In Frankenstein, Mary Shelley implies that when the pursuit of knowledge is taken beyond nature’s boundaries, nature will get revenge and make one’s life nothing but misery and pain. This occurs time and time again as characters like Frankenstein, who neglected nature as a whole, and then openly defied it by reanimating dead matter, the Monster, who was Frankenstein’s creation, and was unnatural at his core, and Robert Walton, who, blind in the ideas of glory and fame, almost lost his life as well as his own crew’s in the journey to the Arctic, risk their lives in the obsession they have formed. However, when one subsides these obsessions, and puts others, possibly even their health, before the knowledge they seek, they are forgiven, Walton
As the book progresses, Shelley’s view of nature slowly comes out; she seems to think nature can be explained by natural examples. The author’s view of nature does not go with the Bible view of it, clearly showing where Shelley’s worldview lies. While Frankenstein may seem like an ordinary mystery novel, the author’s meaning behind it goes much deeper. The book raises questions concerning the power of God, the characteristics of mankind, and man’s view of nature.
In Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, the idea of the natural world is recurring and helps relate many characters with nature. Victor Frankenstein, the protagonist in the novel, has a very close and unique relationship with the natural world. In Victor’s life, the idea of the sublime or the natural world comes up in emotional and significant moments. Nature changes Victor’s mood, forms his character, and shows his growth through poetic devices. In Frankenstein, nature directly affects what Victor sees and feels.
Sociological Observation of Primetime Television By watching four shows on a variety of networks, making observations in regards to the race of the characters on the show yielded interesting results. Primetime in this observations are shows aired Monday through Thursday evenings between the hours of seven and nine in the evening. This range maintains the shows that tend to have highest reoccurring viewers week by week. I viewed Grey’s Anatomy on ABC, Modern Family on ABC, The Big Bang Theory on CBS, and This is Us on NBC.
The story of Frankenstein is about Victor Frankenstein, his hardships in life, and how he deals with them. Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, incorporates the theme of nature being renewing, which contributes to the meaning of the text. For instance, this text implies nature is rejuvenating because the characters in the book turn over a new leaf each time they are in nature. The monster that Frankenstein created experiences this when he is feeling depressed, but then walks into the forest, “what before was desert and gloomy should now bloom with the most beautiful flowers and verdure. My senses were gratified and refreshed by a thousand scents of delight, and a thousand sights of beauty.”
EVENTS SUPPORTING IDEA EVIDENCE Victor Frankenstein’s appreciation and curiosity of nature’s aesthetics “we witnessed a most violent and terrible thunder-storm” “The wind was high, and the waves continually threatened the safety of my little shiff” Victor’s obsession with ‘penetrating’/uncovering nature’s secrets,
Numerous research has concluded that several emotional bonds exist between humanity and nature that can impact everything from attitude to anxiety. Novels of the romanticism period, a significant literary era that encompassed most European works written in the early 1800’s, are most known for describing the impacts that nature has on people and implying that unexpected consequences can arise out of this relationship; Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is a prime example of such a novel. The prime conflict of this 1818 science-fiction story occurs between the titular character, Victor Frankenstein, and a monster he creates through his own scientific innovations. Because of Victor’s abandonment of the monster, it becomes intent on destroying the scientist’s
he natural imagery in "Frankenstein" is comparable to the best in the Romantic literature. Mary Shelley paints Nature and its divine grandeur with some rare strokes of a masterful hand. She deliberately juxtaposes the exalted vision of Mother Nature with the horrendous spectacle of a man-made monster and his ghastly deeds. This steep contrast sets reader thinking about the wisdom of departing away from the set norms of Nature. Mary's message to mankind is loud and clear; do not mess with Nature for your own good.
In the novel Frankenstein, the author Mary Shelley shows the everlasting power of nature by limiting the knowledge man can learn about it. Throughout the book there are many times when Victor yearns for nature in order to heal him from the misery and violence in his life. This misery and violence are caused by his determination to learn more about the natural world. The monster Victor creates, due to his loneliness, defies the unwritten rules of nature and exemplifies the supernatural aspect of the novel. Victor’s mood completely shifts when he is around nature and he instantly feels calmer when near it.
Their perspectives of nature, however, are vastly different due to their circumstances regarding companionship and affection from companions. Victor Frankenstein describes nature as calming and it brings him great happiness when he is surrounded by nature because he himself is happy and adored by friends who surround him. Frankenstein has friends whom he holds strong bonds with where “harmony was the soul of [their] companionship, and the diversity and contrast that subsided [their] characters drew [them] nearer together” (29, Chapter 2). He is surrounded by companions that give him plenty of love and affection that in turn, bring him happiness and a favoring outlook on nature. Victor takes pleasure in wandering through various scenes of nature, feeling accepted by it, therefore, he can portray it as full of life and “awful and majestic” (82, Chapter 10).
(Shelley 55). Nature restores Frankenstein's health. His relationship with nature goes beyond what he can have with his family or any human. It consoles him. When the monster destroyed Frankenstein's family by murdering them, he used to gain support from nature.
When Victor grows up and learns about his passion, he describes science’s effect on him, “...like a mountain river, from ignoble and almost forgotten sources; but, swelling as it proceeded, it became the torrent which, in its course, has swept away all my hopes and joys” (Shelley 20). Imagery describes a river, which is “swelling”, and able to “sweep” things away. These words provoke feelings of disruption and that nature is a great power able to control how life progresses. Here Frankenstein starts to develop ideas of what science can be used for and nature warns him that when he continues with his new found passion, all other positive things in his life will be compromised. The setting is described just moments prior to Frankenstein’s monster coming to life; “It was already one in the morning; the rain pattered dismally against the panes…”
There is a romanticization of nature that stands in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, whether it be regarding its beauty or the way in which humans rationalize it to be considered a sort of adopted Mother. Either way Shelley sets nature up as something we can escape to and seek comfort in. Nature as salvation, a mother-figure, and beautiful are interconnected in this novel, all are aspects of romantic humanism, which Timothy Clark speaks on in his chapter “Nature, Post Nature” in The Cambridge Companion to Literature and the Environment. I find Shelley’s representation of nature as something that we should feel moved by and find an understanding of ourselves more compelling to Clark’s thoughts on how romanticizing nature places it in danger.
In Mary Shelley’s iconic gothic novel, Frankenstein, Romantic themes are strongly represented in order to propagandize Romanticism over the elements of knowledge and the Enlightenment. In her novel, Shelley uses gothic nature settings to foreshadow dark events that are about to happen in the novel. She also uses nature to intensify the effect that is brought during significant scenes, a strong example being, when Victor Frankenstein’s monster approaches him after a long period of time. Nature and its use to influence mood is one of the most paramount themes of both Frankenstein and Romanticism.
Nature and Frankenstein compare in their understanding of the relationship between human beings and the natural world because the natural world is an emotional experience and the influence of nature changes the mood drastically. The natural world is an emotional experience for Victor because he got depressed about the death of Justine and William. To cope with his feelings he decided to escape to the hills. Victor struggles to cope with the deaths: The sceneries help Victor out by cheering him up and acting as a sense of relief.
