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The Reification Of Destiny In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

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Undoubtedly Shelley was tempted strongly at times to reify 'destiny' or 'fate' as an actual power, debilitating and overpowering her.20 Mellor tellingly quotes from a letter of 1827: The power of Destiny I feel every day pressing more & more on me, & I yield myself a slave to it ...(MWSL I, p. 572) However, Shelley also constantly asserts her creed that, while action and disposition are subject to unalterable circumstances, the will and the imagination are still able to envisage other possibilities, and that it is one's duty to exert these faculties. The same sentence, also quoted by Mellor, continues with a Corinne-like affirmation. Shelley may be a slave, but she is one of the ognor frementi: ... a slave to it, in all except my moods of mind, which I endeavour to make independent of her, & thus to wreathe a chaplet, where all is not cypress, in spite of the Eumenides.(MWSL I, p. 572)21 …show more content…

172), on the grounds that in 1831 the sympathetic female characters--Elizabeth and Justine--express the same deterministic sentiments, apparently voicing Shelley's own views. But their supine submissiveness to Destiny may indicate, rather, the tendency of a Frankensteinian upbringing to encourage female family and household members to be amiably slavish.22 Is it, in any case, true that the 1818 Victor is represented as possessing free will while the 1831 Victor is not? The 1818 Victor on several occasions presents himself as a pawn of destiny and circumstance. He tells Walton that 'nothing can alter my destiny: listen to my history, and you will perceive how irrevocably it is determined'. After the execution of Justine, Victor visits the Alps. He reflects

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His reliance on Walton exemplifies how his passions can only be fulfilled with the help of others, however, unlike Rousseau’s claim, Victor is not manipulative to surpass others. Rather it is his “real want” to kill the monster, not just a desire determined by civilization (Rousseau 29). Shelley does support Rousseau's claim in this instance, however, she is not arguing that all ambitions are selfish rather that people use others by appearing

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Mary Shelley’s book Frankenstein is a frame narrative of the life of Victor Frankenstein recorded by Robert Walton. It is circled around his creation of a monster that suffered a lonely life and wanted revenge for being created. In Frankenstein, Shelley portrays many big ideas but, one that continues to show importance is the idea of Human Needs and Desires. so, in the novel Mary Shelley presents the idea that all creatures have a basic need for friendship and love.

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Dangerous Minds- Rough Draft Knowledge has the capability to be used for both good and evil. In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, there is a consistent message throughout the novel showing the dangerous and destructive power that knowledge can have. Two key characters, Victor Frankenstein and his monster, are shaped through their obsessions with knowledge and the power and responsibility that it brings. Ultimately, Victor’s downfall is a result of his uncontrollable thirst for knowledge, and is brought about through the monster which is the embodiment of his obsession. Victor is a brilliant scientist who figures out a way to create life from death using galvanism, or electricity.

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Victor also conducts a figurative abortion with his previous lifestyle after he commits himself to create a being from galvanism: “I at once gave up my former occupations; set down natural history and all its progeny as a deformed and abortive creation; and entertained the greatest disdain for a would-be science, which could never even step within the threshold of real knowledge” (Shelley 27). Mary Shelley might be highlighting the issue of abortion along with miscarriages to express how much sorrow she felt from her first miscarriage (as The Creature brings sorrow to Victor, its mother/father). Another concept that Mary Shelley might have implemented into Frankenstein could be the idea of Nature vs. Nurture, or

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In James Davis’ literary essay “Frankenstein and the Subversion of the Masculine Voice,” he discusses the oppression of women and the minor roles of females in Mary Shelly’s novel Frankenstein. With a feminist perspective, Davis claims, “He [Victor Frankenstein] oppresses female generation of life and of text; he rends apart both the physical and the rhetorical ‘form’ of female creativity. In fact, all three male narrators attempt to subvert the feminine voice, even in those brief moments when they tell the women’s stories” (307). Throughout his essay, Davis demonstrates the underlying message of Shelly’s subversion towards men and the social consequences of misogyny. Davis draws parallels between the three men, Robert Walton, Victor Frankenstein, and Victor’s creation, Frankenstein, in which they

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Oftentimes people are too afraid of what people might think to show their full potential. This is not the case for Victor in Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein. In Frankenstein we see the journey of Victor and his creation as they separately get rejected and misunderstood by society. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein supports Emerson’s ideas of self-reliance because Victor shows that fearless people can achieve greatness.

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Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein” exposed the reader to a tragedy and horrific story of the life of Victor Frankenstein. We’re introduced to a series of letters from Robert Walton to his sister, that in which explains the story of Victor Frankenstein. A man determined to create life, accomplished the goal but soon led to his downfall. Throughout the novel, I learn that our actions can sometimes determine someone else’s fate. As shown in the many flashbacks of the multiple narratives of Victor, the creature and Walton.

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Ambition as propelling it is, however can lead to the demise of the person influenced by it. Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein, informs the reader of the consequences of ambition, by telling a story of man named Victor Frankenstein who is overwhelmed by his ambition to see the atrocities he commits. In his ignorance created a monster who served to be Victor’s mistake as he slaughtered his family members. The novel illustrates the dangers of ambition because it is the main reason of Victor’s downfall. Pursuing a desire too strongly as to cause obsession is what destroyed Victor.

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The death of his mother leads Victor into denial. As a result of his mother 's death, Victor’s emotions falsely lead him to believe that he could have some control over the fate of peoples lives. Thus, Victor’s beliefs soon equated to a set of rules that he himself must follow. Consequently,

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Mary Shelley and Edgar Allan Poe were Gothic novelists who lived and wrote in the 19th century. They both led unconventional and even controversial lives and their behavior could be described as unethical and scandalous. They both created characters who were inhuman and monstrous.

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