Frankenstein: Chapters 17-24 Primary and Secondary Blog Posts

11/16/2018

These images could depict some of the main plot points of Chapters 17-24. While these moments are important, they are by no means the only significant points in these chapters.
After having read these chapters:
-Select a single passage (this may be a single paragraph or several) that you feel best typifies the action and Shelley's authorial intent in this section of Frankenstein. This MLA-cited quote should not be included in your analysis.
-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.

BE SURE TO POST YOUR WORD COUNT AT THE BOTTOM OF EACH BLOG ENTRY!!

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 11/16!

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 11/18!

Sofia Kovalevskaya

11/16/2018 03:05:21 pm

In Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein, the creature exhibits a number of human characteristics. In relation to the essential questions we have been looking at, a section of chapter twenty-four shines on the question which asks what it means to be human. “...Warm tears filled my eyes, which I hastily wiped away that they might not intercept the view I had of the daemon; but still my sight was dimmed by the burning drops until, giving way to the emotions that oppressed me, I wept aloud” (Shelley 183). When the creature found his creator, Victor Frankenstein, dead, he could not help but cry. Even though he was rejected and neglected by this man, he showed unconditional love for him -- much like the love humans have for their family members. This shows just how human the creature was. Even though he was not fully human, he exhibited all of the characteristics of one.
The creature continued to display his humanity when he freed the dogs and fed them. “I disencumbered the dogs of their dead companion, gave them a plentiful portion of food…” (Shelley 183). By feeding the dogs a “plentiful portion of food” it shows his thoughtfulness. He did not want them to starve or be in pain so he supplied them with adequate food like any consciously sane person would.

11/18/2018 04:15:44 pm

word count: 220

Ada Lovelace

11/18/2018 10:08:34 pm

Your statement on how the creature, although not technically human, exhibited humanistic qualities such as pain and understanding is reasonable and is exhibited when we view the intelligence of animals, like elephants and dogs. A factor that can also be seen in the creature and be considered human-like is his development in emotions. There had been a point in his life where the creature had hope that he would be welcomed and a part of society, even if by one family. But, this hope had been crushed when the family he had cared for rejected him. The creature had experienced faith, pain, and anger, each developing through events he experienced. Perhaps the ability to understand situations and become influenced by them is a part of what makes us human.
Word Count: 129

Emma G Cummings

11/18/2018 10:13:10 pm

I wholeheartedly agree with what you said. I would also argue that the Creature is the one character in the book that is shown to be the most human. Victor is portrayed as a larger-than-life egotistical maniac in such a hyperbole way that he loses part of his own humanity in the process. You dont see him as the young inquisitive boy he once was but now completely defined by his insane quirks. The creature on the other hand is very sensitive and restrained, only acting out in anger when it feels adequate. He has a way of acting that would seem more human than anyone else if he were to be in a "normal" persons body.

Mercy Jackson

11/16/2018 09:07:02 pm

In the last chapter of Frankenstein, Walton is still writing letters to Margaret and he reflects on the “blood curdling” effect Frankenstein’s story had on him. “You have read this strange and terrific story, Margaret; and do you not feel your blood congeal with horror like that which even now curdles mine? Sometimes, seized with sudden agony, he could not continue his tale; at others, his voice broken, yet piercing, uttered with difficulty the words so replete with anguish” (Shelley 184). In this passage, Walton speaks about the emotional story of Frankenstein. To Walton, Frankenstein's story is horrifying and unbelievingly brutal. Connecting to the essential question is scientific exploration and discovery a good or bad thing, I think that, despite finding evidence that it was a bad thing in other parts of the novel, this ending makes a cause for why it's a good thing. In this case, scientific advancement could be a good thing because of the history. Like the phrase “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”, Frankenstein, as well as Walton, learns from his mistakes. It is possible that the story of Frankenstein would’ve spread to Margaret and the other crew members leading to multiple people learning the consequences that can come from introducing new life in an “unnatural” way. These consequences, of course, include death, lack of morality, fear, regret, and for Victor, illness. The tale of Frankenstein leaves such an impact that even if the events in the story were bad, they probably won’t be repeated because of the grave consequences.
Word Count:255

11/18/2018 10:17:46 pm

Your statement on the benefits of Victor’s discoveries, to prevent those in the future of doing the same, can also reveal why he had been so hesitant to discuss his creature to others. Perhaps on top of getting in trouble and banished from society, Victor feared that if he revealed his experiment, people would become invested in the idea of immortality and repeat his actions. Regardless of whether Victor’s experiment and findings were considered good or bad, he should have told someone about it before it was too late and people believed he’s turned crazy. There would have been someone out there, like Walton, who would have believed him and, as you said, would not repeat the work of Frankenstein due to its consequences.
Word Count: 124

Phoebe Lankester

11/16/2018 10:38:22 pm

Imagination and inspiration can lead the worst and the best to come out of man, by bringing it out within the creature, Shelley exposes many humanistic qualities. It shows once when the creature asks Frankenstein to make him a companion. The creature shows an ability to have needs and wants. The creature has specifications he wants in a mate which shows a probable instinct for reproduction or loneliness implications. By having this want and feelings, the creature starts to build a basis through his imagination and muses of what his dream life would be, and he develops a relatable experience of finding a place in life.
These feeling are important for the creature because, by becoming closer to human, it brings qualities the readers could empathize and even praise the creature for having. The creature gets favour of the readers and the story develops a larger conflict than it would normally be if the creature was a plain, malicious monster. However, that monstrous personality does show when Frankenstein tears his possible companion apart before his eyes. The feelings that came from his imagination and hopes were then directed in anger and revenge. Having his dreams crushed, the creature manifests these ugly emotions which cause him to do heinous acts like murdering Elizabeth and killing off Victor who, perhaps, was the only opportunity he would’ve gotten to connect with.

Word Count: 228

11/18/2018 05:52:48 pm

I agree with you for the majority of what you said. I like how you included the fact that because the creature expresses and conveys so many emotions, it “brings the reader closer to him,” causing us to feel empathy for him. However, I disagree with you when you said that the creature showed his monstrous qualities when he killed a possible companion because I think that this also proved his humanity. To be angry and malicious is to be human, seeing as there is emotion in feeling those things. While these are not happy human emotions, they are still human emotions at that, and might even be of the deeper variety.
word count: 112

11/18/2018 08:57:26 pm

I also highly disagree with the creature showing monstrous qualities. What qualifies as a monster can be very subjective and dependent on the beliefs of said person. For Example, we humans dont consider ourselfs monsters because we are used to seeing human bodies everyday. If a human being was to be discovered by a species that had never seen a human before, they would most likely also be disgusted and scared as they dont know what they are looking at. People fear the creature because of how unusual he looks and acts. What he does is also a result of his choices, since he is not aware of what is good or bad to humans,

Julia Lermontova

11/18/2018 09:52:35 pm

I agree with you for the most part but being a monster can also be human. I know you already explained that being angry and malicious is human, but I mean monster in the sense of doing things that are truly evil. We live among murderers, rapists, kidnappers, terrorists. We call them monsters because we can't fathom how they can commit the crimes they commit. But they are human like you and I. So, when looking at the creature, it's easy to say that he is a monster and he isn't human, it's easy to say that he has "bad" emotions, but he isn't a monster. I believe the truth is that he is partly a monster, and that makes him all the more human.

Word Count: 125

Isobel Ida Bennett

11/18/2018 10:09:58 pm

I agree with what you are saying. I believe anger is a human emotion and by expressing the emotion, the monster is just presenting his human characteristics. However, I disagree with your assessment that his malicious actions are just him being human. I think it is not an innate behavior for human beings to act maliciously. When the creature was first stranded, he did not steal the village's wod and food supplies because he realized people are por. He was not malicious until he learned it from watching the village. Its just like a baby. A baby is not born evil, they learn it from their parents.
Word Count: 107

Mary Treat

11/18/2018 11:42:18 pm

You talked about imagination in your blog and connected it with the creature. I am sure there can be a long debate on your point. But "Imagination is like an illusion which comes to life after you give what it needs just like when a plant needs a water." The creatures imagination was actually the only thing we would see in the entire novel which kept him from learning the meaning of empathy. He knew that maybe an illusion would actually help him keep away from the boredom and the society who won't be able to accept him because he was hedious but his illusion weren't
In his support and proved bad for his future.

Mary treat

11/17/2018 03:55:16 pm

Victor’s pattern of falling into extended illness in reaction to the monster suggests that the deterioration of his health is, to some extent, psychologically induced—as if guilt prevents him from facing fully the horribleness of the monster and his deeds. “The human frame could no longer support the agonizing suffering that I endured, and I was carried out of the room in strong convulsions,” he recounts of his despair at seeing Henry’s corpse, making an explicit link between psychological torment and physical infirmity. That Victor also falls ill soon after creating the monster and experiences a decline in health after the deaths of William and Justine points toward guilt as the trigger for this psychological mechanism.
Henry again serves as a link between Victor and society, as his death brings Alphonse to visit his son. “Nothing, at this moment, could have given me greater pleasure than the arrival of my father,” Victor says. As a result of spending so much time in Ingolstadt ignoring his family, and also as a result of the monster’s depredations, Victor becomes aware of the importance of interaction with family and friends. Having failed to inspire love in Victor, the monster seeks to establish a relationship with his creator that would force his creator to feel his pain. By destroying those people dear to Victor, the monster, acutely aware of the meaningfulness of social interaction, brings Victor closer and closer to the state of solitude that he himself has experienced since being created.

Word count: 248

11/18/2018 09:44:04 pm

I completely agree with you when you talk about the fact that Victor's illnesses are psychologically induced as a consequence of guilt. If he had come clean, he would have been prosecuted and imprisoned, but his conscience would be more or less clean. As John Calvin once said, "The torture of a bad conscience is the hell of a living soul" which is exactly what Victor experiences. His health gets worse and worse the longer he keeps the truth hidden. He tries to run from his problems, but that only ends up getting him killed and he fails to come to the realization that all his suffering could've been avoided if he'd just told the truth about the whole situation.

Word Count: 120

11/17/2018 10:41:09 pm

To be human is to crave the companionship of another human or equivalent. Especially one who you could form a non-platonic relationship with. At the beginning of chapter 17 of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, the creature asks Victor Frankenstein to make him a female version of him with whom he can "live in the interchange of those sympathies necessary" to his being. Following the story of creation, Eve was made of Adam to be with Adam as his companion seeing as there were only so many ways he could connect to animals- he needed someone who was like him. If we think back to cavemen times, we see a caveman, we see a cave woman right after. Even Victor Frankenstein desired his cousin Elizabeth to be his companion. This shows how blind everyone is to who we truly are on the inside. The creature is human in every possible way-- he even craves companionship-- but because he was not "born" and doesn't look or function the way other humans do, they simply dismiss him. This also shows another aspect of being human-- judging and hypocrisy. Don't judge a book by it's cover is an old saying to prevent unfounded discrimination, but that's exactly what everyone in the book is doing. They are judging the creature and shunning him because he doesn't look human, but that doesn't mean that he isn't human.

Word Count: 230

11/18/2018 06:29:09 pm

I really like what you did with this. Each and every example that you listed about human companionship is relevant in the explanation of the creature’s characteristics. When you mentioned how the creature said he wanted another being to "live in the interchange of those sympathies necessary," it truly showed his desire for personal interaction, therefore, displaying his human qualities. I very strongly agree with you when you said that the creature shows his human attributes in every way possible, however people still judge and reject him, which ends up reflecting the human ways of hypocrisy and judgment.
word count: 102

11/18/2018 09:51:48 pm

In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, there is a lt of discussion as to what, exactly, it means to be human.There are many sections in the book where Mary shelley begins to discussion and answer this question. With all the depth this question carries, it is hard to fully answer this quote, however, Mary Shelley begins to attempt the seemingly impossible through her character: The Creature. The Creature is an animated being Victor Frankenstein, a scientist, creates from multiple dead bodies. Through the use of this creature, Mary Shelley is able to attempt to answer this question by having the creature learn to be human. In the following quote, mary Shelley is attempting to do just that. “His tale, and the feelings he now expressed, proved him to be a creature of fine sensations” (Shelley 130). This quote is after the creature is “fully” human. He acts and behaves just as any human being. This quote reveals that Mary shelley beliefs being human or humane means having emotions and fine sensations.
Word Count: 180

11/18/2018 11:54:13 pm

If being humane means having emotions and fine sensations, then does Victor have a lack of human characteristics within himself? Most of the emotional growth the creature has shown throughout the novel relies on empathy and grief, and although Victor experiences a lot of grief, he generally lacks in the empathy department. A lot of his actions show more of self-preservation since Victor had chances to redirect his future from misery. Even the “empathy” he gives the creature is half-hearted and that is clearly shown by the way he tears the creature’s possible companion. He fears that the two would be a threat to humanity and mainly himself and he feared that they would reproduce and continue a line he would deeply regret. Victor is clearly self-indulgent almost. His actions show low signs of empathy toward the creature and even to other people like Justine. He is self-centered. Does that make him an alien to the term “human”?

Word Count: 131

11/18/2018 09:59:36 pm

In chapter 24, the last chapter of the novel, Victor is on his quest to hunt and murder his own creation; while he does so, Victor evaluates his intentions in life and the memory of his old life. On page 178, he claims that his once beloved country of Geneva only casts hate upon him now, and he shall not return to it for the remainder of his life. As he encounters the cemetery of where his family were buried, Victor becomes enraged about how he and their murderer (the creature) still lives; Victor also mentions his pledge to destroy the creature. In the beginning of the novel, Victor elaborates on his joyful childhood and loving family; it appears that Victor’s life has been reduced to and solely revolved around revenge and violence against the creature. This brings us to the essential question of whether humans are naturally violent. Victor does address his violent aggression as a child, but also states how he releases these tendencies: through learning. But, this desire that stemmed from knowledge turned him into a revenge-crazed person who had dedicated that rest of his life to pursuing the creature. This shows that even if humans are naturally violent, this violence can be repressed, triggered, or heightened due to external factors. The murders and deaths of his family caused Victor to develop a twisted view of his childhood home and purpose of his life.
Word Count: 237

11/18/2018 11:24:45 pm

I liked the way you addressed an important question in your blog "Are humans naturally voilent" your question brings back the old debate of "nature-nurture" which till this day nobody has been able to answer, but I would say that the victors experience with his family and the creature made him a savage human being. While in the end you talked about how the death of his family members took him back to his childhood which made him questioned the purpose of his life, I don't agree with you completely because this should have been asked by the frankenstein long time ago you don't ask yourself in the end that what was my purpose.

Words: 114

11/18/2018 10:08:07 pm

A very prominent theme I noticed in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is the concept of life and death and how it affects the characters. This is one of the prime motivations for Victor Frankenstein, as he aims to defy science and create life where there was none. In doing so, he could possibly come to a solution for death and a way to reanimate deceased people. This idea stems from his grief from his mother's death by scarlet fever. The novel sets up Frankenstein as a passionate man of science that wants to help people be rid of the pain of losing a loved one. However, as the novel goes on, he is later shown to be a selfish maniac who, like Marlow, ditched everything selfishly to pursue his own desires and gain recognition for it. Later in the novel, as he is confronted with the consequences of his creation, he states “Why did I not die? More miserable than man ever was before, why did I not sink into forgetfulness and rest?... of what materials was I made, that I could thus resist so many shocks, which, like the turning of the wheel. Continually renewed the torture?” (Shelley 157). This is an interesting twist on his ideals, since he formerly had such distaste for death and wanted to preserve life as long as possible. But now that he is faced with more grief he is jealous of people who get to die early without having to endure the sufferings of life. Perhaps Mary Shelley was making a point about what life and death really means, as well as portray what could happen when someone wants to defy universal principles for their own selfish desires.

Word Count: 284

11/18/2018 11:40:28 pm

Your integration of the entire novel really develops your argument of how life and death, particularly death, is portrayed at the ending of Frankenstein. I enjoy that you conclude with a suggestion that consequences will be given for actions and the change in Victor’s attitude towards death changes, but I feel like there could be more added on to your statement. I think it’s right to clarify that based on Victor’s earlier opinions, he found death distasteful and miserable, but in the end, when he desires it, Victor reevaluates it’s true worth. He finds it relieving to the point he wants it to come. This totally contrasts with his previous views. My personal conclusion on this is that Shelley is exemplifying death as a necessity we tend to take for granted.

Word Count: 131

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