Chapter 5 in Frankenstein is a pivotal moment in the novel because it is the chapter in which the monster awakens.

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Frankenstein Coursework

Mary Shelley made an anonymous but a very authoritative unveiling to the world of literature when she wrote Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus which was published in March, 1818. This everlasting story came into this world due to Lord Byron challenging his guests, which included Mary Shelley and her husband, poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, to write a ghost story at Lake Geneva in Switzerland. Settled around Byron’s fireplace, the intimate group of intellectuals had their imaginations and the stormy weather as their stimulus and cogitations for ghoulish visions. A few nights after the challenge was set Mary Shelley imagined the “repugnant delirium of man” that became the perplexed yet profoundly sensitive creature in Frankenstein. While many television, stage and film adaptations of Frankenstein have simplified the complexity of the intellectual and poignant responses of Victor Frankenstein and his creature to their world, this brilliant novel still persists. Its lifelong supremacy can be seen in the variety of corollaries explored by various literary critics and around one hundred dramatisations.

Even though early critics greeted the novel with a permutation of eulogize and disdain, readers were spellbound with and a bit horrified by the macabre aspects of the novel. Interestingly, the macabre has transformed into the possible as the world approaches the twenty-first century: the ethical insinuations of genetic engineering, and, more recently, the cloning of livestock, find echoes in Shelley's work. In addition to scientific interest, literary commentators have noted the influence of Percy Shelley, William Godwin (Mary's father) and Mary Wollstonecraft (Mary’s mother), who gained fame for writing A Vindication of the Rights of Women, in the novel. Many contemporary critics have focused their attention on the novel's biographical elements, tracing Shelley's maternal and authorial insecurities to her very unique creation myth. Ultimately, the novel reverberates with philosophical and moral ramifications: themes of nature versus nurture, good versus evil, and ambition versus social responsibility dominates the readers' attention and provokes thoughtful contemplation of the most sensitive issues of our time.

The very fascinating Chapter 5 in Frankenstein is a pivotal moment in the novel because it is the chapter in which the monster awakens. This is the chapter in which the whole story is based around and actually gets the reader hooked onto it. As soon as you start reading the chapter you notice that there is a use of pathetic fallacy, “It was on a dreary night of November.” Mary Shelley has quite brilliantly expressed all the emotions, hatred and regret in Frankenstein and the naissance of both the monster and his problems, literally and metaphorically. Not only is the reader surprised that the monster has turned out ugly because of the way in which Mary uses juxtaposition to create a false image but also that the monster actually awakens regardless of Victor’s scientific capabilities. An example of the use of juxtaposition is “his hair was of a lustrous black, and flowing; his teeth of pearly whiteness; but these luxuriance’s only formed a more horrid contrast with his eyes, that seemed almost of the same colour as the dun white sockets in which they were set, his shrivelled complexion and straight black lips”. The use of juxtaposition is really good because it is thought-provoking and has elements of horribleness and grotesqueness. In addition, Mary Shelley uses this chapter for foreshadowing. This is shown through the first impression of the monster and the reaction given by Victor. This shows that it will lead to the monster eventually doing something antagonistic. Mary Shelley also based a part of her work on Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s poem The Rime of Ancient Mariner because it is extremely close to the story of Frankenstein. “Like one who, on a lonely road, Doth walk in fear and dread,” relates to Victor being all isolated and lonely and walking in the path of fear and dread because he is frightened of the monster. “And, having once turned around, walks on, And turns no more his head, Because he knows a frightful fiend Doth close behind him tread.” This part of the poem relates to Frankenstein being so scared of the monster that he does not even look behind him as he knows that the monster is right behind him, ready to attack suddenly.

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Prometheus is so closely related to Victor that it’s even the subtitle of the novel: The Modern Prometheus. Prometheus stole fire from the Gods to give it to humanity; he was cursed by Zeus and made to endure an eternal torture. As far as Victor is concerned, his own glory was basically a goal for him. With his mother’s death and his strong feeling that this death was unjust, Victor finds a way to achieve his goal, namely: create a new species which would ignore illness and disease, which would be strong and beautiful. He even talks about getting rid ...

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