English, Frankenstein, Mary Shelley.

First Extract

This book was written by Mary Shelley in 1818. It was written as a game in which Mary Shelley, her lover Percy and Lord Byron would write stories to scare each other. It is a Romantic novel set in a gothic setting about a Doctor named Victor Frankenstein and his monster.

This passage happens at the end of his time in the university of Ingolstadt and before the beginning of his experiments. In this passage Victor has an epiphany about the theoretical way in which he could reverse death. This revelation is not described by the Doctor because he is trying to preserve the Captain of the knowledge which could corrupt him. He then tries to find a practical way to apply his theories. So he starts digging graves and takes body parts from corpses. He is determined to find the parts necessary for his creation although he has prepared himself to fail due to the complex nature of his experiment. He then decides to make the Creature larger.

The atmosphere of this passage is fulfilling as the Doctor finally found a way to cure death. But as a reader you are slightly horrified at what he does even though we feel some curiosity.

After this passage the Doctor creates a monster that he deems unholy and decides to abandon. The Creature has intelligence and he exacts vengeance on Victor by killing his loved ones.

The most important part of this passage is at the beginning when the doctor warns the Captain about the knowledge of resuscitation. This shows some foreshadowing from the author which sets the tone for the rest of the book and for the passage.

There are two main themes in this passage the first one being fulfillment because the doctor feels complete by the discovery he made and also determination to finish his project. I think this passage is extremely useful for character development as it gives us some insight about how the Doctor used to think about science, how fervent he was, which makes his change of stance about it even more surprising. He also condemns what he did when he was younger. This passage is very useful for suspense for a person that does not know the story because it previews later plot points.

This Novel is extremely relevant because the moral of the book which is don't play god is still relevant today with the new scientific advancements in the recent years (genetic engineering).