1. “No human being could have passed a happier childhood than myself.” (19)
In Edward Mendelson’s The Things that Matter, he says, “The whole moral and emotional context of her (Shelley’s) book is an extended restatement of a single sentence by her mother... ‘A great proportion of the misery that wanders, in hideous forms, around the world, is allowed to rise from the negligence of parents.’” It is obvious that there is some truth to this because Frankenstein’s creature is neglected by Frankenstein after his creation and turns into a miserable creature. But at the same time, Shelley contradicts herself. Victor Frankenstein says himself that he had the happiest childhood a person could hope for, yet he ends up miserable in his own way. He is the creator of the thing that destroyed him, and his whole life amounts to the destruction of it.
Mendelson, Edward. "Everything Has a Beginning." The Things That Matter. 2006. 7-14. Print.
use italics where appropriate; and nice discussion of the apparent contradiction -- one school of literary criticism would call upon you to prove that it isn't a contradiction, but rather still intentional.
ReplyDeleteREVISED:
ReplyDeleteIn Edward Mendelson’s The Things that Matter, he says, “The whole moral and emotional context of her (Shelley’s) book is an extended restatement of a single sentence by her mother... ‘A great proportion of the misery that wanders, in hideous forms, around the world, is allowed to rise from the negligence of parents.’” It is obvious that there is some truth to this because Frankenstein’s creature is neglected by Frankenstein after his creation and turns into a miserable creature. But at the same time, Shelley contradicts herself. Victor Frankenstein says himself that he had the happiest childhood a person could hope for, yet he ends up miserable in his own way. He is the creator of the thing that destroyed him, and his whole life amounts to the destruction of it.