Frankenstein essay

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Which character does the reader have the most sympathy for: Victor Frankenstein or his Creature?

In this essay I aim to explore how the writer Mary Shelley uses literary techniques, language and tone to make the reader feel sympathy for both Victor Frankenstein and his creature.

Frankenstein was written by Mary Shelley in 1818 during an early phase of the , at a time of dramatic advances in science and technology. The idea that creation rebels against its creator can be seen as a warning that the application of science can lead to unintended consequences.

The novel Frankenstein explores the ability to be able to bring a lifeless being back to life. Victor Frankenstein discovers how this can be done and creates a creature, completely unaware of the consequences that follow.

The story has a huge impact on modern society, and has opened up a huge debate on modern day cloning. Some scientists have said that unlocking the key to cloning will represent the greatest human achievement since the discovery of fire. Other people may disagree and think that cloning is bad purely because it does not involve the "sacred" union of a man and a woman, and because it leaves God out of the creation process.  The text’s subtitle is ‘The Modern Prometheus’. Prometheus is the Greek titan honored for stealing fire from the gods and giving it to mortals for their use. This subtitle could act as a warning that people who disrupt or play god could cause serious effects on mankind.

There are three characters in the story which each act as narrator and tell their own story in first person narrative. The variation in narrators has a huge impact on the sympathy felt for Victor Frankenstein and the creature. As each character tells their own story, the reader’s feelings towards them both are completely swayed.

Before we hear of the creature’s story the reader does not associate him with a normal person with feelings, Victor Frankenstein portrays him to be a hideous monster incapable of feeling anything. It is only when the Creature starts telling its own story do we realize that the creature does have very human and sensitive feelings. The Creature refers to humans as “lovely humans” and uses words such as “benevolent” “gentle” and “companion” when describing the humans which creates an image of a Creature with a warm, kind heart.

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Frankenstein contains elements of two major genres of literature, gothic and science fiction. Gothic novels were written mainly to evoke terror in their readers, however they also served to show the dark side of human nature. The science fiction aspect of the novel explores "the marvels of discovery and achievement that may result from future developments in science and technology".  used some of the most recent technological finding of her time to create the novel .

Mary Shelley was born on 30th August 1797. Her father, William Godwin, was a philosopher, atheist and anarchist. Her mother, Mary Wollstonecraft ...

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