Answer two questions and respond to two posts.
1. How is the story of Victor’s mother’s death
ironic?
2. What does Victor contemplate in the first hours
of his departure? How do these
thoughts indicate his future?
3. Why does Victor not want to study the contemporary scientists suggested by
M. Krempe?
4. What ultimately changes Victor’s mind about new chemists?
5. Compare the physiognomy of Krempe and Waldman.
6. What is the literary term for M. Waldman and the effect that his lecture and guidance
have on Victor?
7. Why does Victor favor science above all other disciplines?
8. How is Victor’s practice of science different from the modern practice of science?
9. Why does Victor hesitate to make a creature like man? Why does he go through
with it?
10. What traditional tragic flaw is Victor demonstrating?
11. What is the central flaw in Victor’s decision what to create?
12. What internal conflict does Victor deal with as he finishes his creation?
13. List some gothic details from the end of Chapter IV.
14. What is Romantic in the moral Victor shares with Walton?
1. Victor's mother died from the scarlet fever that she had contacted from victor's "more than sister" Elizabeth. It seems to be ironic because Frankenstein's mother is extremely caring and nurturing, which is why Elizabeth came to love with them, but was not permitted by anyone to aid Elizabeth when she was ill herself. Even they finally allow Frankenstein's mother to attend Elizabeth, she completely recovers while the mother catches the disease and ultimately dies from it. It is even more ironic that Frankenstein's mother is the person who saved Elizabeth from such an awful life and in the end Elizabeth was the one to cause the mother's death although it wasn't intentional.
ReplyDelete4. Frankenstein eventually changes his mind when he sees that many if these new chemists' findings made sense.Frankenstein described them as "so fill of genius" (Shelley 29). Although Frankenstein eventually did enjoy these teachings and gained a thirst to learn more, it didn't come easy at first. But by finding a "true friend" in M. Waldman, learning this new material came naturally to Frankenstein.
ReplyDelete7. Why does Victor favor science above all other disciplines?
ReplyDeleteVictor favors science above all other disciplines because of it's logic and order. Understanding people is much more difficult.
8. How is Victor’s practice of science different from the modern practice of science?
Victor’s practice of science differs from the modern practice of science in Frankenstein in that he tried to reanimate dead tissue.
5. Krempe's features are described as "a little squat man, with a gruff voice and a repulsive countenance" (pg. 26) and Waldman is described as fifty years old, with few grey hairs, and had the sweetest voice Victor had ever heard.
ReplyDelete9. Victor hesitates to create a creature like man because he has a doubt he can succeed with his idea due to the complexity of the human body. He goes through with his idea since he wants to be a pioneer a new way to explore unknown possibilities. Victor believes his creation could improve the future success of science.
ReplyDelete2.What does Victor contemplate in the first hours of his departure? How do these thoughts indicate his future?
ReplyDeleteIn the first hours of his departure, Victor reflects on his life up to this point. He thinks on how his life has been "secluded and domestics" with "familiar faces", which ultimately makes him "unfit for the company of strangers" (Shelley, 29). Victor remembers his desire for knowledge and to become a part of society. These thoughts indicate that he will pursue his interest in science, but may neglect or avoid communication with others.
3. Why does Victor not want to study the contemporary scientists suggested by M. Krempe?
ReplyDeleteVictor is interested in the goals of the older scientist such as the alchemists. Their goal was to search for "immortality and power" (Shelley, 26). Victor desires to pursue their "grand" aspirations instead of the normal goals of contemporary scientists.
2. During the first few hours of his departure, Victor contemplates a new life form of his own creation. He eventually becomes obsessed with the thought, consequently leading him to push away the people around him, ruining the relationships he had with everyone. He is also melancholic because he is alone and he does not feel he has the capacity to meet strangers. The darkness and separation the results from his creation is foreshadowed thorough these thoughts.
ReplyDelete10. Victor is demonstrating the traditional tragic flaw of pride/hubris and arrogance. Although he was an absolutely brilliant scientist, he was no god. His loved ones were murdered by his creation and he faced inevitable suffering for his deeds. He only focused on the task he set himself and completely neglected the possibility of the creature’s own thoughts and actions. His hubris blinded him of potential consequences.
1. The death of Victor's mom is ironic in that she was the one who "saved" Elizabeth by taking her, but Elizabeth was the one that killed her from spreading it to her(shelly 23-24)
ReplyDelete5. Krempe is described to be "a little squat man, with a gruff voice and a repulsive countenance" and Waldman is described as "appeared about fifty years of age, but with an aspect expressive of the greatest benevolence; a few grey hairs covered his temples, but those at the back of his head were nearly black. His person was short, but remarkably erect; and his voice the sweetest i had ever heard." (Shelly 26-27)
6. What is the literary term for M. Waldman and the effect that his lecture and guidance have on Victor?
ReplyDeleteM. Waldman is a mere catalyst to Victor in his research to make his creation. M. Waldman supports Victor unlike M. Krempe who tells him "every instant that you have wasted on those books is utterly and entirely lost" (Shelly, 26). Victor resents Kremepe for this so in meeting Waldman he feels differently and even states Waldman that "his manners in private were even more mild and attractive than in public" (Shelley 28), seeing he really took a liking to him. It furthers Victor to his interests in natural philsoshopy and with M. Waldman's incite and encouragment, it is what drives Victor to his "future destiny" (Shelley, 29), which is Victor's motivation to his creation.
10. Victor's traditional tragic flaw is allowing his passion for creating life take over his own in the process all the while neglecting the world, his morals, friends and family for it. By becoming immersed completely, some would say obsessively,in this mission towards discovery he lost himself and ended up sabotaging his life. Victor acknowledges this as the greatest flaw a human could make when he states that if it were not for excessive ambition, " Greece had not been enslaved; Caesar would have spared his country; America would have been discovered more gradually; and the empires of Mexico and Peru had not been destroyed."(Shelley 34)
ReplyDelete1. victors mom's death is ironic because she saved elizabeth by adopting her but she got the disease that killed her from elizzy.
ReplyDelete7. victor favors science because science is step by step procedures and it is more logic based.
14. The moral that Victor shares with Walton is their blind ambition to be better than others, in terms of discovering the secrets of the world. What is Romantic about this moral is the self individualization,that they distinguish themselves apart from others with this passion in mind, in order to figure out the nature of humans and that which surrounds them,which is also romantic in itself because they are treading into spiritual and very imaginative paths to try to make the world a more understandable place. This passion newly awakened in Victor can best be explained when he utters" So much has been done, exclaimed the soul of Frankenstein,-more, far more, will I achieve: treading in the steps already marked, I will pioneer a new way, explore unknown powers, and unfold to the world the deepest mysteries of creation," and Walton's extreme interest in this can be seen as well when Victor witness's "eagerness", "wonder", and "hope" in his eyes, while he recalls to him the discovery of the secret to creation.
ReplyDelete13. List some gothic details from the end of Chapter IV.
ReplyDeleteFrankenstein describes himself as "silent" and "reproachful" because he isolates himself from the world around him. The seasons pass but he does not acknowledge the "blossom or the expanding leaves." He is becoming detached from himself and his physical features are of one "doomed by slavery in the toil of the mines." The imagery you paint from these details are of gloomyness and Frankenstein is "shunning" away everyone he knows. He is lost and going even a bit insane and he recalls this with vivid detail of being nervous and anxious.
11. It won't be human. The thing he will create will be made of dead matter. His work will be unsure. He won't know when or if he will ever finish it will consume his life when he chooses to create this. Will take his own life for it to be created.(Shelley,33)
ReplyDelete12. He has a conflict of wanting to be with his family. He just ignores them wants to get back with them but his work denies him from seeing them. He is also growing sick. It seems like he can't think straight.(Shelley,34)