I began reading Mary Shelley’s book Frankenstein. From the very beginning of the book I sensed a longing for companionship, love, and compassion. A selection of the text that stood out to me was in Chapter Four after this project, that Frankenstein had put so much time and effort into, finally became a success. “I slept indeed, but I was disturbed by the wildest dreams. I thought I saw Elizabeth, in the bloom of health, walking in the streets of Ingolstadt. Delighted and surprised, I embraced her; but as I imprinted the first kiss on her lips, they became livid with the hue of death; her features appeared to change, and I thought that I held the corpse of my dead mother in my arms; a shroud enveloped her form, and I saw the grave-worms crawling in the folds of the flannel” (Shelly page 34). Frankenstein’s character, from the very beginning, desires relationships. He desired a true loving friend who would someday possibly become his wife. “From the time Elizabeth Lavenza became my playfellow, and, as we grew older, my friend” (Shelly page 19). He also desired a relationship of a brotherly kind. “My brothers were considerably younger than myself; but I had a friend in one of my schoolfellows, who compensated for this deficiency” (Shelly page 20).
With his mother’s passing, he began to cling to Elizabeth. Frankenstein leaves years later for college and I do believe he became lonesome. He was away from his family and friends, and missed the relationships he left behind. He began to pour himself into a project, thought impossible, to create life. I believe he did this because of his longing for companionship. So now, to the quote from page thirty-four… The dreams he was having was about the relationships he missed the most. His lovely companion Elizabeth, whom he wishes he could see and spend time with, the one who stood by his side in time of need. Elizabeth, the one he could confide in. Elizabeth then, turns into his mother’s corpse right in front of his eyes. This right here shows the horrible longing to discover the separation of life and death. Frankenstein desires to discover the impossible.
Works Cited
Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft, and J. J. Paul Hunter. Frankenstein, The 1818 Text, Contexts, Nineteenth-century Responses, Modern Criticism. First. New York: W. W. Norton & Co Inc., 1996. 19,20,34.
I like your idea of companionship, love, and compassion. Because it can be used as an overall theme for this book. I like this because your theme applies to Frankenstein as well as it could his Monster if you think about it. It makes me wonder did he make a creation of his true feelings and desires ? A lone being who seeks out friendship, love, and company.
ReplyDeleteHello Reanna,
ReplyDeleteFrankenstein is, as you said, about relationships. It is about the meaning of life, starkly revealed when Victor creates a life himself. Both Victor and the monster long for relationships. Good job on this post and keep up the good work.
Pax et bonum,
Joseph
Hey Reanna,
ReplyDeleteI really like how you are taking the companionship and looking into the story with it. You notice that he is a lonely person and has the need to feel the want of a friend, although he has embarked on an amazing learning experience that his father had offered up to him. He has created a relationship with on of the professors who did not criticize his past leaning and gave him reason to explore possibilities in science.
I too like how your post refers to the theme of companionship, it is a great analysis of this passage. It does seem when you look closely that Victor is longing for that companionship that he misses so much and it leads him to create a companion for himself. The theme continues on with his creation who comes to him asking for one thing, a companion. The irony is that, in creating his companion, Frankenstein has ultimately created isolation instead of companionship.
ReplyDeleteGood Post! I like how you too found the underlying theme of companionship. It is found althroughout the book and in many diffent ways. I liked how you used more than one example for his longing of a friend or companion. I also like how you focused this analysis, it makes it that much better than if you would have used every example of his longing for love and compaionship.
ReplyDeleteThat passage stood out to me as well, but I interpreted it as his greatest fear, losing the people he cares about. I really like your interpretation of it though. Your last two line made the biggest impression on me. Yes, I understood that what he was doing was impossible, but to state that he wants to find the separation of life and death,that is a connection I never would have made.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed how you wrote your entire blog post on the main idea of compassion and love. It's a theme that has risen up from within the character himself. He is the creator of his own creature. A creature soft and kind on the inside but seen as a vicious monster on the outside that provokes society to isolate him. I believe that he created this creature not for madness but rather for the company.
ReplyDeleteYou had a great analysis for this passage. You opened up a lot of new ideas that I hadn't thought of and did great not summerizing. Your analogy on compassion and love hit dead on, and I agree that this story is about relationships and his need for companionship and company.
ReplyDeleteIt was a great post of one of the themes of the book. Through out the book I notice the need of companionship. Even at the very beginning of the book with Captain Walton longs for a companionship of a friend as well.
ReplyDeleteThe desire for companionship is very apparent in all parts of this book. It seems like the need to be accompanied is the main theme for this book. I really enjoyed reading your interpretation this passage and why you feel the need for companionship is so common in this book. When reading your analysis I realized just how much of this book was based on having a friend. That idea seems to drive the stroy and it makes me wonder what was going on in the authors life as she wrote this book. Was she lonely and looking for a friend? Or was she witnessing someone who was in desperate need of a companion. Many questions spring up when you look deeper into the meaning of comapnionship and how it drives this story.
ReplyDeleteGood post. The need and want for companionship is very apparent early on in the book. I like how you describe that he is looking for not only love, but a "brotherly love" as well. You can hear how much he loved his sister in the carefully chosen words when describing her. I have the feeling that the theme of companionship will be throughout the entire story.
ReplyDelete