, one is weak, while the other is storng.

·         Lady Macbeth gains femininity

Act V – Scene II:

·         The Scottish lords discussing  the situation call Macbeth the “tyrant,”

·         The lords also talk about the need for Birnan Wood. 

Act V – scene III:

·         Macbeth boasts proudly that he has nothing to fear from the English - “none of woman born” – gender roles are once again included in the conversation, and the weakness/innocence of women.

·         The doctor tells the king that Lady Macbeth is kept from rest by “thick-coming fancies,” and Macbeth orders him to cure her of her delusions – he’s making the decisions with force, showing that he is string.

·         The audience see Macbeth as how he is describes at the beginning of the play by the Captain, Courageous, strong and a great warrior.

Act V – Scene IV:

·         There is an essence of fear and anxiety in the atmosphere because the men are about to go to war.

·         The men decide that each soldier should cut down a bough of the forest and carry it in front of him as they march to the castle, thereby disguising how many men they have.

Act V – Scene V:

·         “Life is but a walking shadow” – epiphany, futile, philosophic, lack of emotion, apathetic.

·         Logical and practical.

·         Macbeth’s preparing for battle – “beat them backward home” links to Macbeth at the beginning of the play.

·         Lady Macbeth’s death is announced – does he still need her?

·         2 people as one, psychological?

·         Nihilistic – nothing matters to Macbeth anymore.

·         Emotionally numb

·         Existentialist – only you can give it meaning, a focus on one’s self.

·         Macbeth has lost the one person who keeps him strong – companionship.

·         Macbeth manic depressive? – building up?

·         “it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing” – questioning superstition and the validity of the witches.

·         He feels he is being used by and toyed with by the witches, he doesn’t see the point.

·         Revelation signifies his fall.

·         Rejection of religion? Denying faith and the afterlife.

·         “Equivocation” – links to the porter – “ringing an alarum bell” – he knows he is going to hell.

·         “There is nor flying hence nor tarrying here” and “I’gin to be aweary of the sun” – don’t play with fire or the supernatural.

·         The gothic is subversively conservative, in making people obey the rules.

·         Non-Christian play, temptation?  

·         Like to Macbeth = blasphemy, the audience admire him – he gets what he wants, and does whatever it takes.

·         We see Macbeth as the tragic hero that we are denied by the witches at the end.

·         He has a bleak epiphany.

Reading Journal - Act IV

Act IV – Scene I:

·         Macbeth vows to kill Macduff and his family

·         The apparition states that Macbeth should “Beware Macduff”, yet the witches don’t say why he should fear him.

·         Macbeth fully trusts them, even though he is without Lady Macbeth.

·         It is the first time that Macbeth seeks the witches, rather than them looking for him.

·         Loss of sanity?

·         He goes to see them – does he tease them, almost taunting them?

·         Macduff – rebellion – gone to England

·         Macbeth is ruthless to assert his dominance.

Act IV – Scene II:

·         Macduff’s wife and children are killed – it’s ironic because previous to their killing Macduff’s son and wife discuss good and evil.

·         Ross and Macduff’s wife talk about how Macduff has left for England – he does for the right reasons (to protect his family) however they still end up getting killed.

·         It’s the first time we see the orders being acted out because of Macbeth’s actions.

·         Its also the first time that we see children and wholly innocent characters die in such a brutal way.

·         Macbeth is quick to kill of the Macduff’s because of their threat to the throne.

Act IV – Scene III:

·         Malcolm tests Macduff’s loyalty.

·         Ironic – dramatic, Ross say’s Macduff’s wife and children and OK, yet later he tells Macduff that they are dead – this helps to justify his revenge.

·         Human impact and suffering at the hands of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, the first time we have seen the consequences of their actions.

·         Moral interpretation and stance? Human nature.

·         Killing of children and women signifies innocence?

·         The killing adds a human element to it.

·         Macduff’s guilt – he wasn’t there to protect his children – makes their death even sadder.

Reading Journal - Act III.

Act III- Scene I:

·         Banquo shows he is suspicious and suspecting the king, but he knows to be quiet.

·         “Our fears in Banquo stick deep”, and “My genius rebuked” – shows that Macbeth fears Banquo knows of his dirty deeds, he is contemplating how to solve this?

·         Witches prophesied Banquo’s children will become king – because of this Macbeth fears that he will be killed.

·         “Come fate into the list...” – he is calling on the witches to change their prophecy.

·         “Barren sceptre”- fruitless crown, implying that Macbeth cannot have children? Lady Macbeth makes a reference that she had children. “I have given suck” the word sceptre implies that it is a phallic object as well. This adds to his fear of losing the crown.

·         Macbeth cannot kill Banquo himself – talking to the murderers convinces him to kill Banquo in reality. He then tries to justify it to himself.

Act III – Scene II:

·         Lady Macbeth speaks in rhythmic couplets, which is poetic like the witches.

·         Alliteration “Destroy, Destruction, Dwell, Doubtful”

·         When Macbeth enters it changes.
·         “O full of scorpions is my mind dear wife!” – Imagery, tortured mind.

·         Macbeth’s last lines are rhyming couplets which mirrors Lady Macbeth's.

Act III – Scene III:

·         You see the murder happen on stage, it is muddled and messy.

·         The scene is fast, the short lines due to the stichomythia make the scene frenzied.

Act III – Scene IV:

·         Insanity, lightening, repressive, totalitarian dictatorship.

·         Transition to regular Gothic, this is a change in Lady Macbeth's character.
·         Does it show a deterioration of the mind? The dagger in Macbeth’s soliloquy is not seen, therefore is Banquo visible?

·         Macabre dance in the film version, is it the dance of death?

·         Macbeth learns that Banquo is dead and that Fleance has escaped. The news of Fleance’s escape angers Macbeth “the worm that’s fled  Hath nature that in time will venom breed” showing that if Fleance had died, his position as king would have been safe.

·         Lady Macbeth questions Macbeth’s manhood – reversed roles? Two halves of the same person?

Act III – Scene V:

·         The witches meet with Hecat – the goddess of witchcraft.

·         Hecate scolds them for meddling in the business of Macbeth - shows that there are powers higher than the witches that mere mortals cannot tamper with.

Act III – Scene VI:

·         Lennox and another lord discuss what has happened to the kingdom.

·         Banquo’s murder is blamed on Fleance, who has fled

·         Both men suspect Macbeth, whom they call a “tyrant,” in the murders of Duncan and Banquo.