Purpose In Frankenstein

7) Discuss how two texts studied have explored the connection between a sense of place and purpose.

Our place and purpose are fundamental aspects of who we are as people. Where we fit into the world around us and the role we play in that world are often explored through texts that explore the views of the author or director. Texts sometimes show how even with a well established sense of place, our purpose can be unintentionally lost and through our interactions with society, can be altered. Two texts that explore the connection between place and purpose are Frankenstein: The Modern Prometheus (1818) written by Mary Shelley and Mystery Road (2013) directed by Ivan Sen. Although written and directed almost 200 years apart, the texts address

This is through the unnamed monster who has no place and no purpose. Ugly, revolting and utterly hideous, this monster is a social outcast. An abomination in the eyes of God. Although rejected again and again, Shelley shows how beings still search for place and purpose. Again, the concept of our place determining our purpose is evident. The monster has no known or accepted place, causing him to lash out at his creator and develop a vengeful purpose solely based around seeking revenge. Shelley conceives the idea that our place affects our purpose and without place or without purpose the other is unrecognisable. Shelley demonstrates that people will first attempt to do good in order to fill the void of place or purpose. The monster demonstrates this by going out and doing good for a small family, often providing them with irreplaceable help and hence finds a purpose of sorts. Once he has done this a number of times the monster attempts to find his place and assimilate into the family, but is horrible rejected and thus loses his new found positive purpose. This sudden rejection hurts deep because the good is now perceived as wrong and now the monster begins to fill his purpose with negativity such as murdering and destroying good in his creator’s life. Shelley builds this character to show again, that the connection between our place and purpose is difficult to

The two studied texts Frankenstein: The Modern Prometheus and Mystery Road both identify how without one or the other, our lives can often become meaningless. If our place is lost, characters such as Jay Swann present the idea that without place we can be forced to reconsider our purpose. How we go about finding our purpose must be through our place, where we belong and who we belong with. Victor Frankenstein loses his place eventually in the story due to his unconventional purpose of creating life. Once again this shows that if you affect one of the two characteristics, you can do as much damage to the other. Mary Shelley and Ivan Sen both build on this in their texts despite a 200-year gap between the two texts. Whether you lose you place, or your purpose, or both, we must realise that in order to regain/find them, we must undergo serious character defining measures. Both Frankenstein: The Modern Prometheus and Mystery Road identify the connection and show how that place and purpose are simultaneous parts of our life that require constant attention, and if we don’t, we risk losing them