Analysis Of Frankenstein: Theodosia Burr

Society has always conditioned women to hide their creativity, intelligence and desires. Theodosia Burr, born in the misogynistic 16th century, was raised in a way that defied these beliefs. Theodosia Prevost Burr and Aaron Burr educated their daughter in math, science and literature. Theodosia Burr was a prodigy; she spoke French, German, Greek and Latin before she was twelve years old. Aaron Burr received large amounts of criticism for supporting his daughter’s quest of knowledge, and began to find tutors for her ‘social education’ to try to divert her attention to more societally acceptable pursuits. The liberties she was given were abnormal at the time as women were, and sometimes still are, expected to keep their desires and obsessions …show more content…
Previous to the dream, Frankenstein had just finished creating the monster. The foreshadowed death of Elizabeth represents how the end product of Frankenstein’s obsession, the monster, would cause death and destruction to the things Victor holds close to him. Shelley uses the dream as a tool to further enforce her theme that the lack of boundaries placed on men’s obsessions will inevitably lead to destruction. Frankenstein’s main obsession in the first half of the novel is his obsession with chemistry and science. His interest in these topics starts at a young age, before he even goes off school. His interest quickly manifests into a destructive obsession that causes him to drop all other pursuits except for those involving science. Frankenstein says it is“like a mountain river, from ignoble and almost forgotten sources; but, swelling as it proceeded, it became the torrent which, in its course, has swept away all my hopes and joys” (Shelley 34). By describing his intense pursuit of the natural sciences as “a mountain river”, Frankenstein describes his obsession as, at first, beautiful and natural, but gaining momentum as it flows down the mountain, in the case of the river, or as time goes on, in the case of Frankenstein’s obsession. Frankenstein is also enforcing the fact that his pursuit of science started from a young age by saying “almost forgotten sources”, which implies that he has been obsessing for such a long time that he is unsure as to why he began in the first place. The remainder of the quote explains how Victor Frankenstein’s obsession is spiralling out of control by comparing it to a ‘torrent’, and tells how it has taken over his life and made him miserable. Frankenstein’s reflection on how his obsession began as harmless but eventually