Frankenstein: Chapters 5-10 Primary and Secondary Blog Entries

11/2/2018

These images could depict some of the main plot points of Chapters 5-10. While these moments are important, they are by no means the only significant points in these four chapters.
After having read these chapters:
-Select a single passage (this may be a single paragraph or several) that you feel best approaches an answer to or a comment upon one of the unit's Essential Questions (at this point in the novel, you should be focusing in on one or two possible Essential Questions to follow for the entire unit).
-Explain the action and context of the quoted passage (you must cite the passage) and then,
-Explain how your understanding of this passage (1) supports your understanding, (2) deepens the character development, and/or (3) builds a central message that aligns with one of the unit's essential questions.

Primary Blog Expectations (respond to the prompt above): 200-250 words, minimal errors in grammar and usage, thoughtful and thorough writing. Please use the scientists's name that you selected in class as your nom de plume and be sure to add word count. Due by 11:59pm on Friday, 11/2/2018!

Secondary Blog Response Expectations (read everyone's primary responses, select two that interest you, and respond to their ideas): 100-150 words EACH, minimal errors in grammar and usage, thoughtful and thorough writing. Please use the scientists's name that you selected in class as your nom de plume and be sure to add word count. Due by 11:59pm on Sunday, 11/4/2018!

Phoebe Lankester

11/2/2018 11:46:03 am

Chapter 5 is the peak of Victor’s true realization of what had become of his research and his successfulness in completing the creature. He looks intensely at the creature with pure disgust after his feeling of bliss was over, and immediately abandoned his research to get away. When someone has a goal, their view can become a little short-sighted and narrow. It’s similar to one’s peripheral vision and how focusing on one object can make the rest of their surroundings blurry and harder to recognize, but when people accomplish their task or have no specific thing to focus on, they can view the world in a wider perspective again. This is when realization and regrets overcome a person. Victor being a person of much arrogance was very short sighted until his creation was made. As he looked at the creature he puts into detail how his joy and excitement almost instantly turned into dread as he realized what the results of his research means and does. The moment of bliss Victor achieved was not as overwhelming as the amount of regret and horror that would last for a long time. His view and perspective changed and he knew a little more after creating the creature although the cost to him was his ignorance and the pain of regret.

Word Count: 218

Mary Treat

11/2/2018 06:36:27 pm

I agree and disagree with you at the same time yes a person is blind when he realizes that his dream is becoming true and for one sconed he doesn't think but at some point we know that it's not true and that is not always the case because you don't the future you can't tell it what will happen at that time victor had no idea that this could happen he was determined and he got it he built something what no other person had done it.

Julia Lermontova

11/4/2018 09:53:24 pm

I disagree with when you said Victor was short sighted. I don't think his problem was that he couldn't see far enough into the future, but that he was looking too far into the future. He skipped all other possible scenarios besides the one he desired- to be acknowledged for ending pain in death and to have achieved reanimation. It's kind of like when you're looking forward to something and you only see the end goal, which is you getting that thing you so desire. But, you end up ignoring the fact that something could go wrong and you may not get it, which is what I think happened to Victor.

Mary Somerville

11/5/2018 12:21:23 am

I like the way that you related Frankenstein’s situation of only viewing his goal of bringing life to an inanimate body to the situation where a person’s surroundings become blurred when they are solely focusing on one object. However, I also agree with Julia Lermontova’s comment that stated that Frankenstein’s problem was that he had ignored all other possible outcomes of his experiment because he had been too focused on the only outcome he had desired. Frankenstein had been so caught up in his desired outcome of the creation being exactly how he imagined, that he didn’t bother to take into account the consequences of a situation where his creation went wrong.
Word Count: 112

Isobel Ida Bennett

11/2/2018 01:46:21 pm

What does it mean to be human? This question can begin to be answered im the following quote from chapter 7 of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. As Victor Frankenstein is traveling home he comments, “As I drew nearer home, grief and fear again overcame me” (Shelley 67). The reason Frankenstein is traveling home is because his brother has been murdered after their mother passed away and his family needs him for comfort. This is a terribly difficult time for everyone involved and Frankenstein is viewed as the head of the family. He is supposed to be strong and tough, lacking strong emotions in order to help his family grieve properly. This quote reveals that being human means feeling emotions. Even though Frankenstein is supposed to be emotionless, because he is a man and because he is the head of his family, he still expresses these emotions of grief and fear. These emotions are not simple or single-faced, his emotions are complex and filled with deep meaning and purpose. This helps to deepen Frankenstein’s character and help create a multi-faceted outlook on his character and people in his position in general.
Word Count: 188

11/2/2018 06:47:19 pm

I really liked the way victor kept himself alive how he overcame the suicide i mean the man had went through so much that he passed his limit to control his emotions he was angry at himself that how could he forget that his family is everything for him how could he do that. Every human has a limit to control his emotions and that the character the author created shows us that the character has a two sided story he has guilt and he is worried at the same time.

11/2/2018 06:30:22 pm

The Author of this book Merry Shelley is adding more and more suspense to this novel but as we are moving ahead so is the tragic in this novel. I chose this passage from the novel because what I think is that this passage summarizes these 6 chapters. ''Nothing is more painful to the human mind than, after
the feelings have been worked up by a quick succession
of events." This passage is talking about how life and reality are two different things and how they are considered to be an important function of our lives. The creature was his dream and he did everything he could but what happened afterward was a complete surprise for the victor. He didn't expected what was going to happen to him after the creation and there is no one who know's that this will happen to me. First he got scared of the creature then his brother got murdered then his close relative got executed at this point these incidents had so much brought victor down that he thought that maybe his life was full of sadness and he should have listened to his parents or he wouldn't have witnessed it. As a scientist he wanted so much for himself that he would help the community and the world but he didn't realized that how tragic his life would look like. After all of his harwork he didn't expected that this would happen.

11/4/2018 12:49:06 pm

I do not agree with you at all. I think this quote is talking about how he feels after all that has happened in his life. I think he is talking about how he feels after having had made the monster and his mother and brother have died. This could also be a comment Mary Shelley is making in an attempt to summarize what has hapeedenin the text so far. She could be explaining how she thinks readers should be feeling hurt and in and, sympathizing with victor frankenstein.

Sofia Kovalevskaya

11/4/2018 05:01:29 pm

After reading both Mary Treat and Isobel Ida Bennett’s ideas, I can understand where both of your thoughts come from. What I agree with is the idea that the said passage shows that life and reality are two different things, however, that general statement ties into how Victor Frankenstein feels after having made the monster and his mother and brother have died. The quote that states “Nothing is more painful to the human mind than, after the feelings have been worked up by a quick succession of events” shows how Victor took so much time to make the creature and then that was followed with the feelings of giving it life and losing his family members.

11/4/2018 09:19:54 pm

In my personal opinion, all of your perspectives are correct and they both build up to this one idea of the bunching of emotions over time. The accumulation of emotions is supposed to crash onto readers to readers, but it is the emotions of Victor that are what the readers need to empathize or even sympathize with. Over all the main point, it seems is to summarize how the effect of memories and use of time can inflict much harsher pain on someone rather than an event which had taken very little time as a cost. Time has value, and with the quote, ''Nothing is more painful to the human mind than, after the feelings have been worked up by a quick succession of events." Mary Shelley shows it’s true worth.

Mercy Jackson

11/2/2018 07:40:04 pm

At the beginning of chapter 5, Frankenstein had just completed the creation of the creature. He explains his thoughts about the results of his hard labor, and disgusted by what he had created he rushes far away from the animated mass in shame.“But now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart. Unable to endure the aspect of the being I had created, I rushed out of the room and continued a long time traversing my bedchamber...dreams that had been my food and pleasant rest for so long a space were now become a hell to me”(Shelley 51-52). In this section Frankenstein admits to himself that the ending results of his experiment were horrific and he cannot even believe what he has just brought into the world after 2 long years of work, he even says “no mortal could support the horror of that countenance...it became a thing such as even Dante could not have conceived”(Shelley 52). This may prove that scientific exploration is bad because of how it has been detrimental to Frankenstein’s mental health. Even he, the creator of the creature, is appalled by it. If Frankenstein can’t even bear to look at it to the point where he has to completely remove himself from the situation, leaving the creature as if it doesn’t exist, how would the outside world react to this “obstruction”.

11/4/2018 01:28:16 pm

I think you made a great point here.I think it is true that people question scientific exploration and that even scientists themselves question it. I think it is like getting a new toy on christmas morning for the scientist though. Scientist will get so excited and overwhelmed with emotion when they get an idea of the new scientific exploration idea they have that they cannot help but want to experiment and eventually they will experiment. But what happens once the experiment is complete? Well, once the experiment is complete, the scientist is either satisfied or dissatisfied with the results. Once the experiment is successful, the scientist might have done something amazing, like finding a cure form cancer. All we know know is from scientific expectation which is why scientific exploration is good. everything is just trial and error.

11/2/2018 07:54:24 pm

In chapter five of Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein, Victor describes how accomplished he felt after making the creature. “His limbs were in proportion, and I had selected his features as beautiful. Beautiful! -- Great God! His yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath; his hair was of a lustrous black, and flowing; his teeth of a pearly whiteness…” (Shelley 51). Given this visual of the creature, one would imagine that Victor is proud of what he has done and that he finds this being amazing, however, soon after stating this, Victor expresses his heart to be full of “breathless horror and disgust” (Shelley 51). Up until he gave the creature life, he was in awe. This part of the text relates to the essential question which asks what it means to be human. Unfortunately, one of the most common human attributes is regret. We humans will do something without considering the future and then as soon as we are impacted, we wish we could take it back. This is exactly what happened with Victor Frankenstein because his ultimate goal was to give a lifeless thing life but as soon as he met that goal, his humanity came through and he was disturbed.

Margaret Bryan

11/4/2018 06:59:40 pm

I agree that part of being human is feeling regret however I don't think that in Victor Frankenstein's case, this was due to a lack of thought beforehand. His ideas about what his creature would become exceeded realistic expectations. I do think that especially after he spent years working on his creation, he was overcome with regret. Wishing he could go back and not have spent the time he did creating something that he viewed as hideous and disturbing. "I had worked hard for nearly two years...I had deprived myself of rest and health...but now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart" (Shelley 51).

11/4/2018 09:25:56 pm

While I see where you are coming from, Victor does feel regret in his situation. The idea is that he regrets not being able to see his mistakes before hand. When you’re facing towards a goal, especially in Victor’s case, you become blind sighted from the other things around you including the drawbacks from the goal you are trying to achieve. When Victor does achieve revival, his sight is broadened once again, and then he realizes the true reality and meaning of his work. It is not just that he didn’t have the foresight, but the feeling of regret is caused by it.

11/5/2018 12:05:52 am

I agree with what you said about regret being a common attribute for humans, but I don’t completely agree with the idea that we wish we could take something back after it has impacted us solely because we didn’t consider what may happen in the future. For example, In Frankenstein’s case, he had pondered whether he should go through with his experiment and did acknowledge the fact that bringing life to something lifeless was something that was new and had never even been considered before, but went through with his experiment anyways. In the end, Frankenstein was horrified and filled with regret due to his creation, but I think it was because he had imagined an unrealistic expectation. What Frankenstein didn’t consider was what the consequences would be if his experiment didn’t result in the way he imagined, so once this became the reality, he was regretful of his experiment.
Word Count: 150

11/2/2018 09:38:43 pm

What is man's relationship to nature? That's the question Mary Shelley answers at the beginning of chapter 5 of her world renowned novel Frankenstein. After finally succeeding in creating the creature he so desperately wanted, Frankenstein says "I had worked hard for nearly two years...I had deprived myself of rest and health...but now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart" (Shelley 51). This quote proves man's relationship with nature. Man's relationship with nature is based upon the principles of mutualism. Nature will provide for us as long as we help her stay balanced and safe. Meddling with the forces of nature - as Frankenstein did when he achieved reanimation- will only yield unintended consequences. Frankenstein saw that no one could create life like the natural way of nature and rejected his creation. But nature is also vengeful. Because Frankenstein took matters into his own hands, she repaid him in a cruel twist of fate by causing his creation to turn on him like he turned on his creation. This shows that while our primary relationship with nature is a mutual one, we shouldn't cross certain boundaries because nature is also unforgiving.

Word Count: 203

11/4/2018 05:32:43 pm

I really like the approach you took with this section of Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein. Your view can be easily understood when you said that “nature is unforgiving.” This is because Victor Frankenstein disturbed the balance of nature in making the creature, so nature essentially got “revenge” on him by making the creature turn on Frankenstein. I like how you mentioned that he was excited about making the creature -- until he did -- because it shows how after he gave it life, he regretted it. He turned on both the creature and the natural balance of life, so life got him back.

Ada Lovelace

11/6/2018 08:10:39 pm

I agree with your statement on man’s relationship with nature; nature, physically or morally, has given life, such as resources, to the human race and we should not obstruct that relationship. Previously in the novel, Frankenstein mulls over the idea that nature conceals some of its secrets to mankind for a reason; Would this be what he was referring to? Frankenstein had “stepped out of line” when trying to create immortality, only to be given endless torment and regret. Even in today’s age, there are some things that should be left untouched because the unknown consequences of investigating them can be drastic.
Word Count: 102

11/2/2018 10:16:31 pm

Part of being human is a desire to seek revenge. Following Justine's death, Victor Frankenstein wanted to seek revenge on the murderer. He suffered from a depression and was contemplating suicide. What had kept home alive was the love he had for his family, but he still wanted to seek vengeance on the person who had caused his family this pain. When he saw the evils of the world with not only Justine, but William, he wanted to avenge them and correct injustice. Victor Frankenstein stated “When I reflected on his crimes and malice, my hatred and revenge burst all bounds of moderation” (Shelley 81). I found this section interesting because it raises questions about revenge. What is the difference between revenge and justice? Is it ever okay to seek revenge? Can revenge ever be justified? In Victor Frankenstein's case, his revenge would be self justified. His family members were taken away from him and so that would make it moral, in his own perspective, to seek vengeance. Victor started that his ideas for revenge “burst all bounds of moderation.” Mary Shelley was able to capture, in this quote, the power both rage and grief has on the human mind. It's impact was enough to drive Victor to want to commit suicide and seek justice for Justine and William.

Word count: 219

11/4/2018 09:09:23 pm

You asked a very good question. To answer it, I think the difference between revenge and justice is pretty obvious in theory but not in actuality. In theory, justice is doing what is right for the right reasons- to correct a wrong. Revenge is doing the wrong thing to correct what one feels is an injustice done to them, which one may think is right, but isn't. In actuality, the line is blurred more often than not. Something is done to us and we immediately want revenge, but call it justice because technically, we are prosecuting someone who has done something wrong, but it's for our own personal gain. So, to sum up, there really isn't much of a difference because humans usually let their emotions cloud their judgement no matter how hard they may try to prevent that from happening.

11/6/2018 08:10:45 pm

I agree with Julia Lermontova; most of the time, people seek revenge because of the pain and sadness brought onto them by another person. Although seeking revenge won’t undo the unfortunate events that have occurred, these emotions are so overpowering that the mind believes that getting back at the person who has brought these misfortunes will relieve them of the burden. Although many believe that getting revenge is not justified, self-justification can be enough for one to go through with it. Like you said, Victor was self-justified in his vengeance, even though Elizabeth advised him to rid of his violent thoughts. People cope with loss and emotions in different ways, and seeking revenge is one of them.
Word Count: 117

Huang Le

11/3/2018 11:33:39 am

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley contains many themes throughout the study. In the beginning of chapter five, Victor frankenstein tells about when he brings the creature to life. He first describes it as beautiful until he started to tell the flaws of which the creature contained. “His limbs were in proportion, and I had selected his features as beautiful. Beautiful… but these luxuriance only formed a more horrid contrast… his shriveled complexion and straight black lip” (Shelley 51). This shows how Victor Frankenstein instantly realizes the monster that he created and becomes terrified. This is related to the overall theme of Creator and creation because Victor is the creator of the creature ( like a father) and the creature is the creation. As you can see though Victor is like a father that is embarrassed and scared of the creature (son). So what we can take from that is that the creature is going to be feeling very lonely and upset since Victor is being so rude towards him. You can also relate this to how all throughout time when parents have a baby and it has disabilities or abnormality, they end up putting it down or not wanting it. This is a good example of what Frankenstein is doing because instead of preaching what he made, he runs off with fear.
Word count 220

11/4/2018 07:31:49 pm

I think it is interesting to look at the expectations the creator has of their creations. He spent years of work and lack of sleep on something that he later detested because it did not meet his expectations. I didn’t think to draw the parallel of his rejection of his creature to a parents rejection of their own offspring but I think this is a very interesting idea.

11/4/2018 08:06:49 pm

Your interpretation of Frankenstein being the father in the relationship between him and the creature is very interesting. My interpretation was that Frankenstein was the "god" that gave life. However, I think that your point of view makes the situation even worse. The idea of Frankenstein being a father figure to the creature makes the idea of abandoning it more emotional. Seeing the situation seem like Frankenstein is disgusted by his son makes Frankenstein seem like the villain and the creature the victim rather than vice versa.

11/4/2018 11:12:31 pm

In the beginning of chapter 5 of Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein has finally accomplished his goal of bringing life to an inanimate body, however instead of feeling pride and fulfilment in his creation, he is filled with horror and regret. Frankenstein states, “I had desired it with an ardour that far exceeded moderation; but now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart” (Shelley 51). In a way, Frankenstein’s accomplishment can be viewed in a positive way, as something that brought out the best in him because of the fact that he worked hard for two years, driven by pure determination to reach his goal. His desire to make the creature look perfect by giving him proportionate limbs and selecting “his features as beautiful” also highlights how his goal brought out the best in him because he wanted the creature to look like a human, not just like a monster. In spite of that, Frankenstein’s creation also brought out the worst in him because he was blinded to the consequences of his experiment and how he would feel once his experiment was over. When he had finally accomplished his goal, he came down from his high and realized just how horrid and wrong his experiment truly was. Frankenstein’s desire to bring life to the lifeless blinded him to any outcome that resulted differently to what he initially imagined. He did not bother to think that his experiment might not come out the way he wished and was therefore disgusted and horrified by what he had done. Most importantly, Frankenstein didn’t bother to think about what consequences can arise from the rejection of his own creation.
Word Count: 284

11/6/2018 08:10:53 pm

In Chapter 10, Frankenstein travels to the valley of Chamonix to distract himself from the misfortunes that had previously unfolded. While climbing a glacier, Frankenstein’s creature appears before him and they converse.
“Remember, that I am thy creature; I ought to be thy Adam; but I am rather the fallen angel...I was benevolent and good; misery made me a fiend” (Shelley 89). The creature explains that because of the suffering he has endured and the exclusion from society, he has resulted to misdeeds. The creature also alludes to the stories of God, Adam, and Satan. With Frankenstein representing God, the creature had become like Satan, a brutal monster. Because Frankenstein had made the creature and then fled, the creature was forced to grow on its own with no guidance of good and bad. This can connect back to the question of “Is man naturally violent, or is violence learned?”; the creature claims that when he was created, he was “benevolent” and good at heart. But external influences, that later brought much pain and misery to him, created this monster that Frankenstein claims he is. This supports the idea that violence is learned because the creature had been a blank slate when he was created, but experienced nothing but isolation and hate since then. Because there was no one to guide him, the creature only experienced negativity, even when he observed others living in happiness. These experiences influence who we are and, in the creature’s case, have the ability to make us violent.
Word Count: 253

Comments are closed.

AP Literature and Composition Blog

Frankenstein: Chapters 5-10 Primary and Secondary Blog Entries

Blog Post Rubric

Archives

Categories