SparkNotes: Frankenstein: Important Quotations Explained

Fiction

IDEOLOGY – ALTHUSSER, FOUCAULT, and FRANKENSTEIN …

On the other hand, the book portrays the men in the family as strong and capable of making decisions. They are to be the protectors of the women in the family as well as in the society, hence the incessant desire to offer assistance to those seemingly abandoned. However, the author clearly uses the juxtaposition of realism and romanticism in the novel to indicate the helplessness of men in certain situations. From the correlationism represented through romanticism in literature, it can be deduced that the challenge faced by Victor is synonymous to the challenges of loneliness (Washington 448). This is based on his creation of the monster and his inability to deal with it satisfactorily. It indicates that despite strong and protective appearances portrayed by men, they may at times be haunted by monsters which they are incapable of overcoming. In the case of Frankenstein, the monster may have been used to represent the challenges of depression and paranoia that may result due to loneliness and estrangement from family ties. Consequently, while the author uses imagery to depict such occurrences in the family life, he also perfectly weaves it in realism since such occurrences are common and inevitable where social ties are involved. The professors, school and experimental apparatus serve the purpose of indicating that occurrences such as depression have triggers that one may not easily understand.

How does it function in society, and also in subject formation

The role of women in the book is depicted as being passive. Using feelings, plot, and metaphors, the narrator manages to clearly give the women this passive character through their depiction as helpless and in need of care. For instance, Caroline, the mother of the narrator, is not described as an important person from the beginning. The narrator clearly says that his mother has been taken in only following the death of her father who was her caregiver and protector (Shelley 2-4). The objective of Alphonse in taking in Caroline was not initially to consider her as a wife but to protect her as his friend had done before his death. This only means that Caroline was considered to be incapable of taking care of herself even though she was already of marriageable age. This proves to be a twist to the expectations of the reader since a wife has to take care of her family as well as her husband. This cannot be accomplished if the wife cannot even take care of herself.

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In the life of Victor Frankenstein, the family initially played a crucial role in developing character and a sense of happiness and wellbeing. Through the early years and during his pursuance of science and alchemy, Victor knew all along that his ambitions would only bring him pain and suffering. The relationships created between the men and women in the family from the onset of the novel indicate distinctive role -play in the social settings (Mayer 1-6). There are those whose objective is to foster academic growth such as the professors and the teachers. On the other hand, the family members have the role of fostering social growth and care within the community. It is these roles that women such as Caroline, Elizabeth and Justine play in the life of Victor Frankenstein. In particular, his mother manages to clearly influence how the narrator of the story relates to others.

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Frankenstein grew up with close ties to Elizabeth Lavenza, his orphaned "cousin" (it should be noted that she is of no direct family ties to Victor) brought to his family who is raised with Frankenstein like a sister, and his friend Henry Clerval. As a young boy, Frankenstein becomes obsessed with studying outdated theories of science that focus on achieving natural wonders. He plans to attend college at Ingolstadt, Germany when a week before departure his mother and sister, Elizabeth, become very ill with Scarlet Fever. Elizabeth recovers, but Victor's mother dies from the disease. The whole family is in grief, and Frankenstein views it as his first misfortune. At college, he excels at chemistry and other sciences and discovers the secret to imbuing the inanimate with life, in part by studying how life decays. He also becomes interested in galvanism, a technique discovered in the 1790s. Frankenstein didn't have many friends but the ones he did, he treated well.

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After several harsh encounters with humans, the monster becomes afraid of them and spends a year living near a cottage and observing the family who lived there. Through these observations he becomes educated and self-aware and realises that he is very different in physical appearance from the humans he watches. In loneliness, the monster seeks the friendship of the family of cottagers (the De Laceys). The family was previously wealthy, but is forced into exile when Felix De Lacey rescues the father of his love, Safie. The father, a Turkish merchant, was wrongfully accused of a crime and sentenced to death, obviously because of racism. When the man is rescued, he promises Felix that he may marry Safie. But, he loathes the idea of his beloved daughter marrying a Christian and flees. Safie comes back, though, eager for the freedom of European women. Eventually, the monster tries to befriend the family, but they are afraid of him, and this rejection makes him seek vengeance against his creator. He travels to Geneva and meets a little boy in the woods. In the vain hope that because the boy is still young and potentially unaffected by older humans' perception of his hideousness, the monster hopes to kidnap him and keep him as a companion, but the boy reveals himself as a relation of Frankenstein, so the monster kills him in his first act of vengeance against his creator. The monster plants a necklace he removes from the child's body on a sleeping girl, Justine Moritz, the Frankensteins' trusted servant who is like a member of the family. She is found with the necklace and despite knowing she is not guilty, admits to the murder. She then is put on trial and executed.