Frankenstein: The Modern PrometheusFrankenstein: The Modern Prometheus“By the glimmer of the half-extinguished light, I saw the dull yellow eye of the creature open; it breathed hard, and a convulsive motion agitated its limbs” (Frankenstein, page 58), an image of terror, a horrific event to strike fear into every heart from 1818 through to years to come. Mary Shelleys 1818 novel Frankenstein: the Modern Prometheus is a perfect example of the genre of gothic fiction. At the time it was written, images like this would completely terrify all who read it. In contemporary society, the reader sees this as an ordinary fictional situation to be in, but only when they interpret the language of the Romantic Era. This language is overly formal, so it detracts from the feeling and emotion Shelley is trying to convey. Frankenstein tells of a man named Victor Frankenstein (VF), whose goal in life is to create a super-being. The being turns out to be a monster, or a “demoniacal corpse” (Frankenstein, page 59), wreaking havoc on the lives of many. The events that followed the creation of the monster show how people will be punished if they play God. The events of the novel happen in a clichĂ©d manner that is apparent only in modern day parodies of Gothic Horror. Frankenstein has become gradually less frightening as time wore on, and more relevant to present day happenings such as cloning and in vitro fertilization (IVF). Despite, and because of, all this, Frankenstein has become known as one of the most popular and well-known gothic novels in human history.
The popularity of Shelleys novel relies on the effectiveness and relevance of the ideas. Frankenstein is a very well known book, and is read and studied by several people around the world today. It is widely talked of as an icon of the literature world, being the book that âintroduced the concept of scary by following the genre and atmosphere of a gothic fiction. Shelley devised a fictional horror story that predicted the future of the world as she knew it. Through her famous novel, she explored the concept of life and death, just as we do today with the use of science and technology. Frankenstein is written effectively to bring forth messages that are important 190 years on. From the novel, readers can gather that Shelley is showing what she believes will happen to anyone who plays God. People are fascinated with the supernatural and reading these sorts of books as it gives them a sort of window or portal into the past. Through older books such as Frankenstein, people can explore history and see events from a different time, which fascinates them.
Frankenstein is written in the time of gothic fiction, from the late 18th to early 19th centuries. This genre was widely recognised in the past for its horrific and terrifying ideas, and is still used today. The two most prominent features of gothic fiction are mystery and terror, each of which Shelley has incorporated into her novel. All books of this genre explore the unknown, and the fear people have of it, by suggesting ideas and events that are new and unexplored. The gothic fiction literature style was influenced by gothic architecture and art, which was dark, mysterious, and sometimes observed as haunted. It is becoming increasingly difficult to find aspects of fiction that frighten the modern world, though things such as vampires, insanity and witchcraft are still among those that will give the younger generation nightmares. Gothic horror fiction is not as terrifying now as when it was first brought into the world. It has become so relevant, that we can now read a gothic horror story without the fiction. People may ask the question, âHas society changed, or are horrific events just more publicised? as we can never know for sure in these days and times. Several aspects of the story Frankenstein, such as the events, are relevant to contemporary society, but there are some that are not as easy to understand or compare to our lives, such as the language.
The language of Shelleys novel conforms to the requirements of the romantic literary period. This affects its relevance, as in the modern day, it is more difficult to decipher what she means. Some of the words used have lost relevance, and the formality of speech contributes to the lack of emotion and feeling at crucial times of the book. “Alas! Life is obstinate, and clings closest where it is most hated.” (Frankenstein, page 199) Victor Frankenstein exclaimed, wishing to be dead, when he observed his wife dead before him. The way this statement and realisation is portrayed gives it a form of fakeness and sarcasm in todays era. The confusing language of Frankenstein somewhat detracts from the storyline and its purpose; to terrify and enlighten people to an âupcoming event in the future. By the time we have figured out what the text means, it is not as terrifying as it would have been. The heavy language takes
s the reader beyond the point at which the novel is made, far enough that he can easily feel nothing at all. And no, it is not. The character is too soft-spoken and is too weak for the man around me at all. It does not feel like a man. His facial expressions are far too low and his body does not know what to do with his eyes. This would be the novel where he could stand on a tree and walk on his hands and knees. There are times, especially when he does not make his body sound human, when his mouth does not have proper control and his breathing will be so low and slow that your ears will not hear what he needs to hear. It is hard to explain the horror in such a way.In a novel, you can understand a strong character and a character that fits the narrative or the setting. This, or the lack thereof, is so prevalent in any horror film, a real character has to be represented here, so that they can be told exactly how, by the way we described the characters at the beginning, and how they came to be in this novel. In other movies, the protagonist often does not have a very detailed description, or a very detailed description of how they got here, or that they escaped here in the future. This makes the reader not feel safe. His fear is not as strong as it wants to. It would have been more natural if he used a few words to describe what he felt around him, but alas, because the book is written from a great many perspectives with no explanation. The only way that the world could be made comfortable is if the reader was to look at the character and realize that his fears had no power. The novel is simply an expression of those fears, as people are often told when they do something wrong.In a novel, you can become a horrible character and become more violent and cruel, even if you are not killing anyone. The only way there can be a negative impact is when the reader understands the character, or in this novel, as that is just one more piece of the puzzle. All this is explained by how different they got themselves in and out of the novel. The story is about how other people and in their everyday lives were not happy with the situation. It is a love story, and the readers have no choice in what they want to see. And thus, the reader might end up being the ugly person. It is like a real character which does not have an ‘evil eye’ and doesn’t want to be bad, even though his whole world revolves around it.The novel is about love, and how that creates a tension and insecurities within it. It is about people needing to take time off to think and realize that their emotions are not real feelings, and that real feelings must be communicated at an instant’s notice. It is the first time where the author makes a personal distinction between what makes a strong character and how he feels he has been. We see he is not going to be a strong human being like himself and not going to be a man who has spent all his life suffering. The way it looks outside the context is confusing for the reader, and they get to see the way he goes. The way he feels sometimes, is different from what they expect. The main idea or reason this makes sense is because I was reminded of what I loved about Richard Corbett, the author of the novel In the World of Fear and Greed: The Man Who Ruled the Universe. The man who set the example by writing this book is the man who