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Use Of Fire As A Motif In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

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On March 11th, 1818, a classic novel was created that would remain popular for centuries to come. Frankenstein, written by Mary Shelley, depicts a story about a man, named Victor Frankenstein, who lost his sanity to create a monster that would ultimately be the cause of his own destruction. Throughout the novel, Shelley uses an extensive list of rhetorical strategies. One underlying strategy that she uses is a motif, or theme. Shelley uses fire as a motif to show the destructive path of Victor and his creation from beginning to the end. The first indication that Shelley uses fire as a motif is the subtitle of the novel, “The Modern Prometheus”. “The Modern Prometheus” refers to the god Prometheus, the god assigned to make mankind. When Prometheus …show more content…

(Shelley 26)
Witnessing this natural phenomenon sparked Frankenstein’s pursuit in an unknown science. The fire and electricity that once inspired Victor Frankenstein, was the one factor that gave his wretched creation life. When he infused life into his creature he began a dark, treacherous path for his abomination and himself. After Frankenstein realized what he has done, he disowns his brute. Feeling unwanted, the savage runs away and finds shelter in a shed attached to the De Lacy family’s cottage. After he reveals himself to the cottagers, the run away, frightened at the sight of him. This releases the rage inside the beast. As the rage over takes him, the monster sets the cottage on fire. This same rage would later cause him to kill the loved ones of his master, Frankenstein. Near the closing of the novel, the creature sneaks into Robert Walton’s ship and sees his creator dead. Feeling like the cause of his owners death, “the creature blames itself, planning to build a bonfire and commit suicide as penance for its actions” (Segal 861). The very element that gave the creature life, was the one component that took his life away, ending all the rage and

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The novel Frankenstein by author Mary Shelley has several symbols. One, in particular, was the symbolism of fire which makes the story very unique because the fire in this story could be used as a symbol of things like destruction, doom, and even death. We consider fire to be a very damaging thing to everything that is in its way and Frankenstein we can see a demonstration of that. In the story Frankenstein, fire is shown in many forms that can be interpreted as the symbol of the story. Later in the story, the creature makes fire in the woods out of anger and this shows us that fire can symbolize destruction as mentioned before.

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In Frankenstein, written by Mary Shelly in 1816, explores the power of science and its limitations in the natural world. In the novel, Victor Frankenstein, a narcissistic scientist, tries to create an army of reanimated beings. As the novel continues, Victor is disgusted by his Creature and rejects it. The rejection creates a cycle of hatred and misery, eventually leading to the death of Victor and his loved ones. The duality of nature is seen through the lens of Victor and The Creature.

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In the novel Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, Robert Walton is on a voyage to discover unexplored knowledge. While on this journey he finds Victor Frankenstein, who tells the reader of his own journey to discover the unknown. In this novel, Mary Shelley employs literary devices such as repetition, imagery, and rhetorical questions to provide meaning to the audience. For example, the author uses repetition to emphasize Elizabeth’s confidence. Expressing her frustration with the situation Elizabeth repeats, “But she was innocent.

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Throughout the entirety of the novel, nature is presented in a way that allows the characters to be restored and reach a more peaceful state of mind. Using the common style of nature being presented as a maternal presence, Shelley is able to use nature as an external force throughout the novel. One of the vital ways Shelley illustrates nature as an external character is by her use of seasons affecting specific characters in certain ways. Victor

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Why did I live? Why in this instant, did I not extinguish the spark of existence which you had so wantonly bestowed? I know not; despair had not taken possession of me; my feelings were those of rage and revenge.” (Shelley 117). The creature also feels remorseful from doing all the killing he did.

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Victor Frankenstein’s fascination with creating “life” is inspired by some of his favorite authors and alchemists, such as Cornelius Agrippa and Paracelsus. A series of events, the death of his cousin, witnessing the power of lightning, and finally being encouraged by someone to study what he truly loves, push Dr. Frankenstein to begin his experiments to recreate “life.” Dr. Frankenstein quickly becomes obsessed with his work,

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Light is a form of energy and fire is combustion and energy if produced hence heat production. Light and fire are symbols that relate with each other. Fire produces warmth during the night and at the same time it produces light, although fire gives light and warmth it can also inflict pain when one is burnt. Therefore fire is good and at the same time bad, as a symbol fire shows that just as fire can provide heat so can it burn, therefore scientific progress can also cause destruction, this is evident in Frankenstein’s work when he creates a living monster who was helpful to the cottagers and later was dangerous to the human kind when he burns down safes and Felix house when they did not accept him ,also when he starts killing Frankenstein’s family members ,the pain that the monster goes through for being rejected is the same as that of Frankenstein when his family and wife is murdered by the monster. Light as a symbol represents knowledge and discovery.

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The light allows the monster to be recognized as an ugly creature. Also, the light of the fire gives the monster warmth, however, it causes him pain because he gets burnt. This ties into the work as a whole because one of themes of Frankenstein is that the light of science is good until you pursue it too far. Just like Victor Frankenstein pursued knowledge too far and attempted to do God’s job of creation. The light Victor has seen quickly ends.

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Horror, death and dramatic plots all combined to create Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, which generated the standards for every Science Fiction book ever written. Mary Shelley’s style of writing remained particularly unique, considering the narration rotated between the main characters. All the characters had a special dramatic quality, which separated them from a typical group, and gave them a specific personality. Mary Shelley incorporated elements of weather, and gave its relation to themes of internal and external conflicts. Frankenstein elements are distinctive and show originality, whether it be the characters, setting, narration or conflicts.

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Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein criticizes the human quest for knowledge through science and it highlights the moral implications of such undertakings. By following the story of the “mad scientist”, Victor Frankenstein, we see how a man’s ambition can be his downfall. However, Shelley notes that although it is dangerous to partake in immoral science, this curiosity to know more about the world around us and who we are is human instinct. This essay will consider Hindle’s premise that Frankenstein is a criticism of the “lofty ambition of man”. One could argue that by writing Frankenstein, Shelley was “loftily ambitious”, just like the characters in her novel.

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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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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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In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Shelley uses language and effectiveness of her writing to describe imagery, tone, and theme to make the monster seem more of a human than the monster people perceive him to be. The monster is learning on how to be a human without the help of his creator, Frankenstein. Shelley’s usage of the language that she presents in her imagery, tone and theme clearly make you relate to the monster and show you what Shelley was thinking when she was scripted the monster. Shelley clearly shows imagery to express how the monster feels about the world around him.

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