Thinking activity : Frankenstein

 Thinking Activity

 

                             Frankenstein

          I am going to review a movie Frankenstein based on the Novel 'Frankenstein’; or The Modern Prometheus By Mary Shelley In 1818. This blog is a part of a thinking activity inspired by By Yesha mam , Department of English , MKBU. 

         About the Author 

             

                    Mary Shelley

                                                

                             Type of Work: novel 

                             Genres: Gothic Literature; Romantic Movement

                             First Published: In 1818

                         Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley was born on  August 30, 1797, London, England and died on February 1, 1851, London. She was an   English Romantic novelist best known as the author of Frankenstein.  William Godwin and feminist Mary Wollstonecraft ; both her parents were noted writers in the 1800s. Mary’s mother was a leading feminist writer who espoused her views in her famous work A Vindication of the Rights of Women (1792). 

                 Mary Shelley’s best-known book is Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus , a text that is part Gothic novel and part philosophical novel; it is also often considered an early example of science fiction. It narrates the dreadful consequences that arise after a scientist has artificially created a human being. 

                              

                       About the novel 

                                         

            The movie is the same as the novel. 'Frankenstein’; or The Modern Prometheus is  a novel written by female writer Mary Shelley . Frankenstein is a young medical student. He is interested in what makes for life, what brings the fruit upon the trees, why one son of a mother is an honest and upright man, another a criminal, maybe a murderer. His experiments carry him along until he is obsessed with the unholy desire to create life in his own image. But he fails to reckon with God.

   

Characters : 

                Victor Frankenstein :  Creator of the monster. 

                The monster : The creature created by Victor Frankenstein 

             Henry Clerval : Victor's best friend who helps Victor in his time                      of need. The monster kills Henry after Victor breaks his promise of creating a female companion for the monster. 

         Elizabeth Lavenza : The orphan child taken in by the Frankenstein family and lovingly raised with Victor.

                Alphonse Frankenstein : Victor's father. 

                 Caroline Beaufort Frankenstein : Victor's mother. 

            William Frankenstein : Victor's youngest brother who is killed by the monster.

                Justine Moritz : The housekeeper for the Frankenstein family. 

                       

         Victor Frankenstein, from the nineteenth-century novel written by Mary Shelley. This fictitious doctor, one of the first "mad scientists," was based on real-life researchers and their experiments. This compelling volume examines the work of Shelley and its possible inspirations in the world of science.

               Frankenstein is a unique novel in the canon of English literature. The novel seeks to find the answers to questions that no doubt perplexed Mary Shelley and the readers of her time.

 

                 Mary  Shelley presents a unique character in Victor Frankenstein and his creation, the monster. It is as though there are two distinct halves to one character. Each half competes for attention from the other and for the chance to be the ruler of the other half. In the end, this competition reduces both men to ruins.

 

                Frankenstein is a gothic novel. Gothic novels focus on the mysterious or supernatural; take place in dark, often exotic, settings; and yield unease if not terror in their readers. The double is a frequent feature of the Gothic novel, and in a sense Frankenstein and his monster are doubles. Some literary historians also consider Frankenstein the first science fiction novel.

                 Victor begins by telling of his childhood. Born in Naples, Italy, into a wealthy Geneva family, Victor and his younger brothers, Ernest and William, are sons of Alphonse Frankenstein and the former Caroline Beaufort. From a young age, Victor has a strong desire to understand the world. He is obsessed with studying theories of alchemists, though when he is older he realizes that such theories are considerably outdated. When Victor is five years old, his parents adopt Elizabeth whom Victor later marries.

            The creature meets his childhood friend, Henry Clerval, and takes Clerval back to his apartment, fearful of Clerval's reaction if he sees the monster. However, when Victor returns to his laboratory, the Creature is gone.

            Victor falls ill from the experience and is nursed back to health by Clerval. After a four-month recovery, he receives a letter from his father notifying him of the murder of his brother William. Upon arriving in Geneva, Victor sees the Creature near the crime scene and becomes convinced that his creation is responsible.

           

              Justine Moritz, William's nanny, is convicted of the crime after William's locket, which contained a miniature portrait of Caroline, is found in her pocket. Victor knows that no one will believe him if he tries to clear Justine's name, and she is hanged. Ravaged by grief and guilt, Victor retreats into the mountains. While he hikes through Mont Blanc's Mer de Glace, he is suddenly approached by the Creature, who pleads for Victor to hear his tale.

 

Thank You.