Juxtaposition In Frankenstein

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818) is a novel that is open to interpretation. Therefore it is no surprise that the given extract, which falls within Chapter V of Mary Shelley’s book, is as well ambiguous and inconclusive. Throughout this essay I will be exploring in detail the themes of destructive creation and the role of women and womanhood within the text of Frankenstein. Interweaved with these discussions, I will be looking at idea’s of psychoanalysis and monstrosity. One of the major themes discussed through the medium of the novel of Frankenstein, and more specifically within Chapter V, is the idea of destructive creation. Earlier in the novel the character of Frankenstein states that the ‘dissecting room and slaughter-house furnished …show more content…
At the end of the extract the character of Frankenstein describes his creation as a ‘the demoniacal corpse to which [he] had so miserably given life.’ The juxtaposition between ‘life’ - arguably the essence of creation -, and death - arguably the most destructive action and outcome - creates an almost oxymoronic image. Therefore, through the close proximity of two ideas which are arguably the antithesis of each other, one can suggest that Shelley is trying to further the idea of destructive creation. That the very Monster that was destructively created, is indeed itself a symbol of destructive creation. Furthermore, through the contrast of life and death, one could argue that Shelley is suggesting that the Monster is not alive, not truly at any rate; that it is an animate ‘corpse’, an impression of life but nothing more. The noun ‘corpse’ is the most explicit allusion to the Monster’s perceived illegitimacy. Whereas before the idea of destructive creation - and the idea of the Monster not being truly alive - had been suggested and implied through the juxtaposition of contrasting ideas, ‘corpse’ is the first explicit reference to it. Because of its explicit nature, ‘corpse’ emphasises the theme of destructive creation and the …show more content…
The idea of The Monster’s birth, if one can call it that, is a partially interesting idea, especially as it arguably comes most to light during the dream sequence. This is because if one was going to take a Freudian reading of the extract, one could argue that not only is the dream state irrevocably linked to sexual desire, but that sexual desire itself is linked to the desire for the parent of the other sex, something that Sigmund Freud coined the ‘Oedipus Complex’ (Freud, 1900, 92). Indeed, the idea of Frankenstein being ‘mother-fixated’ is furthered as in the dream Elizabeth turns into his mother: ‘...her appearances began to change, and I thought that I held the corpse of my dead mother...’ Therefore, one could argue that the idea of birth and sexuality are innately linked in, and to, the dream