Thursday, August 16, 2012

Reading is Fundamental

When I read Shelley's Frankenstein (I had never read it before!), I knew instantly that I wanted to write about the monster discovering those books in the woods. So, I've written my essay (see below), and the mirror theme is definitely taking hold here; I've had mirrors in my last three essays. Since I would really like for there to be a theme that brings all my essays together, just to give the writing project for this class a more coherent purpose, I think I am going to go back and write another Grimm essay. From the start of the semester, I knew I wanted to do identity in some sense - but now I have really zoomed in on the idea of mirrors, doubles, emblems, etc. So, here is my Frankenstein essay and this weekend I'll poke around in the Brothers Grimm to do a mirror essay for that entry also just to try to give the writing a real sense of continuity.

~ ~ ~

Reading is Fundamental

"I am self-educated," writes Captain Robert Walton, "and read nothing but [my] Uncle Thomas' books of voyages." He did not choose these books; his Uncle Thomas' library contained no others. Yet in a cruel twist of fate, young Robert was forbidden a sailor's life by his father's dying wish. Even so, Walton went to sea on a voyage foretold in the books of his youth.

Young Victor likewise was enamored of books - specifically, books of alchemy - although his father was dismayed by this choice ("Do not waste your time" he told Victor). The Ingolstadt professors were also appalled (Krempe told him that "every instant that you have wasted on those books is utterly and entirely lost"). Yet the forbidden mysteries tugged at Victor, despite the warnings of his father and professors, and thus he made his monster, pursuing a mad science of transmutation.

And what of the monster's reading habits? He too was shaped by the books of his youth, having found three books in the woods as if by fate: Goethe's Werther, Plutarch's Lives and Milton's Paradise Lost. While the monster is moved by Goethe and Plutarch, he calls Satan "the fitter emblem of my condition" because he too felt "the bitter gall of envy" just as Satan did when he looked upon man, that godly creation.

Paradise Lost is only an emblem, of course; a worse reading experience yet awaits the monster. When he discovers Victor's journal, the monster gazes into a mirror; the journal is about his own self, a "description of my odious and loathsome person." Both Captain Walton and Victor were tempted by the books that they read and so endured paternal rebuke, but the monster was utterly damned by a book written in his father's own hand. Shelley's poor monster might have been better off as Boris Karloff in the 1931 Frankenstein film whose defective brain spared him such bookish suffering.

(The Monster Gazes into a Pool, Lynd Ward: web source)


8 comments:

  1. I was out of town and didn't finish Dracula (and won't finish Frankenstein) on time for the assignments. :(

    Good essay! I read Frankenstein about 20 years ago and I was eager to read it again, but I think I'll wait until I have some time to really focus on it. I'm studying Paradise Lost right now and I think I'll appreciate Shelley's use of PL themes in Frankenstein after I've finished studying PL.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi again, Rachel! One of these days I really do need to read Paradise Lost - I am a HUGE fan of Philip Pullman's Dark Materials trilogy, and he makes it clear in there that Milton was a big part of his inspiration for those novels. So, if only to get a better grasp of what Pullman is trying to do in those books, I clearly need to read Paradise Lost!

      Delete
    2. Yes, Pullman is a fan of William Blake and Percy Bysshe Shelly's interpretation of Milton. Basically that Milton was on the side of the devil even though he didn't know it. I'm not certain what Mary Shelly's interpretation of Milton is, but I suppose it is probably similar to her husband's. I was planning on re-reading Pullman's trilogy when I finish studying PL, but I admit that I wasn't a huge fan of it because I felt like I was being beat over the head with an anti-organized-religion Message. I like messages to be more allegorical and less narrative/dialog based. But that's just me being picky. ;)

      Delete
    3. I don't really understand Pullman's dislike for C.S. Lewis (he really abominates Lewis, whereas I like both Pullman AND Lewis so much!) ... but the way he used the gnostic traditions of Christianity against orthodox Christianity itself is something that I really appreciated. Most people are not so aware of how orthodoxy really squashed the diversity of early Christianity thoroughly and absolutely. I'm wondering how much Milton was becoming aware of that early history of Christianity; Milton is someone I don't really know anything about, but I know I should. Argh! Where to find the time for it all...???! :-)

      Delete
  2. I like your interpretation of Frankenstein. You should also note that the Creature also heard Volney's 'Ruins of Empires' read aloud by Felix to Safie.
    That picture, 'The Monster Gazes into the Pool,' reminded me of Narcissus, before I saw the caption. And really brought back your mirror image/ theme. There is a point where the Creature also sees his reflection for the first time...
    I've just finished reading an article by Berman who considers Frankenstein, not just a modern Prometheus, but also a 'Modern Narcissus.' He also mentions the doubling between Frankenstein and the Creature.
    http://knarf.english.upenn.edu/Articles/berman.html

    Melanie Dunn-Fiedler

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ah, Melanie, I tried SO HARD to squeeze Saphie in there and just could not find a way to make it fit...! But especially because the monster learned about the important of reading and being read to from watching all of that, I felt badly that it would not fit. I did try!

      The Narcissus thing was something I was thinking about also - thanks for the link! There are so many amazing themes in this novel; I am really glad to have read it. Having watched Young Frankenstein umpty-gazillion times definitely did not prepare me for all the good stuff in this novel!

      Delete
  3. I think your mirroring theme works well with the doubling in novel. Mirrors, Reflections, Doppelgänger, Negative images: Frankenstein and Walton; Frankenstein and his creature; reverse doubling with Frankenstein and Elizabeth. It's a very complex novel.

    I was hanging with my kids at the pool today, pondering Jeff Berman's article. Can a person's story (history told in his own words) mirror their psychological condition?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I believe so. Our mind is heavily biased and can be altered by our conditions. We'd be looking at something in the way we want it to be, so sometimes an autobiography might contain as much myth as a biography written by others, and what it'd held true would be what we felt, and not what was happening.

      If you have analysed a person's diary or journal, then cross-referencing it, you might find an event being told in different perspectives yield different plots, but with emotions intact.

      I hope I make myself clear enough.

      Delete

COMMENTS ARE CLOSED.

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.