She depicts nature as a place for both Victor and The monster to be solace and let their emotions be confessed. Romanticism plays a large role in the significance of nature in Frankenstein, as the Romantics placed great importance on nature by viewing it as the domain of the spiritual. This differs with
A pivotal Chapter for answering this question is Chapter 15. In Chapter 15, the Monster discovers a copy of Milton’s “Paradise Lost” in the woods. He reads it as fact and draws parallels between himself and the poem. He decides he should introduce himself to the De Lacey family in the hope that they will befriend him, but in the end he is chased away. In this Chapter, the Monster also reads Victor’s medical journals and learns how he was created.
Analyse the ways in which a comparative study of Frankenstein and Blade Runner invites consideration of humanity’s connection with the natural world. (Natural Order) An inextricable link can be drawn between ‘Frankenstein’, a gothic novel composed by Mary Shelley and Ridley Scott’s film noir Blade Runner, where both texts invites the consideration of humanity’s connection with the natural world. In both texts nature is highly valued and is considered necessary for a fruitful society, however each text explores humanities treatment of nature in diverse ways, due to the context and didactic purpose of each text. The ways in which the connection between humanity and the natural world has been explored include: natures healing power, usurping natural order and the consequences of disregarding nature. Both ‘Frankenstein’ and Blade Runner invite the consideration of humanity’s strong connection with the natural world as being essential for a lively and successful society.
Shaped by their distinctly different contexts, Shelley and Scott strive to convey this notion, through bold cinematic and literary techniques, characterisation and themes, of the fatal path humanity has placed itself on. Mary Shelley’s seminal novel, Frankenstein 1818, is a moral fable combining conflicting paradigms of Romantic idealism and Enlightenment rationalism. Shelley delves into these ideologies in a classic gothic horror story that presents the unequivocal issues concerning the ethics and consequences of the pursuit of knowledge and scientific experimentation. Influenced by the increasing popularity of galvanism, Shelley effectively illustrates her apprehensions through the character development of Victor Frankenstein and his juxtaposition against nature. Victor admits his deep desire for ‘immortally and power’ through ‘penetrating the secrets of nature’, which is manifested in his technological innovation of the creature, highlighting the extreme yet realistic potential for technology to create human life.
The Gothic genre allows the purpose to reach the audience. In Chapter two, Victor meets his creation in the presence of nature, contrasting the scientifically created monster. The sublime gothic technique emphasises the power of nature to adjust Victor's mood, giving perspective of its relative importance. The novel's epistolary structure, as an example of realism, contains the personal accounts of Frankenstein and his monster. Their downfall due to technology gives credibility to the warning.
Identity is based on the individual characteristics by which a thing or person is recognised or known, and is impacted by various factors including human connections and the environment. A disruption of these stable elements ultimately fuels the loss of identity. Mary Shelly’s Romantic novel Frankenstein (1818) and Ridley Scott’s science fiction film Blade Runner (1992) demonstrate how a more profound and sophisticated understanding of disruption and identity arises from the consideration of the parallels between the two texts. Though Frankenstein and Blade Runner differ in context, they draw on similar philosophical and societal values of their time to simultaneously extrapolate the twofold themes of The Human Experience; what it means to be human, and the dangers of disrupting the natural order through technological advancements. Thus the linking premise is that dehumanisation or a loss of identity results once nature has been disrupted, and humanity becomes subservient to technology and scientific advancement.
Though there is the dark side of nature, the rain, it has already been discussed. The monster reflects on the strength of nature saying, “I felt sensations of a peculiar and overpowering nature; they were a mixture of pain and pleasure.” Nature’s “good side” is acting as the mother of all and carries out divine actions. Every time Victor is embracing the beauty of a mountain or lake, his anxiety is relieved. Victor points out that, “The very winds whispered in soothing accents, and maternal Nature bade me weep no more.” Shelley uses Victor to associate nature as a caring mother. The monster receives Nature’s aid when he is first out on his own, as objects sheltered him and streams provided him with drink.
Comment on Shelley’s presentation of encounters between the creature and people and their effects on each other Throughout the novel, Shelley presents a variety of encounters between the creature and people which have profound effects. Written in 1818 in the latter stages of the Gothic literary genre, Shelley uses these encounters to portray the themes of loneliness, revenge, fear and hatred which were common in gothic and romantic texts of the time. Although, with the traditional gothic theme of horror, the creature is often depicted as the evil instigator of these encounters, it is clear that Shelley shows the creature has a ‘good side’ as well. The theme of loneliness is prominent throughout Frankenstein with the creature seeking encounters with people as it needs someone to share a relationship with. In volume 2, the creature shows how he wants to be with a group of people who would care for him when he encounters the De Lacey’s after living near them for a time.
The Beauty of Nature in Shelley’s Frankenstein The awe of nature plays a huge role in the development of the romantic period. Shelley captures the essence of this theme in her gothic novel, Frankenstein. Even though Shelley emphasizes the role of science in the novel, it is portrayed negatively. For example, when the monster was finally created, Victor exclaims, “ Oh! No mortal could support the horror of that countenance.
Through Frankenstein, Mary Shelley proved that she asked these preceding questions of herself. When reading Frankenstein one is overcome by a male-controlled nineteenth century societal norm where men are part of the public area and women the domestic. In the novel Frankenstein, Men such as Victor Frankenstein and Walton seek quests in search of knowledge, happiness, personal fulfillment, and experience, whereas women are confined to the house and are kept outside of the male public sphere where intellectual activity is abundant. “From a feminist perspective, the most significant dimension of the relationship between literature and science is the degree to which both enterprises are grounded on the use of metaphor and image. The explanatory models of science, like the plots of literary works, depend on linguistic structures which are shaped by metaphor and metonymy.