In Frankenstein How Does The Use Of Three Narrators Affect The Reader's Response To The Novel?

The first 200 words of this essay...

In Frankenstein How Does The Use Of Three Narrators Affect The Reader's Response To The Novel?

Written by Mary Shelley in 1816, Frankenstein is a novel that conveys several messages and themes. It was written at a time of social and political upheaval: the incredible advances in science and movements in art and culture were changing the way people lived dramatically. For example, the use of electricity, the French Revolution and the Romantic Movement, were leading people to have totally radical, bohemian lifestyles. Shelley allowed these revolutionary ideas to move and inspire her, enabling her to write one of the most remarkable and intriguing pieces of literature in the world. In the novel, Shelley uses three narrators: Robert Walton; Victor Frankenstein; and the monster, or modern Prometheus, as he was intended to be. The purpose of this essay is to explore what effect this has on our response to the novel overall. I shall do this by explaining how they affect our understanding of the main themes of the novel; the complex time and structure; and the narrators as characters.

Mary Shelley's classic novel discusses three major themes: ambition and its consequences; the importance of family;