"I had saved a human being from destruction, and as a recompense I now writhed under the miserable pain of a wound which shattered the flesh and bone." p. 135
Well I must say, I've spent quite a long time discussing our good friend Victor, but I've really neglected to say much about the characterization of everyone's favorite sterotypical Italian plumber. Or monster. Either way, really, I am of course speaking of Mario.
Mario starts off as a baby, essentially, as shown by the way in which he reaches out to Victor, his father figure, and slaps on a goofy baby grin. This, of course, is terrifying to Victor, but really he just wants some love. However, this initially rejection just starts a long cycle of repeated instances of Mario saying "lovemelovemelovemelovemeloveme" and everyone else just beating him with sticks. Yeowch. So he goes out into the wild, and at some point, he enters a town to talk with people, at which time he is first beaten with said sticks and run right out of town. So you'd think he'd be pretty bummed, at this point, but don't worry, Mario is still but an innocent child at heart, and he is confident that someday he'll find people who will accept him. So he decides to befriend the DeLaceys while under the impression that the decency he's observed before will make them treat him compassionately. However, one lady faints, one lady flees, and guess what Felix does! He beats him with a stick. So Mario runs off again, and now he's starting to get a little ticked, so he burns down the abandoned DeLacey cottage and takes off into the wilderness, at which time, he finds a lady drowning in the river. Now, Mario's been treated like crap thus far, so it certainly would have been expected of the big guy to just keep on walking and not help her out. But rather, he goes out of his way, saves her life, begins to resuscitate her, and how is he thanked? If you answered that he's beaten with a stick, you'd actually be wrong. Nahh, he gets shot. Poor fella. So that is essentially the last straw. Mario flips out and begins his killing spree, ultimately leading up to his murder of Elizabeth and the death of Victor, and eventually Mario himself.
So that might have seemed like a lot of plot summary, but I feel that really it's the best way to represent Mario's progression as a character. He starts off innocent like a child, but the world just hates him. However, he does not begin to give up on humanity until his encounter with the DeLaceys. But even after that, he is still a good and decent critter, not even close to being worthy of the title "monster." However, his last decent act is repaid with hatred, and he just quits. Ultimately this is the outline of his transition from a fairly human-like character to a totally brutal and bloodthirsty monster.
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Frankenstein - The End
"I shall die, and what I now feel be no longer felt. Soon these burning miseries will be extinct." p. 211
Well that's pretty much sadder than a box full of hungry hungry kittens. Honestly, it's a wonder why the most suicide-prone profession is not writers. They simply strike me as such a depressing bunch of people. I feel as though the ratio of sad endings to happy endings in literature is somewhere around 1000:1. It's reached the point where it's not even realistic anymore. People argue, in real life, not everything is a happy ending....Which is certainly true, but I like to think that they constitute more than .1% of the endings in the world. Yesterday, I drove to school. On the way, I was not involved in a fatal car accident. Happy Ending. I forgot to do my math homework, but I finished it before class. Happy Ending. Honestly, I think that happy endings occur more often than sad endings. Or perhaps i'm just an extremely fortunate person. Who knows.
But I digress.
Let's talk about that ending, shall we? So Frankenstein finally finishes his story, and then he dies. Convenient, am I right? Sure would've made a crappy story if he died halfway through chapter 14. So then Mario also shows up, and I am still amazed by his ability to sneak about utterly undetected despite his massive size. He weeps over the body of his Daddy, taking the blame for his death. Now that vengeance has been exacted, he's not really happy at all. He's just a miserable little giant. And now, according to the quote above, he's just going to truck off to the north pole either to die or start working in Santa's Workshop. The ending is pretty ambiguous, so I'm still pulling for the latter. Sequel, anyone?
Well that's pretty much sadder than a box full of hungry hungry kittens. Honestly, it's a wonder why the most suicide-prone profession is not writers. They simply strike me as such a depressing bunch of people. I feel as though the ratio of sad endings to happy endings in literature is somewhere around 1000:1. It's reached the point where it's not even realistic anymore. People argue, in real life, not everything is a happy ending....Which is certainly true, but I like to think that they constitute more than .1% of the endings in the world. Yesterday, I drove to school. On the way, I was not involved in a fatal car accident. Happy Ending. I forgot to do my math homework, but I finished it before class. Happy Ending. Honestly, I think that happy endings occur more often than sad endings. Or perhaps i'm just an extremely fortunate person. Who knows.
But I digress.
Let's talk about that ending, shall we? So Frankenstein finally finishes his story, and then he dies. Convenient, am I right? Sure would've made a crappy story if he died halfway through chapter 14. So then Mario also shows up, and I am still amazed by his ability to sneak about utterly undetected despite his massive size. He weeps over the body of his Daddy, taking the blame for his death. Now that vengeance has been exacted, he's not really happy at all. He's just a miserable little giant. And now, according to the quote above, he's just going to truck off to the north pole either to die or start working in Santa's Workshop. The ending is pretty ambiguous, so I'm still pulling for the latter. Sequel, anyone?
Frankenstein - Characterization
"Again do I vow vengeance; again do I devote thee, miserable fiend, to torture and death. Never will I give up my search until he or I perish" p. 195
Let's talk about that characterization of Frankenstein. He's a fairly dynamic character, so what exactly changes in him? Before the experiment, he is a bright, optimistic, and adventure-loving young lad. He is paralleled with Walton the explorer as a scientist venturing into the unknown. He also dearly loves his friends and family, particularly Elizabeth. Furthermore, he loves science and the art of experimentation and discovery. He concerns himself solely with the scientific aspect of his actions and not with the moral implications therein. This all gradually changes over time.
The first change occurs before the experiment actually takes place, as he begins to distance himself from his loved ones. He cuts off all contact from them and practically forgets that they even exist. Next, his love of science disappears instantly after his experiment is a success. Suddenly, he no longer cares at all about the incredible scientific breakthrough he has accomplished, and is only able to think "Oh crap, I really shouldn't have done this," which is essentially him focusing on the moral aspect of his actions. Eventually, he returns home and begins to rekindle those family connections, but even though he is physically close to them, his melancholy demeanor still distances him emotionally. However, he still seems to have that love of adventure, as shown by his admiration of nature when he goes off into the mountains on his own, shortly before he meets Mario again. Afterwards, now that Frankenstein has been forced into this new task, he has an even harder time connecting with the family he was once so close to, and his newest project cuts him off from his family and forces him to leave, thus cutting his family ties even further. Also, his love of nature and spirit of adventure is finally extinguished by the time he reaches England with Henry, who is now amazed by the beautiful landscape. Henry, who now parallels Walton, is now a foil to Victor, who no longer finds any pleasure in nature. The various things that once defined Victor have gradually been stripped away, ending finally with the climax of the entire novel, the murder of Elizabeth, his most beloved companion. His social ties have now been ultimately and irreparably severed, and the only aspect of Victor's personality, the one trait that has now surfaced in the absence of his other previous traits, is vengeance. The thirst for revenge, as encapsulated by the quote above, now defines Victor's character, and he has made the full transition from human being at the beginning to total monster by the very end.
Let's talk about that characterization of Frankenstein. He's a fairly dynamic character, so what exactly changes in him? Before the experiment, he is a bright, optimistic, and adventure-loving young lad. He is paralleled with Walton the explorer as a scientist venturing into the unknown. He also dearly loves his friends and family, particularly Elizabeth. Furthermore, he loves science and the art of experimentation and discovery. He concerns himself solely with the scientific aspect of his actions and not with the moral implications therein. This all gradually changes over time.
The first change occurs before the experiment actually takes place, as he begins to distance himself from his loved ones. He cuts off all contact from them and practically forgets that they even exist. Next, his love of science disappears instantly after his experiment is a success. Suddenly, he no longer cares at all about the incredible scientific breakthrough he has accomplished, and is only able to think "Oh crap, I really shouldn't have done this," which is essentially him focusing on the moral aspect of his actions. Eventually, he returns home and begins to rekindle those family connections, but even though he is physically close to them, his melancholy demeanor still distances him emotionally. However, he still seems to have that love of adventure, as shown by his admiration of nature when he goes off into the mountains on his own, shortly before he meets Mario again. Afterwards, now that Frankenstein has been forced into this new task, he has an even harder time connecting with the family he was once so close to, and his newest project cuts him off from his family and forces him to leave, thus cutting his family ties even further. Also, his love of nature and spirit of adventure is finally extinguished by the time he reaches England with Henry, who is now amazed by the beautiful landscape. Henry, who now parallels Walton, is now a foil to Victor, who no longer finds any pleasure in nature. The various things that once defined Victor have gradually been stripped away, ending finally with the climax of the entire novel, the murder of Elizabeth, his most beloved companion. His social ties have now been ultimately and irreparably severed, and the only aspect of Victor's personality, the one trait that has now surfaced in the absence of his other previous traits, is vengeance. The thirst for revenge, as encapsulated by the quote above, now defines Victor's character, and he has made the full transition from human being at the beginning to total monster by the very end.
Frankenstein - Symbols
"I lighted the dry branch of a tree and danced with fury around the devoted cottage, my eyes still fixed on the western horizon, the edge of which the moon nearly touched." p. 132
Light and fire are two prominent symbols throughout the novel that essentially represent knowledge. Even as far back as Walton's first few letters to his sister, light has represented knowledge attained through the scientific process: "What may not be expected in a country of light?" p. 15. The flash of lightning that splits a tree stump serves as an impetus for Lil Victor to pursue science as a profession p. 40. However, though knowledge can oftentimes be used for good and the betterment of the human species, other times, it can be misused and abused to bring harm to the world. Well, hey, that's where the fire comes in.
You see, children, fire and light are connected, and in the knowledge symbolism sandwich, they are essentially two sides of the same coin. One can illuminate a room by either flipping a light switch or tossing in a molotov cocktail. Either way works, really, but the latter is a bit more destructive, really. Thus, light and fire both represent knowledge, but whenever fire is used, it represents the more destructive and dangerous things that come along with the attainment of knowledge. This is first hinted at when Mario discovers fire p. 100 and how the light and warmth are both pleasing to him. However, when he gets tooooo clooooose, that same light suddenly is not quite so pleasant. Knowledge hurts, don't it, Mario? This fire symbolism ultimately cultivates in Mario's realization of the knowledge that the whole world hates him forever, so he resolves to burn the whole place down, starting with that cottage over there. It's a good start, big fella, but you've got a lot more knowledge to gain before you'll ever be happy :D fwoooosh.
(he'll never be happy)
Light and fire are two prominent symbols throughout the novel that essentially represent knowledge. Even as far back as Walton's first few letters to his sister, light has represented knowledge attained through the scientific process: "What may not be expected in a country of light?" p. 15. The flash of lightning that splits a tree stump serves as an impetus for Lil Victor to pursue science as a profession p. 40. However, though knowledge can oftentimes be used for good and the betterment of the human species, other times, it can be misused and abused to bring harm to the world. Well, hey, that's where the fire comes in.
You see, children, fire and light are connected, and in the knowledge symbolism sandwich, they are essentially two sides of the same coin. One can illuminate a room by either flipping a light switch or tossing in a molotov cocktail. Either way works, really, but the latter is a bit more destructive, really. Thus, light and fire both represent knowledge, but whenever fire is used, it represents the more destructive and dangerous things that come along with the attainment of knowledge. This is first hinted at when Mario discovers fire p. 100 and how the light and warmth are both pleasing to him. However, when he gets tooooo clooooose, that same light suddenly is not quite so pleasant. Knowledge hurts, don't it, Mario? This fire symbolism ultimately cultivates in Mario's realization of the knowledge that the whole world hates him forever, so he resolves to burn the whole place down, starting with that cottage over there. It's a good start, big fella, but you've got a lot more knowledge to gain before you'll ever be happy :D fwoooosh.
(he'll never be happy)
Frankenstein - Abortion
"I, the miserable and the abandoned, am an abortion, to be spurned at, and kicked, and trampled on. Even now my blood boils at the recollection of this injustice." p. 210
I'll be tackling what appears to be a motif of Frankenstein: unwanted life. Ever since Victor first created Mario (Mario of course being the creature), there has been this idea of a life existing that nobody really wanted to exist. Mario was, in fact, alive, but Frankenstein immediately regretted it, and actually set out to destroy the life that he created. There's just this sense that now that some living thing has become an inconvenience, it is acceptable to extinguish that little spark of life. This sounds eerily similar to a process that exists today, and Shelley finally mentions it by name on the second-to-last page: Abortion. BOOM. This blog post just got real.
So how about that? Could this novel actually be a commentary on the abortion of adorable unborn babies? Up until five minutes ago, I had no idea if they even practiced abortions way back in The Olden Times, but apparently abortion has been practiced since The Very Olden Times, and maybe even Way Before Those Times! So I like to think that it's actually extremely possible that Shelley is commenting on abortion. But more importantly, what exactly is she saying? Shelley is a noted feminist, so does she portray abortion as a good right that protects a woman's ability to do whatever she may want with her own body? Well...no. You see, throughout the novel, as Victor's desire to terminate the life he created increases, his resemblance to what we actually consider a monster increases as well. He gradually becomes more brutal and less human, more bloodthirsty and less compassionate. He stops caring about human relationships, the beauty of nature, and even science, his one true love (♥). As he abandons these human qualities and becomes more animalistic, it simply reveals that Shelley is conveying her belief that abortion is in fact a monstrous practice.
I'll be tackling what appears to be a motif of Frankenstein: unwanted life. Ever since Victor first created Mario (Mario of course being the creature), there has been this idea of a life existing that nobody really wanted to exist. Mario was, in fact, alive, but Frankenstein immediately regretted it, and actually set out to destroy the life that he created. There's just this sense that now that some living thing has become an inconvenience, it is acceptable to extinguish that little spark of life. This sounds eerily similar to a process that exists today, and Shelley finally mentions it by name on the second-to-last page: Abortion. BOOM. This blog post just got real.
So how about that? Could this novel actually be a commentary on the abortion of adorable unborn babies? Up until five minutes ago, I had no idea if they even practiced abortions way back in The Olden Times, but apparently abortion has been practiced since The Very Olden Times, and maybe even Way Before Those Times! So I like to think that it's actually extremely possible that Shelley is commenting on abortion. But more importantly, what exactly is she saying? Shelley is a noted feminist, so does she portray abortion as a good right that protects a woman's ability to do whatever she may want with her own body? Well...no. You see, throughout the novel, as Victor's desire to terminate the life he created increases, his resemblance to what we actually consider a monster increases as well. He gradually becomes more brutal and less human, more bloodthirsty and less compassionate. He stops caring about human relationships, the beauty of nature, and even science, his one true love (♥). As he abandons these human qualities and becomes more animalistic, it simply reveals that Shelley is conveying her belief that abortion is in fact a monstrous practice.
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Frankenstein - Convenient License
"This was indeed a godlike science, and I ardently desired to become acquainted with it." p. 106-107
I for one find it very impressive that The Creature should be able to learn how to speak human language purely by observation (although I suppose that's how all of us learn it, really), however it still seems rather unbelievable that he should learn to speak it so well and in so little time, too. The conversation that he carries on with Victor is not, in fact, a simple conversation containing language akin to a five-year-old, but rather a fairly complex conversation utilizing high-level diction. In fact, it's a little too impressive. Frankly, I just don't believe it. I could understand it if he had learned the language while immersed in an urban environment in which people might help him along. However, to achieve such a mastery of language simply by observing poor cottagers living all the way out in the boonies of Switzerland sounds a tad preposterous, so I'll go ahead and label this as Convenient License, wherein it is more convenient for The Creature to understand how to speak with other people, and thus Mary Shelley makes it so. It honestly reminds me a bit of the Star Trek series in that every alien race speaks English and resembles a human being while every planet has similar gravity and atmosphere composition as Earth. It's just more convenient, although logically preposterous. So if there's not a word for that concept yet, I hereby declare it to be Convenient License.
I for one find it very impressive that The Creature should be able to learn how to speak human language purely by observation (although I suppose that's how all of us learn it, really), however it still seems rather unbelievable that he should learn to speak it so well and in so little time, too. The conversation that he carries on with Victor is not, in fact, a simple conversation containing language akin to a five-year-old, but rather a fairly complex conversation utilizing high-level diction. In fact, it's a little too impressive. Frankly, I just don't believe it. I could understand it if he had learned the language while immersed in an urban environment in which people might help him along. However, to achieve such a mastery of language simply by observing poor cottagers living all the way out in the boonies of Switzerland sounds a tad preposterous, so I'll go ahead and label this as Convenient License, wherein it is more convenient for The Creature to understand how to speak with other people, and thus Mary Shelley makes it so. It honestly reminds me a bit of the Star Trek series in that every alien race speaks English and resembles a human being while every planet has similar gravity and atmosphere composition as Earth. It's just more convenient, although logically preposterous. So if there's not a word for that concept yet, I hereby declare it to be Convenient License.
Frankenstein - Green?
"It became a thing such as even Dante could not have conceived." p. 57
Wait a second, Doc, you're saying it wrong. You're supposed to yell "It's aliiiive!" and then thunder crashes and the monster rampages around your laboratory, breaking lots of delicate instruments. And oh yeah, don't you live in a castle?
This book is not really close to the general perception that people have towards Frankenstein('s monster). I must admit that I was actually disappointed when there was no classic shout of victory upon the animation of The Creature. Every Frankenstein movie ever made has that line, heck, even the pseudo-movie-poster that is hanging in The Deuce has those two words scrawled across the paper. Furthermore, it's a little odd to see that Frankenstein is in fact a college student living alone in an apartment, rather than an old mad scientist living in a castle with his hunch-backed croney Igor. Even the events concerning the reanimation are different. I always imagined lightning, I don't know why, I don't think I've ever actually seen a Frankenstein movie, but lightning really ought to play a prominent role, I've decided, but really there's just a bit of a light drizzle. It's just sort of weird to see that the common perception of Frankenstein('s monster) is so radically different from the actually story itself. So why is that? Here's a theory:
Lots of people like horror movies. And I'll give you a good recipe for a horror movie: create a monster which is terrifying and evil and prone to indiscriminate destruction, and yells a lot of unintelligible moans and grunts, and make him really gruesome, with green skin and lots of scars and big random bolts on the side of the neck. Here's a terrible idea for a horror movie: create a monster with which the audience can sympathize. Nobody gets scared by a monster that just wants love from his metaphorical father and teaches himself how to speak and function in society through careful observance of human interaction. That's not scary at all. Thus, the details of Frankenstein are tweaked for the movie edit so that we get a big gruesome abomination that shuffles about the silver screen.
Wait a second, Doc, you're saying it wrong. You're supposed to yell "It's aliiiive!" and then thunder crashes and the monster rampages around your laboratory, breaking lots of delicate instruments. And oh yeah, don't you live in a castle?
This book is not really close to the general perception that people have towards Frankenstein('s monster). I must admit that I was actually disappointed when there was no classic shout of victory upon the animation of The Creature. Every Frankenstein movie ever made has that line, heck, even the pseudo-movie-poster that is hanging in The Deuce has those two words scrawled across the paper. Furthermore, it's a little odd to see that Frankenstein is in fact a college student living alone in an apartment, rather than an old mad scientist living in a castle with his hunch-backed croney Igor. Even the events concerning the reanimation are different. I always imagined lightning, I don't know why, I don't think I've ever actually seen a Frankenstein movie, but lightning really ought to play a prominent role, I've decided, but really there's just a bit of a light drizzle. It's just sort of weird to see that the common perception of Frankenstein('s monster) is so radically different from the actually story itself. So why is that? Here's a theory:
Lots of people like horror movies. And I'll give you a good recipe for a horror movie: create a monster which is terrifying and evil and prone to indiscriminate destruction, and yells a lot of unintelligible moans and grunts, and make him really gruesome, with green skin and lots of scars and big random bolts on the side of the neck. Here's a terrible idea for a horror movie: create a monster with which the audience can sympathize. Nobody gets scared by a monster that just wants love from his metaphorical father and teaches himself how to speak and function in society through careful observance of human interaction. That's not scary at all. Thus, the details of Frankenstein are tweaked for the movie edit so that we get a big gruesome abomination that shuffles about the silver screen.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)