Frankenstein Reading Journal (Chapters 17-20)

Chapter Sixteen:

• Narration is now back with Victor.
• Creature craves company- reader sympathises? 'I am miserable; am I not shunned and hated by all mankind?'
• Creature a monster? 'fiendish rage animated him... his face was wrinkled into contortions too horrible for human eyes to behold.
• Victor agrees to create a companion for his creation.
• The idea of tranquility is mentioned again.
• Links with Paradise Lost- Biblic Language, Adam and Eve (creature wants an 'Eve' figure), Romantic.
• Temperamental nature of Victor towards the creature could be seen as cruel?

Chapter Seventeen:

• Victor does not want to create another.
• On his return, his health improves- 'tranquility' mentioned again. Romantic idea of nature acting as a healing power is present in this chapter, as on his return to Geneva, Victor's health is restored.
• Engagement to Elizabeth. What should be a happy moment in the tale, yet Victor's mind is still distracted upon his promise made to the creature.
• Jouney to England.
• 'tranquil'.

Chapter Eighteen:

• Links with Romanticism: The idea of the sublime, and the use of Wordsworthian Language.
• Idea of slavery can be seen within the chapter. 'slave'.
• Paradise Lost connections.
• 'I saw an insurmountable barrier placed between me and my fellow-men; this barrier was sealed with the blood of William and Justine'. Although there is no physical barrier between Victor and other men, his guilt is a metaphorical one that prevents him.
• Possible envy of Clerval- sees himself in his friend. 'But in Clerval I saw the image of my former self'. However Clerval is free of the guilt that Victor feels, from following his thirst for knowledge.
• Descriptive language- Victor is able to appreciate his new surroundings- yet again nature's healing power. 'majestic'...'sublime'...'picturesque'.
  

Chapter Nineteen:

• Gothic- Creatures face by the light of the moon is a scary image. 'on looking up, I saw, by the light of the moon; the daemon...A ghastly grin wrinkled his lips'. Sinister Language.
• Morality is shown- Victor ponders about right and wrong yet again. His moral dilemma links with Macbeth.
• Victor realises the new creature may not want to be with the original, and may not agree to be peaceful. 'might refuse to comply with a compact made before her creation... They might even hate each other'. This would surely backfire on Victor, and he does not want to be responsible for creating another danger to society.
• 'You are my creator, but I am your master;- obey!'
• 'I will be with you on your wedding-night'. The creature threatens Victor after breaking the promise,  putting yet another life of his loved ones in danger.

Frankenstein Reading Journal (Chapters 21-23)

Chapter Twenty:

• With the discovery that Henry Clerval is dead, Victor becomes apparently inconsolable. It appears that the latest murder has finally cracked him, after the deaths of William and Justine. 'I was carried out of the room in strong convulsions'.
• Victor's health, yet again declines.
• 'I was doomed to live'. Victor seems to think that the death suffered by his friends was better than the fate he was to be dealt- he has to live with the guilt.
• Gothic element of nightmares/dreams. 'I was possessed by a kind of night-mare; I felt the fiend's grasp in my neck'.

Chapter Twenty-One:

• 'tranquility'. Victor longs to see the places of tranquility he had witnessed with Clerval.
• 'A thousand times would I have shed my own blood, drop by drop, to have saved their lives'. Victor has clearly wanted to repent for his 'crimes', and would rather have suffered himself than to see them die- shows his morality.
• '[if we get married] nothing on earth will have the power to interrupt my tranquillity'. Elizabeth says this, with the reader and Victor knowing the monster has promised to be with them on their wedding night- no doubt going to shatter any hope of the 'tranquility'.
• 'Memory brought madness with it'. Victor has not stayed healthy in his mind for very long- it shows his further spiral into madness?
• 'pistols and dagger'. Victor is arming himself- paranoia. Another sign of his descent into madness.

Chapter Twenty-Two:

• 'wind... rose with great violence in the west'. Even the weather is showing signs of unease and foreboding. Pathetic Fallacy.
• 'a thousand fears arose in my mind'. Victor is beginning to feel uneasy, knowing the threat the creature is showing him and his new wife. Paranoid.
• On the discovery of Elizabeth's death, Victor focusses on how he is physically reacting. ''the motion of every muscle and fibre was suspended... i could feel the blood trickling in my veins, and tingling in the extremities of my limbs'. He is looking upon himself with scientific terminology- almost how he looks at the creature.
• Creature is seen, but runs before Victor can shoot him. 'swiftness of lightning.' Shows how inhuman the creature really is?

Frankenstein Reading Journal (Chapters 11-16)

Chapter Ten:

• Narration has switched to the point of the creature.
• Describes how he learns to distinguish his senses. 'I distinguished the insect from the herb, and, by degrees, one herb from another'. Romantic idea of the importance of nature- a refuge. 'My sensations had, by this time, become distinct'.
• Romantic interest in the state of childhood. The creature has nobody to learn from, and has to learn for himself. Touches the fire, and realises it burns him. 'I thrust my hand into the live embers, but quickly drew it out again with a cry of pain.'
• Humanity in the creature- not so much the monster that society saw him as. Feels hunger, thirst, emotions. Also has the natural instinct to withdraw his hand from the flames- feels pain.
• Begins to observe the De Lacy family.

Chapter Eleven:

• Creature wants to be good- like the family. It is society that doesn't appear to let him. 'What chiefly struck me was the gentle manners of these people; and I longed to join them... I remembered too well the treatment I had siffered the night before from the barbarous villagers'.
• Notices the emotions the family feel- possesses the human ability to empathise with people? 'The young man... appeared to weep... I was deeply affected by it'.
• Begins to learn language. Short, basic words that highlight just how child-like the creature is. 'fire, milk, bread'.
• Admires the cottagers- wants to be like them. Envies? 'I had admired the perfect forms of my cottagers'.
• Likes spring as a season. Changes 'the aspect of earth'. The creature likes the emotions it conjures 'bright rays of hope, and anticipations of joy'.

Chapter Twelve:

• Romantic idea of how nature is seen as being a form of 'therapy'. 'My senses were gratified and refreshed by a thousand sights of beauty. '
• Introduced to Safie.
• The creature is seen to become almost bitter about his lack of childhood or love. 'But where were my friends and relations? No father had watched my infant days, no mother had blessed me with smiles and caresses'. Clearly upset by how he has apparently missed out on what the De Lacy family have.

Chapter Thriteen:

• Learn the history of the De Lacy family and Safie. How Felix had tried to free her and her mother from slavery, but resulted in his family being exiled for their 'crimes'.
• Shows how devoted the family are to each other- Felix returned to save his father and sister from the dungeons. 'His blind and aged father, and his gentle sister, lay in a npisome dungeon... this idea was torture to him'.

Chapter Fourteen:

• The creature is shown to admire the qualities present in the personalities of the De Lacy family members. 'so many admirable qualities were called forth and displayed'.
• Finds Paradise Lost, Plutarch's Lives and Sorrows of Werter. Finds similarities between himself and beings within the texts- can sympathise with them. 'Many times I considered Satan as the fitter emblem of my condition'.
• Religious contexts. Sees himself as almost an 'Adam' figure, having been created by Victor- but knowing that he had been abandoned.
• Plans to talk to the blind man, as his appearance will not shock him. He wants to 'make friends' with the family. After talking with the blind man, he is discovered by the younger family members and chased out- is yet again shown aggression by humanity, despite seeing the family had many admirable qualities. 'he dashed me to the ground, and struck me violently with a stick'.

Chapter Fifteen:

• The creature is angry with his creator (Victor). 'Cured, cursed creator! Why did I live?'. Victor had abandoned the creature, and left him to face a society that clearly loathes him.
• 'sick impotence of despair'.
• Wants to improve his situation with the family, wants to make up for his mistakes previously.
• Still sees the De Lacy family as his 'friends'. Shows that he had grown to love them, despite having only one moment of contact with them, and that had been a bad experience. But he is angry at their departure- he has been abandoned again.
• Sets fire to the cottage, as an act of revenge. Probably the outcome of the treatment he had recieved by all the people he had met, not just the family?
• Saves a woman, but is shot by a man. He suffers for his act of kindness- yet another show of hate towards him by complete strangers. 'I now writhed under the miserable pain of a wound'.
• The murder of William after discovering he is related to Victor. Originally wanted to take William to be his friend, as he believes a child would not bare the same hatred towards him as the adults. But this is not to be, as he is terrified. 'I could seize him, and educate him as my companion and friend'.
• Plants the locket on Justine, and in doing so, frames her. Shows intelligence- just as manipulative as humans beings can be. He shows his human side again- but not a nice side to the human.
• Tells Victor to make him a companion. 'one as deformed and horrible as myself would not deny herself to me'.

Frankenstein (Chapters 9-10)

Chapter Eight:

• We learn that Victor's father is close to his sons, and is deeply traumatised by the death of William. 'No one could love child more than I loved your brother... (tears came to his eyes as he spoke)'. Importance of family or companionship?
• Victor yearns to use his kindness to help others, maybe to help with his own guilt about creating the 'monster'? 'thirsted for the moment when I should put them into practice, and make myself useful to my fellow beings'.
• Nature as a refuge is an idea associated with Romanticism. When Victor goes out on the lake to escape the life in the house. 'passed many hours upon the water...gave way to my own miserable reflections'. Idea of peace and tranquility again. Maybe this reflects how Mary Shelley dealt with grief- as her own life was touched by deaths.
• Victor's state of mind isn't healthy- even thinks briefly of suicide. 'I was tempted to plunge nito the silent lake, that the waters might close over me and my calamities for ever... I wept bitterly'.

Chapter Nine:

• Romantic, emblematic language used when describing nature- 'imperial', 'glorious', 'sublime'.
• 'elevated me from all littleness of feeling'. The romantic idea that nature acts as a remedy for unhealthy emotions is brought up here.
• The conflict between science and nature is a theme throughout the novel, but it is particularly prominent in the language used here. 'perpendicularity of the mountain... uniform clouds'.
• Sympathy felt for the creature?- shunned by everyone. Only experience of human beings have been negative- he was like a child.
• Use of hellish language when Victor refers to the creature 'Devil!' 'daemon'.
• Creature more intelligent then Victor? Taught himself the language, and points out the wrong doings in Victor.

Frankenstein (Chapters 1-8)

Chapter One:

• Victor seems to have come from a happy, wealthy family background... 'one of the most distinguished'. Seems to respect his father very highly and what he has acheived? Maybe Victor's ambition stems from wanting to be as successful as his father?
• Gothic nature introduced- Death. (Caroline's father).
• His family adopted Elizabeth and introduces the idea of making somebody to fit their surrondings as she was from a poor family. 'Noble Savage'?
• Possession as a theme? Describes Elizabeth as being like a 'favourite animal'.
• Victor's favourite books aren't founded on scientific evidence, so aren't respected in the scientific world. 'sad trash'. But sparks the start of his dream to create life. 'My dreams were therefore undisturbed by reality'.
• Introduced to Henry Clerval.

Chapter Two:

• Victor is sent to university- parents encouraged him.
• Victor's mother dies, yet another death so soon in the novel.
• 'we could not tear ourselves away from each other'- Victor shows how he desperately wanted to remain with his family and friends (companionship).

Chapter Three:

• Victor's fascination with human form (or any animal's structure). Seems a bit obsessive over his dream of creating life. 'I was thus engaged, heart and soul, in one pursuit'.
• Grim tone, as Victor goes to 'charnel houses' and the thoughts of using dead matter to construct this creation. 'dissecting room... slaughter-house'.
• His enthusiasm and obsession in his creation made him 'like a hurricane'. Destructive element of his nature implied?
• Loss of morality? Tortures living animals to help his work progress. 'tortured the living animal to animate the lifeles clay'.
• Even Victor seems to understand how his creation is grim. 'filthy creation'. 'turn with loathing from my occupation'. He is controlled by his ambition and enthusiasm, despite appearing to dislike what his is doing.

Chapter Four:

• 'dreary night of November'. Weather foreshadowing how things are to turn out? Gothic element.
• 'anxiety that almost amounted to agony'. Victor has now taken a complete turn aound from his rational self earlier on in the novel. He now seems scared.
• Terrifying description of the creature. 'horror and disgust'. After all his work, is scared and disgusted by the outcome.
• Dream about Elizabeth and his dead mother suggests his mind is not settled? Insanity? Gothic element of nightmares and dreams.
• Pity for the creature, as he tries to smile at Victor, but in Victor's mental state, he completely misinterprets the smile.
• 'nervous fever'- Victor is now suffering for his work.

Chapter Five:

• Elizabeth writes letters to Victor, she clearly cares for him. Taking on a motherly role?
• Introduced to Justine- she was taken from her home as well, and it didn't end well!
• Mention of William makes his death even more tragic- he is portrayed as angellic.
• Ends chapter on a happy note- is this to last? 'unbridled joy and hilarity'.

Chapter Six:

• Shock for the reader in that William is dead! Terrible crime, as he was only a child. 'that sweet child, whose smiles delighted and warmed my heart'. Death again touches Victor.
• Elizabeth feels guilt- she feels she is responsible for his death.
• Victor find comfort in nature. '...the calm and heavenly scene restored me'. Romantic element, use of emblematic language.
• More emblematic language- 'noble war in the sky'. Symbolic language.
• References to hell (Gothic element). 'daemon'.
• 'I resolved to remain silent'. Fear of the consequences he should face if anybody found out about him being responsible for the creature.

Chapter Seven:

• Victors shows he knows he is responsible. 'the result of my curiosity and lawless devices would cause the death of two of my fellow-beings'.
• Use of emotive language shows the extent of the guilt Victor is feeling. 'the fangs of remose tore at my bosom'
• Foreshadowing. 'these are not your last tears! Again you shall raise the funeral wail!' More misery to come!

Frankenstein- Preface to Letter IV

Preface:

• Gothic theme already shown- 'cold and rainy' and the theme of ghost stories.
• Why does it say that the novel is Percy Shelley's?
• Sets the tone.

Letter I:

• Gothic theme of dreams/nightmares. 'day dreams became more fervent and vivid'.
• Creates a tense atmosphere- 'danger of death'. Foreshadowing of danger/peril?
• A possible use of the gothic theme of heaven and hell, as there is alot of heavenly imagery used. e.g. 'perpetual splendour'.
• What is Walton doing there? Reader starts to question his part in the novel? But the letters add a more personal touch, drawing them into the story.

Letter II:

• Walton is lonely, and he tells Margeret that he has no friends- reader feels sympathy for him (maybe showing similarites to the monster later on?)
• 'the lieutenant...is madly desirous of glory'. Ambition seems to be a strong theme in the letters.

Letter III:

• Another use of ambition in the Gothic Nature: 'What can stop the determined heart and resolved will of man?'

Letter IV:

• Again, use of weather is a gothic theme. 'a  very thick fog'.
• Mystery surrounding the 'old man'. Who is he? What is he doing there?
• 'Oh unhappy man! Do you share my madness? Have you drunk also of the intoxicating draft?'. Walton notices similarities with Victor. Sharing the thirst for knowledge?

Witches in Macbeth

What do the witches bring to Macbeth?
Act One:

• Shakespeare uses the witches here as the introduction to Macbeth. Along with the setting, they help to set the tone for the rest of the play. 'Fair is foul, and foul is fair'. It foretells the way Macbeth gets the crown- his terrible betrayals of trust. Further on in the act, Macbeth repeats what the witches have said, 'So foul and fair a day', possibly portraying the narrow line between him and them? How similar their moralities are. The witches could even be used metaphorically to reflect the evil traits and wrongdoings in Macbeth's nature.
• There is the argument that the witches are a figment of Macbeth's imagination. Although Banquo also sees them too, even he mentions the doubt he has in himself that what he is seeing is real- 'have we eaten the insane root//That takes the reason prisoner?'. Further on in the act and the rest of the play, the idea that Macbeth could be imagining the witches seems more likely, with the apparitions he sees such as the dagger and Banquo's ghost.
• The first moment that the audience is made aware of a prophecy that Macbeth will be king, is when the witches speak of it. 'All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter!' This could be said to have planted the initial thoughts in Macbeth's head, and could be said to be the cause of all his murderous acts.
• The witches certainly induce fear within the play, which could mean that they are there simply as entertainment value, and to keep the audience involved. At the time, with King James, the idea of witches was terrifying- many innocent women were accused of witchcraft and killed.
• Lady Macbeth appears in several points throughout the play, to bare striking similarities to the witches- in her language. In scene 5 of act one, she calls to spirits to help her. This seems much like a supernatural element, just like the witches. This point further emphasises the idea that the witches are there to show the thin line between the supernatural evil and natural evil. (Even Lady Macbeth appears as ruthless as them). 'Come, you spirits... all-hail hereafter!'

Act Two

• Despite the witches not being physically on stage in this act, their presence is still felt. In the first scene, Banquo has clearly been disturbed by the sight of the witches, 'I dreamt last night of the three Weird sisters'. It confirms to the audience that there is a reason to be fearful of them, and that they are behind all the bad things happening.
• In Macbeth's soliloquy, the goddess of witches is mentioned 'Pale Hecat's offerings'. It appears here that Hecat is one of the entities responsible for the turning point in Macbeth's speech. He decides here that murder is the way he fulfills his desire for kingship.
• The idea of nature being turned on it's head is most prominent in the fourth scene of act two. When the old man describes the natural order going wrong- when Duncan's horses eat each other. The witches being the supernatural evil could be behind the strange events.

Act Four

• In the first scene of this act, the witches are again used to start the act. They are gathered around the cauldron, using various revolting and horrible things to use for their chanting. Although they are seen here to apparently be using magic, there is no evidence to suggest that they are definately powerful in that way. It could be argued that by Macbeth's willingness to accept and believe all they do, his is in fact giving them their supernatural status. 'What is't you do?' Macbeth is keen to see and understand the acts of the Witches.
• Macbeth, like his wife, uses the language and rhythm of the witches at some points. This further provides evidence for the argument that the witches are very close to LM and Macbeth. It could even be suggested that the witches are just reflections of the natures of both of their characters.