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Power In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

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Power. A word as described by the Merriam-Webster dictionary as possession of control, authority, or influence over others. Yet in the world, often times the other side of power is overshadowed by those reaching to attain it. When in fact, those suffering under the hold of not having power could be arguably greater than those who suffer to reach it. In the classic novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, the case of Justine Moritz is a strong argument of one side of power. After being wrongly accused for the murder of William Frankenstein by those who are in power, she in turn sucks the power that those men have over her and comes to terms with her fate- therefore taking her life into her own hands. A parallel case to argue, is that of Safie De …show more content…

In this case, it is Safie De Lacey, a young woman on the opposite side of power’s hold. Though her story does not end in such a grim fashion as Justine’s did, the young girl had her life in her own hands. Frankenstein’s creature soon notices that as she "appeared to have a language of her own, she was neither understood by, or herself understood, the cottagers" (Volume Two, Chapter V, Page 120 Shelley); the Creature resolves to use this to his advantage, learning the French language by overhearing Safie's language lessons. Had Safie, decided to obey her father's wishes and return back to Arabia with him, two key things in the story would not have happened. Frankenstein’s creature would not have learned how to speak (seeing as how he mooched off of Safie’s lessons), and would not have known the true meaning of family and love . By Safie refusing to go back home, and fleeing to Germany on her own account of not wanting to essentially live like a domesticated pet, her strength and power are channeled transfer on into the reserves of Frankenstein’s creature. Although it happened in a passive manner, seeing as how she did not intentionally teach Frankenstein's creature her lessons, this a positive side of power. Those who use it for the good, not only of themselves, but of

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Khang Nguyen Jasmine Le Ms. Brooks English 4 P4 February 6, 2018 Socratic Seminar Critical Questions 1.Why did Frankenstein run from his creation? Victor is the type of person that cannot handle responsibility well. We first see this in Chapter 3, after his mother’s death, “My mother was dead, but we had still duties which we ought to perform; we must continue our course with the rest and learn to think ourselves fortunate whilst one remains whom the spoiler has not seized.”

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Power is the ability or capacity to do something or act in a particular way, Power is not only strength it is a human relationships, power is the authority one person holds over another. In the play The Crucible,written by Arthur Miller. Three characters Abigail Williams, Reverend Hale, and Judge Danforth. All want to gain power as the play goes on. But it takes a turn and influenced them negatively.

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In the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, Victor Frankenstein does not mature, as illustrated when he lets Justine die for her accused killing of William, when he destroys the female creature in front of his first creature, and finally when he tells Walton’s crew to endeavour upon a dangerous trip, with no regard for their safety. Through analysis of Victor’s actions throughout the novel, his immaturity is proven during many encounters, especially by his inaction during vital situations. When Victor discovers that Justine has been accused of killing William, he chooses to remain complicit in her cruel persecution, and not speak of his creation, thereby exposing his immaturity and lack of responsibility. Although Victor “believed in her innocence”

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But first what is Power? When researching Power words such as authority, control, direct, command and influence all appear. These words all support the following statement “Power is the ability to influence and control the behaviour of others.” The problem with power is that it often leads to those in power abusing it. As Lord Acton famously quoted “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

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Frankenstein is a book filled with puzzling hidden connections that can relate to what majority of us go through in American society today. Quotes throughout the novel create a piece of inspiration that we can look up to when discovering similar times. The diction revels pros and cons on how Starting off the novel At the trial for Justine Moritz, Elisabeth states vindication by saying “It may therefore be judged indecent in me to come forward on this occasion, but when I see a fellow creature about to perish through the cowardice of her pretended friends, I wish to be allowed to speak, that I may say what I know of her character.” She shows her friendship and support to Justine by touching the court with her moving words.

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One character, Justine, is very passive and used as a device to make Victor feel guilty for creating The Creature; as her major contribution to the plot was The Creature framing her for her brothers death and shortly after, being sentenced to death. Another female character, Safie, is used to teach The Creature how to speak: “My days were spent in close attention…and I may boast that I improved more rapidly than the Arabian…I could imitate almost every word that was spoken… I also learned the science of letters” (Shelley 106). Even the most prominent female character in the book, Frankenstein's lover and wife, Elizabeth, is killed by The Creature on their wedding night, in order to again make Victor regret creating The Creature, and eventually die of his unhappiness. Mary Shelley's depiction of women might be her indicating the roles of women at the time as inferior, a similar thesis brought about by Mary Wollstonecraft in A Vindication on the Rights of Women.

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In the novel, females are portrayed with an indispensable nurturing and empathetic disposition. This important female nurture is illustrated in Frankenstein’s development. As Frankenstein describes his parents, he claims to

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This much is true for Victor’s failure to take responsibility for not only teaching his creation about life but also failure to take responsibility for the actions of his creation. “Frankenstein! You belong then to my enemy… you shall be my first victim” (153). Victor’s knows that he is responsible for the death of William because he abandoned his creation and made the monster learn the hard way that he would not be accepted into society. But he has no choice but to let Justine take the fall for the death of his brother because he fears being seen as a madman.

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When Society has the power to create, the creation is given the power to destroy through the choices of the men who want to gain from it. In the book, Frankenstein, society pushes and pulls at the emotions and opinions of the people who allow it to. From society telling victor what science he should be doing, to the judgement of the Creature only upon is looks and the incorrect persecution of Justine through evidence proving who killed William. The only real monster is society through its corrupted, imperiousness power over the people.

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Duality is shown in Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein, a gothic tale of a scientist whom looks to advance the life-giving qualities of mother nature. Through this novel, Shelley proves that good and evil in human nature is not always simple to define, and that everyone has both of these qualities within them. The duality of human nature is shown through the characters of Victor Frankenstein and his monster, who are both heroes in the novel while simultaneously displaying anti-hero qualities. Shelley forces the reader to sympathize with them both but also creates gruesome ideas of the two. Frankenstein’s creature places himself in a submissive position when he begs his creator to have mercy on him and asking the creator to “create a female for [him] with whom [he] can live in the interchange of those sympathies necessary for [his] being.”

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We all like to think that evil is not born within us, but rather nurtured into to us; while this may be true for some, others have evil born directly into them. When man toys with the powers reserved for only God, God strikes back with a wicked evil to show many the power that they really lack. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein contains a prime example of a being born of unnatural causes and thus having these evil urges that they cannot control. Frankenstein’s monster is a highly intelligent being, and hence he is very manipulative.

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176 Words | 1 Pages

When the monster rescued the little girl from the water the man with her immediately took it as an act of violence because of his scary appearance. He immediately darted towards the monster and took the girl from his arms, fled into the woods, took a gun and fired it at him. The man did not understand that the monster was saving her. At another point in the novel, the monster attempts to become friends with a boy. The boy responded with, "monster!

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Mary Shelley's Frankenstein is a cautionary tale of man's dangerous ambition when testing the boundaries of technology. It combines Shelley’s intuitive perception of science with the vast scientific discoveries of the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, specifically the discovery of the nature of electricity. In Frankenstein, electricity serves as the technological tool which creates the monster, giving life to an assemblage of lifeless body parts. Medical experiments of the time demonstrated how a dead frog leg would jolted with the injection of electricity. This phenomenon served as a bridge between science (electricity) and nature( biology).

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977 Words | 4 Pages

The presentation of women in Frankenstein Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein”, first published in 1818, was written in a time period where society’s general opinion was that a woman’s role was predominately to be a loving, caring mother and a faithful, docile companion to her husband. This attitude is reflected in Shelley’s portrays of women in her novel as passive, self- sacrificing, loyal, and completely dependent on men. They are a means by which emotions are invoked within male characters and serve only as companions and beautiful possessions. Caroline Beaufort, mother of the protagonist Victor Frankenstein, is an example of the embodiment of this ideal. She is the wife of Alphonse Frankenstein and within the novel plays the role of a perfect daughter, wife, and mother.

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Power as conceptualized by critical theorists. Power is one of the words that holds great effect. It is defined by Webster (2015) as “the ability to control people or things; a person or organization that has a lot of control and influence over other people or organizations”. In general, a person or organization that holds power has authority over others. Thus, power is conceptualized in the organizational communication by critical theorists.

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