The Significance of Chapter 5 in the Gothic Horror Novel 'Frankenstein'

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Significance of chapter 5 in the Gothic Horror novel ‘Frankenstein’

   ‘Frankenstein’, is a gothic horror novel written in published in the year of 1818 by the then teenaged Mary Shelley. The basic plot is that, a university student, obsessed with the idea of ‘life after death’ creates a monster which in revenge starts to kill its creator’s (Victor Frankenstein) family. The book has very strong social context, it is set in 19th century and during the scientific and technologic advances in modern day life, the novel may convey a secret message to show that technology, while sometimes good, may be something to be wary of if taken to a certain extent. Some could say, that ‘Frankenstein’ is an allegory of the creation story in the book of Genesis, in which God creates the first two beings Adam and Eve this brings up the theme of playing God, where Victor is God and the monster is Adam or Eve.

  Chapter five is a crucial and big moment, not in the sense of its length, but the impact it has on the novel. It is where the creature is brought to life and when Victor comes to despise his work.

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   Victor is disappointed at how much time he had spent in his work “worked for nearly two years” “the pain I had endeavoured to form”.

Victor had spent a vast amount of time in attempting to create life after death and when he finally does it, he is horrified with the result.

    Irony strikes Victor, his first idea of the monster and the final result ended up incomparable. “I selected his features as beautiful”. Shelley uses a juxtaposition, in which Victor envisaged his creation to be beautiful but the end result however, was horrific and filled Victor’s ...

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