Frankenstein
Dreams, intuitions, fantasy, etc are some of the defining terms for Romantic literary technique. The Romantics relied a lot on the imaginative faculty of the human mind. Dreams and other unconscious faculties were the base for a lot many Romantic works ranging from Blake's intuitive poetry to the dream sequences of Keats' poetry. The same was the case with the various fictional prose works and especially novels. One such significant novel is Frankenstein by Mary Shelly. Not only is the novel a manifestation of the horrible consequences of meddling with the natural cycle of birth and creation, but is also a new perspective towards the philosophical concepts like the relation of the creator and creation.
One of the many interesting characters of the novel is 'the monster' or more specifically 'the being which the protagonist, Victor Frankenstein creates', since, to put it in 'monster's' words,"he never gave him a name". The question which arises is, why would the author ascribe a word like 'monster', with all its negative connotations, to the character? Is the word trying to further the author's argument that human intervention in natural cycle of birth and death would lead to the creation of 'monsters' and that too with disastrous results? Well, probably yes. Nevertheless, the point to note here is that the word can be interpreted in as many ways as possible. Both connotatively and denotatively. Let me list out some of the accepted definitions of the word 'monster'. This will clarify both, the denotative and connotative reasons for using the word in the novel, to some extent.
1) a large, ugly, and frightening imaginary creature
2) an inhumanly cruel or wicked person.
3) a congenitally malformed or mutant animal or plant
4) a rude or badly behaved person
It is quite evident that all the definitions cater to the established meaning of the word 'monster'. And to a certain extent the character of the novel justifies the use of the word by his actions. This in turn may also make the character a subject to his circumstances. But then one might question whether the 'monster' is created by the society or is created by the inherent hatred developed in the character because of his unfavorable circumstances?
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Let's now move on to the question of dreams. Since this is a subjective matter, I'd like to state that I'm not so much of a dreamy person, so to speak. But I can assure, the an 'interpretation of my dreams' would reveal some interesting results. Anyways, I haven't had any out and out horror encounter so far, but somehow terror does show up in my dreams. There are often dreams where I'm just running away from some kind of fear. Fear which doesn't have a face or feature. Now, I'm not sure whether such a dream would render me as someone who keeps secrets or something else, but I can't for sure create anything out of this. The fact that Mary Shelley could dream of a monster and create a character of the same name is in itself a kind of Catharsis as well as an achievement on her part. By achievement here, I mean the ability to picturize or describe something from your visual memory of the dream. I would like to conclude this response with one of Sigmund Freud's quote on Dream Psychology:
"We are what we are because we have been what we have been."
One of the many interesting characters of the novel is 'the monster' or more specifically 'the being which the protagonist, Victor Frankenstein creates', since, to put it in 'monster's' words,"he never gave him a name". The question which arises is, why would the author ascribe a word like 'monster', with all its negative connotations, to the character? Is the word trying to further the author's argument that human intervention in natural cycle of birth and death would lead to the creation of 'monsters' and that too with disastrous results? Well, probably yes. Nevertheless, the point to note here is that the word can be interpreted in as many ways as possible. Both connotatively and denotatively. Let me list out some of the accepted definitions of the word 'monster'. This will clarify both, the denotative and connotative reasons for using the word in the novel, to some extent.
1) a large, ugly, and frightening imaginary creature
2) an inhumanly cruel or wicked person.
3) a congenitally malformed or mutant animal or plant
4) a rude or badly behaved person
It is quite evident that all the definitions cater to the established meaning of the word 'monster'. And to a certain extent the character of the novel justifies the use of the word by his actions. This in turn may also make the character a subject to his circumstances. But then one might question whether the 'monster' is created by the society or is created by the inherent hatred developed in the character because of his unfavorable circumstances?
Click here to view the questions to which the following is a response:
Let's now move on to the question of dreams. Since this is a subjective matter, I'd like to state that I'm not so much of a dreamy person, so to speak. But I can assure, the an 'interpretation of my dreams' would reveal some interesting results. Anyways, I haven't had any out and out horror encounter so far, but somehow terror does show up in my dreams. There are often dreams where I'm just running away from some kind of fear. Fear which doesn't have a face or feature. Now, I'm not sure whether such a dream would render me as someone who keeps secrets or something else, but I can't for sure create anything out of this. The fact that Mary Shelley could dream of a monster and create a character of the same name is in itself a kind of Catharsis as well as an achievement on her part. By achievement here, I mean the ability to picturize or describe something from your visual memory of the dream. I would like to conclude this response with one of Sigmund Freud's quote on Dream Psychology:
"We are what we are because we have been what we have been."
Good. Not a dreamy person but you can imagine.
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