ipl-logo

Similarities Between Monkey Beach And Frankenstein

1120 Words5 Pages

Sienna Ferroni Ms. Splinter ENG3U1 23 May 2024. The Impact of Alienation, Mental Health and Grief on Wellbeing Although Eden Robinson's Monkey Beach and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein were written during very different eras, there are a number of commonalities between the two works that make them more alike than different despite the nearly two-hundred-year age difference. These include the themes of grief, alienation, and mental health and how these can affect a person's well-being. Alienation from society can have detrimental impacts on an individual's overall health, including their mental state. In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, the Monster recounts to Victor his origin story and his life up until their encounter on the mountain following William's …show more content…

The Monster remembers how, early in the morning, he entered a village town and encountered hostility and persecution due to his appearance: “I had hardly placed my foot within the door before the children shrieked, and one of the women fainted. The whole village was roused; some fled, some attacked me, until, grievously bruised by stones and many other kinds of missile weapons, I escaped to the open country” (Shelley 92). This excerpt from the novel describes how the Monster was treated when he initially attempted to enter the village. This made him feel alienated from society and motivated him to kill Victor's friends and family as payback for his appearance later on in the book. The Monster from Mary Shelley's Frankenstein demonstrates through his actions that social alienation can have detrimental effects on both the individual and other people. After speaking up about how she was tired of having the same four conversations every day at lunch, Lisa in Eden Robinson's Monkey Beach gets excluded by both her cousin Erica's friend group and the rest of the school. As a result, she is bullied and alienated from her peers and is perceived as an outsider by both groups. “Rather than

Show More
Related
718 Words | 3 Pages

Within Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, a monster is created by a man named Victor who disowns the monster after he witnesses the kind of creature he produced, "Accursed creator! Why did you form a monster so hideous that even you

Read More
261 Words | 2 Pages

Isolation can have a large impact on someone's behaviour and actions. Mary Shelley uses this information in ”Frankenstein” to show how being isolated from society can affect someone or something. Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein” explores themes of isolation throughout the novel and shows what isolation can do to a being leading it to irrational and manic behaviours. This is evident throughout the novel especially when The Monster is talking about being lonely and its effect on him. “I am alone and miserable”

Read More
833 Words | 4 Pages

As readers can see, isolation does not only make a man lonely, but also brings about the effects of loneliness and isolation upon those around him. Frankenstein’s toils have led him to become a recluse and as a result of this, those he was once close with he has now lost true connection with. But, Frankenstein’s isolation was brought on independently and was of his own doing. The isolation his creation will soon come to be acquainted with, however, was the fault of his

Read More
1009 Words | 5 Pages

Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein, shows how a character who is portrayed as a tragic hero, in the beginning, can become the monster in the end. Victor and the Monster in Mary Shelley’s captivating novel showed how rival enemies share striking similarities. The similarities between the two tragic characters are driven by their dreary isolation from the secluded world. A large difference is that they were both raised in two completely different environments but understood the meaning of isolation. Physical differences are more noticeable rather than their personalities.

Read More
1200 Words | 5 Pages

Mary Shelley's iconic novel, “Frankenstein”, published in 1818, goes into the intricate and often neglected topic of mental health. Despite being primarily recognized as a Gothic horror story, Shelley's masterpiece offers a profound exploration of the effects of isolation, trauma, and the relentless pursuit of knowledge on the human psyche. Through her characters, Victor Frankenstein and his creation, Shelley illustrates the tragic consequences of neglecting one's mental well-being and the profound impact it can have on both individuals and society. This essay will dive into the themes of mental health in “Frankenstein”, shedding light on the complexities of the human mind as portrayed by Shelley. Mary Shelley's “Frankenstein” explores the

Read More
758 Words | 4 Pages

Emotional and physical isolation in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein are the most pertinent and prevailing themes throughout the novel. These themes are so important because everything the monster, Victor, and Robert Walton do or feel directly relates to their poignant seclusion. The effects of this terrible burden have progressively damaging results upon the three.

Read More
515 Words | 3 Pages

Mary Shelley, in the last pages of Frankenstein, expresses that loneliness is the source of anguish. Shelley supports this with the juxtaposition of happiness and despair, biblical allusion, and parallel structure in order to point out that one’s affliction is caused by a lack of compassion and companionship. Shelley’s purpose is to show the result of perpetual loneliness so that she may better point out the necessary requirements of meaningful existence. Shelley first uses the juxtaposition of happiness and despair to show how loneliness causes anguish.

Read More
1458 Words | 6 Pages

In Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, both of the main characters undergo physical and emotional isolation. This enforced or chosen solitude causes Frankenstein to become over-ambitious and harbor secrets from his family and friends, leading to his demise. In the monster, isolation turns to misery, which causes him to become vengeful against his creator and all the world. Through these examples of total isolation, Shelley shows that when people have no connection to others in the world, their worst characteristics and flaws are brought out. Victor Frankenstein was the first character to show a major flaw while in isolation.

Read More
1678 Words | 7 Pages

A prominent motif in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is alienation and how alienation sets the wheels of the plot into motion. In Frankenstein, loneliness due to its milieu and isolation from society make the creature dangerously capricious. Therefore, the creature’s isolation from society expresses a person's traits which are affected more by nurture (alienation) than by Nature. Frankenstein grounds its argument in a symmetrical pattern, with social

Read More
669 Words | 3 Pages

Mary Shelley, in her book, Frankenstein, has a reoccurring theme of isolation, in which she isolates the main character, Victor Frankenstein, from the rest of society in order to create a creature. Likewise, the creature that is created is also isolated from the rest of society as he is rejected from his creator as to his appearance. The theme is present throughout the novel as it reinforces Victor’s downfall from a normal boy to a grown man intrigued with creating life as he slowly becomes a madman that everyone soon fears. Isolation causes a loss of humanity as it affects the mind and body. Isolation from society does not teach social interaction, causes regret about oneself, provides one with negative feelings, and causes regretful actions.

Read More
1141 Words | 5 Pages

This makes the monster feel unwanted, which is a very human response. In all efforts to reach his creator, the monster fails and to illustrate his anger, he starts his revenge by taking the lives of the relatives of Victor but also the people that fear

Read More
987 Words | 4 Pages

Whereas Frankenstein does not properly value the domestic affection he is given until it is violently taken from him, his creation learns that this is what values most in life and yet is not able to gain this affection from others. Francis Bacon says in his essay Of Friendship “I have given the rule, where a man cannot fitly play his own part; if he have not a friend, he may quit the stage”. Shelley highlights the need for a sense of belonging and companionship by letting both her main figures suffer the pain of not having this need fulfilled and, in consequence, they both “quit the stage” (Bacon) and turn their backs on humanity. Social isolation, although through different circumstances, was the predominant cause for both Frankenstein and his creature’s demise. Even Percy Bysshe Shelley, Mary Shelley’s husband, wrote in his preface to Frankenstein about the “amiableness of domestic affection” (Shelley 9).

Read More
1019 Words | 5 Pages

This shows the humanity in the monster and his tendency to be amiable. He was also able to learn from his mistakes. For example, the creature realized that he needed to stop stealing the family’s supplies after he noticed how much they needed them. Victor, however, didn’t learn from his mistake of creating the monster, and created another. The monster also refers to the family in the cabin as “[his] friends” when they didn’t know of his existence (103).

Read More
1432 Words | 6 Pages

Mary Shelley 's timeless story seeks to help readers beware of alleviating loneliness through valuing others, and she warns readers that living a life of secrecy drains the joy out of life. The human condition of loneliness triggered many of the events in this book. This creature that Victor Frankenstein forged from cadavers was immediately abandoned. Right after Victor created this innocent monster, he fled from him out of fear.

Read More
1724 Words | 7 Pages

Isolation and abandonment can cause many different reactions from people. In the words of William A. Sadler Jr., a sociology professor, “We often do not know how to cope. It can make us confused, distraught, depressed, frightened, and even outraged” (Sadler 105). In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, several of these effects are presented in Victor Frankenstein and his creation. They both suffer from being isolated from their creator, society, and family units.

Read More

More about Similarities Between Monkey Beach And Frankenstein

Open Document