Romantic Literature Assignment

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Name :- Jagruti R. Vasani
Sem :- 2

Roll No. :-14

Paper :-5 Romantic Literature

Subject :- Mary Shelley’s treatment of human mind in Frankenstein

Submitted To :- Smt. S.B. Gardi Department of English

                              Maharajakrishnakumarsinhji University Bhavnagar

  Mary Shelley

  Born :- 30 August, 1797

  Died :- 1 February, 1851

 Accupation :- English Novelist, short story writer, dramatist, essayist, biographer and travel writer.

 Best known of her Gothic Novel.

#  Human nature in frankenstein

In the novel "Frankenstein" by Mary Shelley, the relationship of external apperence and internal feelings are directly related. The creature is created and he is innocent, though he is seaverly deformed. His nature is to be good and kind, but society only views his external appereance which is grotesque. Human nature is to judge by external apperence. He is automatically ostracized and labeled as a monster because of his external apperence. He finnaly realized that no matter how elequintly he speaks and how kind he is, people will never be able to see past his external deformities. Children are fearful of him, Adults think he is dangerous, and his own creator abandons him in disgust. The creature is treated as a monster, therefore he begins to internalize societies view of him and act the like a monster. Man by nature, judges people and things by their appearance. If a person is pleasant looking then they will be given more of a chance to express their internal self. If they are ugly, or cosmetically deformed, they usually aren't given much of a chance to show who they really are. Grotesquely ugly people are sometimes thought of as monsters, and are ostracized. Many cosmetically inferior people are afraid to go out into society. Mankind seems to be fearful of the unfamiliar and unknown. People are afraid of what they do not understand. Deformaty is something that most people can not comprehend. How can I describe my emotions at this catastrophy, or how delineate the wretch whom with such infinite pains and care I had endevoured to form? His limbs were in proportion, and I had selected his features as beautiful.

   Here the creature tells Frankenstien that he is the fallen angel. This means that he believes that Frankenstien could have done a better job raising him. The creature indicated that he was born good and virtuous, but lonliness and misery due to the alenation he receives from mankind, have made him feel like a monster. Society sees him as a monster and makes him feel like one, so now he will begin to act like one. The creature then begines to tell Frankenstien the tale of what he has done and hoh he has managed to survive the past few years.

 # The Creature’s attempt at humanization

 “I began the creation of a human being” – Victor Frankenstein (Shelley 54). This is a short yet powerful statement from the eponymous character of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.  Victor Frankenstein is a man from a privileged family who becomes obsessed with pursuing scientific advancements, and is eventually able to create a living being.  While Victor does succeed at creating a living being, he does not succeed at creating a human being.  The creature becomes excluded from society, and tries to humanize himself through knowledge of language.  To begin with I will do a close reading of Mary Shelley’s novel, analyzing selected scenes. I will be looking at what, according to the novel, makes something human and what excludes the creature from humanity.  Victor’s creation attempts to humanize himself and become part of society, but ultimately is unable to do so.  The first chapter will deal with the way the creature is excluded.  He attempts to join and be a part of the community, but is met with constant and violent rejection.   I will look at what motivates the people’s prejudice against the creature.  The novel suggests that the creature cannot be accepted as human because he is a singular being, and therefore cannot be a part of a community.  Since Victor made the creature, there is not another being that is the same as him.  He is singular in appearance, and in the way he was made.  His singularity makes it so that the creature cannot relate to humans.  Without the ability to relate, he cannot be human.

Explore the Dark Side of Human Mind

   In his obsession to master the realm of science, Victor delves dangerously into the matters of what constitutes life.  As Victor begins to surpass what is known, he enters a realm much like that of Satan in Paradise Lost who dreams of a new world to be created which he may make his own. Like Satan, too, Victor wishes to take on a role that is only God's; in Victor's case this is the creation of a living being that is made from human parts.  This preoccupation with his power to create causes Victor Frankenstein to forsake his humanness; all his desires turn inward t o himself, and he abandons his friends and family to his scientific acts of construction or destruction.  Victor's obsession with science hinders the nurturing of his soul and the goodness inherent in him, as the Romantics believed.

Frankenstein's creature exemplifies what happens to the human soul when it is renounced and given no spiritual nourishment.  Interestingly, the creature compares himself to Adam in Milton's Paradise Lost which he has read: "It moved every feeling of wonder and awe, that the picture of an omnipotent God warring with his creatures was capable of exciting."

But, the creature remarks, he has been given no Eve.  So, since his creator rejects him and leaves him alone, the creature, then, seeks revenge upon Victor Frankenstein, much as Satan seeks to destroy the human world in his hatred of God.  Unloved and unwanted, the creature retreats into the dark realm of his soul and mind and destroys what Victor has loved in his evil realm of revenge.  Now, he compares himself to Satan, saying,

"Many times I considered Satan as the fitter emblem of my condition; for often, like him, when I viewed the bliss of my protectors, the bitter gall of envy rose within me."

Much like Satan who is rejected by the beings of which he was once a member, the creature, who through abandonment by man enters the dark side, seeks to avenge himself upo n these beings. Certainly, in the darkness of their souls, there are parallels between Victor Frankenstein and his creature; in fact, some view the creature as the dark side of Victor himself, rather than a separate being.

Biological Factors of Human Relationship

          Biological factors are something that contributes hugely to the formation and maintenance of relationships- whether it is romantic, friendly or family related. Many researchers have conducted studies in which they have attempted to try and explain the link between biological factors and human relationships. I am going to specifically focus on Bowlby’s study on the role of hormones in bonding, Buss’ study on women jealousy and its relation to estrogen levels, Fishers study on the brain and its role in romantic relationships, and Marazziti who studied the effect of serotonin on love obsession. These studies will help me show the role that biological factors have in human relationships in both the development and maintenance of them.

   The development of a relationship from the first and early stages of love to the more developed stages, couples tend to move from the passionate love to the more intimate relationship of relaxation, dependency, and security which all play into attachment. In 1969 Bowlby suggested, “Humans have an innate attachment system which consists of specific behaviours and psychological responses called attachment behaviours.” For his experiment it mainly was conducted for research on mother child relationships however many believe that the results are relatable to both mother child and romantic relationships. According to more modern research, it has been shown that both oxytocin- a powerful hormone which is released in men and women d uring touching and sex which helps to deepen and intensify the feelings of the select attachment- and vasopressin- a hormone released also during sex- help in increasing the bond that is between two lovers. Through this it helps the couples to feel closer and more bonded. One of the main criticisms of this experiment was the complexity of the researched relationships and how since they didn’t consider other factors that might affect the results, therefore resulting in the possibility that it could be unreliable.

 Conclusion :  

   The creature attempts to make up for his physical appearance and learn the ways of man.  He watches the cottagers and acquires the ability to speak eloquently.   But this attempt at humanization fails, as he is still excluded from the human community.  The creature is able to evoke evoke some compassion from Victor, but in the end Victor changes his mind.  The people in the novel are completely unwilling to try to understand and accept the creature. He is a being capable of emotion and reasoning, yet because of his physical body he is completely excluded.  It is human nature to reject those that look different from yourself.  The creature’s body does not allow him to be considered human, and he therefore is not afforded human rights.  Language is a cultural aspect, and therefore the creature’s acquisition of it does not afford him humanity.  His nature remains the same, and his nature is not human. When Victor does not give the creature a mate, he denies him ever having acceptance.  The creature needed a similar being to be accepted, as he would never be allowed to enter human society.   Being the only one of his kind, the creature was destined to exist outside of humanity.

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