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Mary Shelleys Influence On Frankenstein

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The tale of Frankenstein is universally known around the world. The origin of this can be found in the novel “Frankenstein” written by Mary Shelley. Even before she was born, Mary was destined to be a prodigious writer, being that both her parents were marvelous well-known writers. Her father, William Godwin was an English journalist and novelist. On the other hand, her mother, Mary Wollstonecraft, argued for women rights in her writings. Mary Shelley was born on August 30, 1979 in the city of London, England. Sadly, her mother died ten days following her birth, but her work continued to influence Mary Shelley. However, Godwin remarried in 1801 to Mary Jane Clairemont, who was accompanied by her two children. In 1812, Mary met Percy Shelley …show more content…

Mary Shelley described it as “I saw with shut eyes, but acute mental vision, -the pale student of unhallowed arts standing before the thing he had put together, I saw the hideous phantasm of a man stretched out…His success would terrify the artist; he would rush away from his odious handiwork, horror stricken” However, the novel was not only created from a dream; there were many influences in Shelley’s life that had an effect on the book. An example of this would be “Paradise lost” by John Milton, which illustrates creation of man and the “downward spiral” due to misbehavior. This can be seen in Shelley’s novel where Dr. Frankenstein disobeys God by thinking he can create life, which leads him to misery and death. Another influence is Mary Shelley’s life, which contain numerous deaths, such as her mother, half-sister, Percy’s wife, and her own children. This can be the reason as to why the Dr. Frankenstein experienced abundant deaths in his life. Also, Shelley might have heard about the legend of the castle near the German town of Darmstadt since they travelled through in on their way from

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Mary Shelley wrote the book Frankenstein at the age of nineteen in the mountains with her husband and Lord Byron. She was inspired by French ghost stories and her own nightmares to create the original story, and then encouraged by her husband to finish the tale. Throughout the book the reader is given a window into the mind of Victor Frankenstein and that of his creature. The book uses the juxtaposition of Victor's childhood and how the monster, or creature, was "raised" to create the idea that nurturing cannot always override human nature and those who are never nurtured seek out affection and can be pushed to desperate measures. Shelley creates an important commentary on nature versus nurture throughout the book.

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From the point of birth, Man always pursues knowledge, this pursuit is always kept within certain boundaries. In her novel, Frankenstein, Mary Shelley explains how the pursuit of forbidden knowledge can become dangerous through symbolism, allusion, and foreshadowing proving each effectively to the reader. Employing symbolism as her first technique, Shelley uses this in the way many other enlightenment authors do. The strongest use of symbolism is prevalent while Victor is contemplating suicide on the lake near Geneva. Feeling “tempted to plunge into the silent lake, that the waters might close over me and my calamities forever” (63)

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In the story “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe, Poe uses irony throughout story to allow the reader a little inside and humor on what is about to happen. Throughout the story examples of verbal, dramatic, and situational irony can be found easily and are helpful is foreshadowing what is to come. Verbal irony is when one thing is said, but another is meant. For example, when Montresor runs into Fortunato at the beginning of the story, he says, “My dear Fortunato, you are luckily met” (237); However, he actually means that he himself is happy to see Fortunato because he will profit from this meeting, not Fortunato.

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Frankenstein is a book written by Mary Shelley about a man named Victor Frankenstein and his life and how it came to be. He had created a monster and brought it to life by studying and learning natural philosophy. Mary Shelley brought the emotions forward from the main characters by the amount of detail she put into the book. Most of the detail was brought in by the suffering that happens throughout the book caused by Frankenstein’s monster. The monster in this story is a tragic figure that is the main cause of suffering that occurs to everyone.

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Interestingly enough, the novel resembles Shelley’s own life and can be interpreted as a reflection of her perception of families. Shelley shares many of the same characteristics with most of her characters. As the main character in the novel, Frankenstein’s creature is depicted as “a motherless orphan” who had an “unnatural birth” (Griffith). This correlates with Shelley’s own childhood as she was raised without a mother and her birth was in some ways “unnatural” as mothers are not naturally made to die during childbirth.

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The classic novel Frankenstein, written by Mary Shelley in 1818, displays the use of literary devices, foreshadowing, allusions and figurative language, which aid the reader in understanding the authors opinion on scientific exploration. These techniques are used to arouse anticipation within the reader, therefore engaging them throughout the text. Along with providing a greater understanding of the novel, by referring to other books, and using the novel to portray the authors own perspective on scientific exploration. All these devices are effectively used within the novel to provide a deeper understandings of Mary Shelley’s work. Add scientific exploration here-

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One of the many was an event she couldn't recall, for she was an infant; Mary Wollstonecraft, her mother, died few days after Mary Shelley's birth due to infection. Another event tied to childbirth through the death of her mother would be that in her novel the monster was brought into the world with only a father, when it had a face only a mother could love. Shelley was also said to read by her mothers grave, furthering the necessity of mothers love that lacks in Frankenstein. As previously mentioned Shelley was writing Frankenstein the majority of her first pregnancy, having the thought of

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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

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Through her work, Frankenstein, Shelley relays her struggles in life and this is evident in how she portrays the monster. At the beginning of the novel her life parallels more with the doctor,Victor Frankenstein, but once the monster is created and we see how the public reacts to him we see that Mary is more closely related to it than Victor. Frankenstein has many elements that are similar to Shelley’s life, his quest for love, desperation for acceptance, and depression. Shelley was born on August 30, 1797 in London, England. Born Mary Wollstoncraft Godwin, she was the daughter of philosopher William Godwin.

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Through this Shelley is demonstrating that humans may never have the capability to fully understand the things they create through scientific endeavours, therefore reinforcing her concept that too much knowledge can only lead to downfall. Frankenstein had a wonderful life and in creating then abandoning his monster he destroyed that. The bitter link is the fact that Frankenstein, in leaving his monster, in making his creation go into the world alone, sealed his fate to die alone on the sea, the majority of his loved ones dead at his

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Frankenstein We all have the assignment books we get in school. The Odyssey, The Iliad, and last but not least Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. Frankenstein’s recognized by the vast majority of the world due to its use for education. The story of how a doctor, Victor Frankenstein, creates life but in return creates a monster as well.

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Victor Frankenstein worked for two long years to create life from a lifeless form, which, before obtaining life, he believed to be beautiful. However, once he saw the monster's eyes open, he began to see the hideousness of the monster. After this, he fled his operating room and paced wildly in his bedroom, trying to think of what to do. “For this I had deprived myself of rest and health. I had desired it with an ardour that far exceeded moderation; but now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart”(Chapter 5 pg 42).

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Mary Shelley (1797-1851) born as Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, the daughter of philosopher William Godwin (1756-1836) and well known feminist Mary Wollstonecraft (1759- 1797), is credited as a great revolutionary in the field of literature. With influences of family guests such as Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1843) and William Wordsworth (1770- 1850), and access to an extensive family library, Mary Shelley is believed to have developed great imaginative skills and fondness for literature at a very young age. She went on to marry the famous English romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley in 1816 after his first wife committed suicide. During her lifespan she went through the tragic death of her infant son, suicide of her half-sister and the drowning

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ENG-3U0 November 20 2015 Frankenstein: The Pursuit of Knowledge Throughout the course of their individual journeys, Victor Frankenstein’s extreme passion for gaining knowledge about creating life, Robert Walton’s curiosity to discover land beyond the North Pole and the monster’s eagerness to obtain knowledge about humans was the principal cause of each of their suffering. As such, In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, the pursuit of knowledge is a dangerous path which leads to suffering. Victor Frankenstein develops a keen interest in discovering knowledge about living beings which ultimately results in his personal suffering as well as others suffering. To begin with, Victor embarks on an assignment through combining body parts and following various

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Mary Shelley's Frankenstein depicts the remarkable resemblance to the “modern” myth of Prometheus. The intertextuality used to connect these two stories, allow Shelley to bring out the most prominent themes of Power and suffering. As both of the characters deal differently with the struggle to resist the power that comes with creating life, the inevitable end for both characters are the same; they fall at the hands of their own creations. Shelley carefully utilizes the legend of Prometheus to express the connection between punishment and creation.

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