Frankenstein Chapter 5

Frankenstein; Chapter 5 In the few moments after the creature has been brought to life, Frankenstein realises that he has been deluding himself; he did recognise that the creation was not as beautiful as he wished it to be whilst he was putting the body parts together. However, once life was instilled in his creation he realised that it was truly ugly. "How can I describe my emotions at this catastrophe, or how delineate the wretch whom with such infinite pains and care I had endeavoured to form?" His most immediate response is running away from the creature. He escapes to his bedroom where he has a dream. Here his subconscious mind responds to the horrors of the sight he has just witnessed. The body of Elizabeth turning into his mother's rotting corpse is interpreted in various ways. It may show guilt, pre-eminently at neglecting his family for so long; it may also represent guilt at going into charnel houses and graveyards. The images of the grave worms in the dream show that the experience had a profound effect on his imagination. His imagination could be expressing itself in the nightmare because of its lack of use due to the dominance of the scientific and rational side of Frankenstein's mind. The feminist view is also relevant, stating that the dream represents his crime against both the feminine principal of the mother and birth-giver, and against nature, which is

  • Word count: 1025
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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Chapter 5 of Mary Shellys' Frankenstein

Chapter 5 starts with 'It was on a dreary night of November', The word dreary means very miserable and dull, and this can refer to Gothicism. Mary shelley opened this chapter like this because it sets the mood for what is going to happen throughout the chapter and also gives the reader a hint of what to expect. 'With an agony that almost amounted to agony,' Mary Shelly uses alliteration here, to give an effect on the reader. Mary Shelly uses word like; 'anxiety,' and 'amounted to agony.' These also are gothic references because they are building up sadness and emphasise Frankenstein's stress and worry. 'The rain pattered dismally,' the word dismally means gloomy or melancholy, these are negative word associated with gothic genre. 'The candle was nearly burnt out,' Mary Shelley uses this sentence because it symbolises gothicism, she also uses this sentence because when a candle burns out there is no light and when there is no light darkness takes over causing stress and panic'. 'I saw the dull yellow eye of the sad creature open,' the word dull means; not bright, sharp or clear, so Mary Shelly used this word because Victor could see the eye but couldn't get a clear vision. The fact that the eye is yellow also suggests that this is an animal rather than a human. 'How can I describe my emotions at this catastrophe,' she used the word catastrophe to define Frankenstein's

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  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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Comment on Chapter 5's significance in Mary Shelley's 'Frankenstein'.

Comment on Chapter 5's significance in Mary Shelley's 'Frankenstein'. Famous writer, Mary Shelley was born in London in 1797. She was the daughter of writer William Godwin and Mary Wollstonecraft. Shelley's mother sadly died while giving birth to her. This was an influence included in the later successful novel 'Frankenstein'. At 19, she married poet Percy Shelley, who she married in 1816. Together, Mary and Percy had five children, but only one survived past childhood. This tragedy, along with the early death of her mother influenced Mary Shelley's theme linking creation with death. She started to write Frankenstein at the age of 18, completing it in less than a year. She said the idea came to her in a dream, and dreams are created by unrelated events, and memories. Science became one of the main influences for Shelley's novel. At the time, the influences of the scientific world became fascinating to everyone. The idea of bringing people back to life was being tested by some of the most intelligent minds. The main character in the story, Victor, grew up in Geneva, where Mary Shelley wrote the novel. Whilst staying there, Mary, Percy and Byron then met 'Monk' Lewis who was famous for writing supernatural novels. Byron's group talked for hours on end, and reading ghost stories. He challenged the group to write a ghost story - Frankenstein. Frankenstein is a

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Frankenstein. The major themes and the importance of chapter 5.

Frankenstein The novel Frankenstein was written in 1816 and published in 1818. It is a well known gothic horror novel. The novel is by Mary Shelley who set the novel in the seventeenth century. This novel is very successful due to it's context of horror and romance. Mary Shelley uses different narratives to fascinate her readers in the novel by having different emotions within the novel, and having a lot of detailed description of her characters and the scenes that the novel is set in. Mary Shelley thought of the story of Frankenstein when she and her husband were visiting their friend Lord Byron. Byron challenged Mary Shelley and a friend to come up with a story, of which the winner would be the one who created the most terrifying story. Mary Shelley got the idea of the novel Frankenstein when she had a half-waking nightmare. Frankenstein is about a scientist called Victor Frankenstein whose desire is to find out the meaning of life, so he creates a creature from death to life. The creature for a start is kind but Victor disowns the creature as it is ugly and it would be a misfit in society. Since this creature is a misfit, it has to hide from society. The creature is extremely distressed by being classed a misfit and being disowned by his creator Victor, this leads the creature to hurt Victor, by destroying everything he loves in life. After Victor does not have anything

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  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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What is the importance of Chapter 5 in Mary Shelley's 'Frankenstein'?

What is the importance of Chapter 5 in Mary Shelley's 'Frankenstein'? Frankenstein is a gothic style novel written in 1816 by Mary Shelley. It was written after a visit to Lord Byron's residence whereby she was challenged to write a ghost story. Shortly after this Shelley had a dream in which a 'hideous corpse' came to her bedside. She wished her reader to feel the same fear with which she had beheld this creature, and so became 'Frankenstein'! The novel is written as a narrative, but consists of many layers. The story is told by Robert Walton, who has written in a letter to his sister what Victor Frankenstein has relayed to him. Although this is the actual narrative, the reader feels as though it is actually Victor Frankenstein who is telling the story. Victor Frankenstein is a loved son to a widowed father and a brother to Elizabeth, an adopted sister who he has pledged to marry. Frankenstein has a need for medical knowledge following the death of his mother which, as a doctor, not even his father could prevent. He is currently after two years at university on the brink of discovering how to create life, a highly controversial issue at the time in which the novel was written. The Romantic period was one of social unrest where the role of religion was considered highly important and the development in science phenomenal yet feared. The question 'are we overstepping the

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  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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The Significance of Chapter 5 in the Gothic Horror Novel 'Frankenstein'

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. 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,

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  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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In this essay I will explore Chapter 5 of Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein".

Frankenstein Essay "Mary Shelley wanted Frankenstein to curdle the blood and quicken the beatings of the heart in chapter 5. How did she achieve this?" In this essay I will explore Chapter 5 of Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein". The novel was first published in 1818 but Mary Shelley published it under her husband's name (who was a romantic poet) because of how women were looked at in those days. She released a revised edition in 1831, in which she published it under her name. This caused controversy but shows that the novel was a great success for her to re-publish it 13 years after its release. The novel studied for this essay was the one published in 1831. This essay will look at how Mary Shelley wanted Frankenstein to curdle the blood and quicken the beatings of the heart in chapter 5. The novel genre is gothic horror and romanticism of which was very popular in the 18th and 19th centuries, although in some parts of the novel Mary Shelley diverts from the stereotypical gothic horror genre. In the novel science is used against religion, which historically was important as science was developing and was thought to be taking over religion. Mary Shelley's personal life could have been the reason behind the death and new life issues in the story. Her Mother died when she was very young girl and then when Mary Shelley had a child of her own; it died when it was 11 days old.

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  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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Frankinstein - Chapter 5

Frankenstein Look at the significance of chapter 5 to the novel as a whole. Focus on the relevance and effect of the writers use of language to describe setting, character and what it shows about social and historical influences. The novel 'Frankenstein' is a Gothic Horror about a man, Victor Frankenstein, and his tale of creating a life. Dr Frankenstein had lost the majority of his family, his mother died whilst giving birth to his younger brother. He travelled to Ingolstadt to work on a secret project, creating life from scratch. The novel was written by Mary Shelly in 1818. The idea came to her when she has a terrifying nightmare about the horrors of birth and 'the spark of life'. Mary Shelleys' partner, Percy Shelley, encouraged her to expand on her idea and use it as inspiration for a novel. However the book was first published anonymously as it was not 'proper' for a woman to write a novel in the 19th century. In theory the novel is a crucial warning about the dangers of science with an emphasis on the idea that humans should not play the part of God in creating life. At the time 'Frankenstein' was written, there was a lot of conflict between religious society and scientists. There is a unique structure to this novel as it has 3 different narrators giving 3 different perspectives. Chapter 5 is a crucial part in the novel as it was the chapter in which Frankenstein

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  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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Frankenstein How does the Mary Shelly create a gothic atmosphere in chapter 5 especially?

Frankenstein Q. How does the Mary Shelly create a gothic atmosphere in chapter 5 especially? "It was on a dreary night of November that I beheld the accomplishment of my toils". This is the first sentence from chapter 5 and was originally the first sentence of Shelly's novel, this tells us that from the start she created a gothic atmosphere with the adjective `dreary` adding effect to the fact it was November night, which would be seen as cold and dark. This was the night that the monster was created which already gives it a frightening and eerie touch to the atmosphere. The room is dark with only "a candle" that is almost "burnt out" giving a dim light that shall soon die as the monster is born representing a dramatic beginning and end. "I saw the dull yellow eye". In this chapter there is a climax of horror as Victor finally animates the "creature" with "the spark of life" but "the wretch" that he had created and calls it a "catastrophe" immediately horrifies him. Shelly shows us that Frankenstein has overreached himself. He says "I had deserved it with an ardour that far exceeded moderation" this is one aspect of the gothic genre, which can be explored and interpreted in different ways. Frankenstein decided to cross the forbidden line between nature and man-made and in doing so realises the mistake he has made and understands it should of never been done. Frankenstein's

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  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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Explore how Mary Shelley develops the gothic genre in chapter 4 and 5 of Frankenstein.

English Coursework - Frankenstein Prose Study Explore how Mary Shelley develops the gothic genre in chapter 4 and 5 of Frankenstein. Up until 1800, literature in general consisted of a spontaneous expression of idyllic images of love - ultimately categorised as "The Romantic Movement." From this sprouted Romanticism's antithesis - literary Gothicism. When it was first introduced in the late 18th century, Gothic literature featured accounts of terrifying experiences set in graveyards or ancient castles, and descriptive motifs such as flickering lamps and ghostly figures. These have now become images of stereotypical horror. As it developed, Gothic literature came to designate everything to do with the macabre, mysterious and supernatural in literature more generally. Now one of the most recognisable forms of literature, Gothicism gained its popularity due to the stark contrast from anything that preceded it, and the surrounding controversy that shocked and intrigued its audiences. New scientific discovery swept across 18th century civilization, and the need for knowledge had overcome society. To the less educated, Gothic literature, (with its strong themes of science,) was seen as a way to further understand and involve themselves within these interesting developments, while the experienced scientist would be curious of the science mentioned in Gothicism. Another major

  • Word count: 1408
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Linguistics, Classics and related subjects
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