We finally know!

"I exchanged my land-sledge for one fashioned for the inequalities of the Frozen Ocean..." (pg. 153)

This is the point in the story where he finally gets to the present where he had just bought the dog-sled so he could further pursue the creature. After 2 frame-stories, and journies lasting for years, we finally have an understanding of how Victor came to be in the middle of the ocean. When I came to this part, I realized how effective the foreshadowing was in the beginning of the novel. In the pages before 153, I kept waiting in anticipation to get to the part with the dog-sleds becuase I was just really curious from the beginning how such a thing would eventually happen. The use of the foreshadow kept me engaged in the novel all the way to the end. Also, not only was it the foreshadowing, but it was simply that I was mainloy reading to figure out how such an obscure even occured. If instead, the author had foreshadowed some uninteresting event, the reader would not have been so engaged as I was in the novel.

In agony...again

"I lay for two months on the point of death: my ravings, as I afterwards heard, were frightful..." (pg. 130)

Throughout the novel, Victor is rarely a healthy being. Some occurence is frequently making him ill and depressed. Frequently being ill and depressed due to some new occurence really evoded me to be very sympathetic towards Victor. Someting different was constantly happening to him due mainly to the evil deeds of the monster. After a while, even I start to really imagine the physical toll placed on Victor. As a reader, I actually got more engaged in the novel. Normally I would think that I would get tired of such a thing happening and eventually lose sympathy for the character. But the way the creature causes the pain of Victor in different ways every time kept me feeling sympathetic towards him. It also really emphasizes how good the creature is at mentally and emotionally torturing someone.

Let me just tear it up right in front of you...

"I thought with a sensation of madness on my promise of creating another like to him, and trembling with passion, tore to pieces the thing on which I was engaged." (pg 121)

While I was reading through the novel, I really did expect Victor to go through his promise and create the female monster for the creature. I imagined that he would force himself to go through with it due to the repercussions if he failed to do so. However, one thing that I simply never expected him to do was to think twice about what he was doing. After this, I never would have imagined that even if he did think twice, that he would stop working on it due to what might happen to his family and friends. Afer this, I never would have imagined him tearing up the female creature right in front of the creatures eyes. To me, this was just really situationally ironic. However, this happening did make a few deep impacts. For example, it truly revealed how much Victor was against the making of the female creature. Sure he could have secretly disposed of it later. But tearing it up "with passion" truly reveals his emotions at that moment he saw the creature and did not want to create the female version.

Over and Over again

"...which was one of the first of spring, cheered even me by the loveliness of its sunshine and the balminess of the air." (pg 100)

This is just one of the numerous examples of a motif used throughout the novel. The motif is that winter always brings misery to the character, whether it be the creature or Victor. Something in the winter always brings unhappiness to the main characters. However, once spring rolls around, life is restored to nature and the character magically get happy once again. Not once in the novel does this recurring idea fail to take place. From this motif, many things can be obtained. I think that it contributes to a theme of the novel. The theme is that throughout life, there will always be tough times in our lives. However, we will get back on our feet and move forward again. To me this sounded like a possible theme occurring from this motif, even if it does sound pretty cliche and corny... However, the relationship between the seasons and the emotions of the characters is interesting. During the winter, nature is lifeless just as the characters are lifeless and down. However, once spring comes, life starts to spring from the earth (no pun intended) and the character become lively and happy once again.

From good to evil

"I will revenge my injuries: if I cannot inspire love, I will cause fear, and chiefly towards you my arch-enemy, because my creator, do I swear inextinguishable hatred." (pg. 104)

This quote represents the dynamic character of the creature very well. When the creature was created, it had no sense of emotion or anything. He had to learn that from others around him, and in the novel he learns the good side of humanity and how to be compassionate from the cottagers. However, when he is then exposed to the rejection and the anger of humanity, he learns this as well and very quickly changes into an evil creature. This change is emphasized even more when Victor refuses to create a female for the creature causing the creature to seek even greater revenge because he knows he will only ever be rejected. This change in character emphasizes the evil and intolerance of humanity. Through a change of a dynamic character, the author is capable of showing us how evil humanity is instead of just telling the reader. This method has a greater impact on the reader and the theme of the story.

One or the other

"On you it rests, whether I quit forever the neighbourhood of man and lead a harmless life, or become the scourge of your fellow creatures, and the author of your own speedy ruin" (pg 70) This is when Victor has his first real encounter with the monster he created. I think it is interesting that the creature that we have come to know in any Frankenstein sort of movie has always been that of intolerable evil and disgust. While this creature may be disgusting, he is not necessarily evil. The only reason that the creature is evil is because of how he is miserable. He seeks only compassion from his creator, but Victor abondoned him making him miserable and into the fiend that he is. So the creature gives Victor the choice of either accepting him and allowing the creature to be loving. Or, instead, he can reject the creature once again and he will turn into the fiend that we stereotypically view as the creature. In my opinion, accepting the creature is the only way that Victor can fully recover from his depressed state of mind. If he does this, then he should realize that he can save others from death if the creature is indeed the one who murdered William.

Allusions

"It was as the ass and the lap-dog, yet surely the gentle ass whose intentions were affectionate..." (pg. 81) This is just one example of the numerous allusions used throughout the story. However, there is a problem with some of these allusions. Since this novel was written almost 200 years ago, I do not recognize most of the allusions presented. All of them even have a footnote, but I am still left without really knowing the allusion for many. Becuase of this, the function of these allusions are lost and they sort of become meaningless and useless. However, it would be a different story if I understood most of them thoroughly. If I did, then they would be more useful to the novel. Allusions allow the author to explain what he wants to say with few words. This gives the reader a good sense of what he is trying to get across. By using the allusion, we have to think about what the author is saying by that allusion therefore amplifying what the author is trying to get across because were are having to think about it. I understood the allusion provided at the top because the footnote was thorough in its meaning, and this allowed to to better understand what the author was trying to say without her having to be too wordy.