Chen, Lizhen. "Mary Shelley 's Frankenstein in the 21st century historical context: an eco-ethical perspective." Forum for World Literature Studies 1.1 (2009): 143+. Literature Resource
Center. Web. 15 Mar. 2016.
Chen’s academic journal, "Mary Shelley 's Frankenstein in the 21st century historical context: an eco-ethical perspective", expresses the love that China has for the gothic novel Frankenstein, through their countless re-reading of the novel and their study to the world famous gothic novel. The focal point of the novel, as seen by Chen, is that Victor’s work, done in his state of severe isolation, enables him to break the laws of nature and to abuse the powers of science. Victor’s regretful work and not being able to accept scientific …show more content…
As Mary Shelley was sleeping one night, with the challenge to write a ghost story embedded in her head, a dream came upon her that included galvanism and human life, invoking into her brain the main idea for the gothic novel of Frankenstein. Through many challenges between her writing years, like the death of her firstborn, Mary was encouraged to finish the novel by her husband, Percy. Through examination, Griffith reports that the main character in the novel, Victor Frankenstein, has multiple faults throughout the novel, such as endlessly pursuing knowledge without taking in the responsibilities, and creating the creature, only to immediately abandon it. Shelley subtitles her novel as The Modern Prometheus, and relates Victor to Prometheus, the Greek hero who stole fire from the gods, gave it to all humans, and was punished for it by Zeus. The structure is consisted of stories within one another, with Robert Walton writing letters to his sister Margaret on his way to the Poles, inside to Walton’s is that of Victor’s story as a warning to Walton, and inside of Victor’s story is the life story of the monster. Griffith offers many new insights on Victor and the creature through his work, such as that Victor …show more content…
The unbiased approach that Griffith brings and the extensive amount of knowledge and information in the journal, allows major ideas for my topic to be transcribed into my research paper, directly from his journal. Griffith’s ideas that Victor did not take any responsibility for his actions that occurred through his pursuit of knowledge, and that his abandoning of the creature at its birth, led to all of the later downfalls in Victor’s life. As Victor lost all sanity through his pursuit of knowledge and lost contact with the outside world, he got wrapped up in the project that led to his life soon going down hill. As Griffith helps to suggest, if Victor was able to realize the responsibilities of being a “father” to the creature before he continued to invoke life into the creature, he may have been able to take a step back and rethink the insane path he was on the road to take. My thesis statement relates to the fact that Victor was unable to accept his limits, as a person and a scientist, and Griffith’s ideas that Victor got caught in the pursuit of knowledge, leading him to forget the responsibilities he would soon have with his creature, leading him to later abandon and it severely ill. Griffith also presents in his academic journal that Victor is “The Modern Prometheus”, and is compared to Prometheus, the
Center. Web. 15 Mar. 2016.
Chen’s academic journal, "Mary Shelley 's Frankenstein in the 21st century historical context: an eco-ethical perspective", expresses the love that China has for the gothic novel Frankenstein, through their countless re-reading of the novel and their study to the world famous gothic novel. The focal point of the novel, as seen by Chen, is that Victor’s work, done in his state of severe isolation, enables him to break the laws of nature and to abuse the powers of science. Victor’s regretful work and not being able to accept scientific …show more content…
As Mary Shelley was sleeping one night, with the challenge to write a ghost story embedded in her head, a dream came upon her that included galvanism and human life, invoking into her brain the main idea for the gothic novel of Frankenstein. Through many challenges between her writing years, like the death of her firstborn, Mary was encouraged to finish the novel by her husband, Percy. Through examination, Griffith reports that the main character in the novel, Victor Frankenstein, has multiple faults throughout the novel, such as endlessly pursuing knowledge without taking in the responsibilities, and creating the creature, only to immediately abandon it. Shelley subtitles her novel as The Modern Prometheus, and relates Victor to Prometheus, the Greek hero who stole fire from the gods, gave it to all humans, and was punished for it by Zeus. The structure is consisted of stories within one another, with Robert Walton writing letters to his sister Margaret on his way to the Poles, inside to Walton’s is that of Victor’s story as a warning to Walton, and inside of Victor’s story is the life story of the monster. Griffith offers many new insights on Victor and the creature through his work, such as that Victor …show more content…
The unbiased approach that Griffith brings and the extensive amount of knowledge and information in the journal, allows major ideas for my topic to be transcribed into my research paper, directly from his journal. Griffith’s ideas that Victor did not take any responsibility for his actions that occurred through his pursuit of knowledge, and that his abandoning of the creature at its birth, led to all of the later downfalls in Victor’s life. As Victor lost all sanity through his pursuit of knowledge and lost contact with the outside world, he got wrapped up in the project that led to his life soon going down hill. As Griffith helps to suggest, if Victor was able to realize the responsibilities of being a “father” to the creature before he continued to invoke life into the creature, he may have been able to take a step back and rethink the insane path he was on the road to take. My thesis statement relates to the fact that Victor was unable to accept his limits, as a person and a scientist, and Griffith’s ideas that Victor got caught in the pursuit of knowledge, leading him to forget the responsibilities he would soon have with his creature, leading him to later abandon and it severely ill. Griffith also presents in his academic journal that Victor is “The Modern Prometheus”, and is compared to Prometheus, the