Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Christopher Small: Frankenstein or Really Percy Shelley?

A few key ideas from Small's Criticism:

1) Victor Frankenstein's name is derived form original works by Percy Shelley
2) The flakiness of Victor is similar to Shelley in that he left Mary like how Victor abandons Frankenstein
3) Mary wrote Frankenstein while Percy was absent and most likely subconsciously expressed her emotional feelings about her husband in her novel, although she loved Percy she portrayed him in a negative manner like Victor who seemed monsteresque in personality


The above information allows the reader to further explore insight regarding Victor Frankenstein's complex character. Victor is a smart man who is loved by his family and friends and has a promising future. On the other, he is obsessed with his science, abandons his creation and is self-interested and allows other people to take responsibility for his actions and the actions of his creature (who he is technically responsible for). Victor is missing a moral compass in the sense of his abandoning issues similar to Percy who too is bright, but leaves Mary and his somewhat careless in nature.

(More information about Percy would further allow comparison to Victor)

1 comment:

  1. I really like how you acknowledged the positive and negative aspects of Victor's personality... How he has redeeming qualities but they're not without his lack of a moral compass.

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