Creating the Other: Frankenstein and his Monster
Pride is a feeling often associated with creating something new. Inventors, artists, and visionaries are lauded for developing something completely original. In the chapter titled “Creation and the other” of Derek Attridge’s book The Singularity of Literature he presents a different notion of originality. Attridge writes about what it means to create something original and that creation’s place in society. He argues that every new creation is the product of one’s idioculture and because of the confines of this culture, there is no true “other.” In his words, idioculture is “the name for the totality of the cultural codes constituting a subject, at a given time, as an overdetermined, self-contradictory system that manifests itself materially in a host of ways”(20).
This idea might give insight as to why Victor Frankenstein is so repulsed by his creation in Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein; the Modern Prometheus. Frankenstein believes he is making something completely new and different. However what seems to truly scare him is that the monster he has created shares so many similarities to him. His fear of the creature causes him to abandon it, only to cause him more problems as the novel progresses. Shelley argues that creation is an extension of the …show more content…
The wretch tells Frankenstein, “Yet you my creator hate me and spurn me but thy creature to whom thou art bound with ties only dissoluble by the death of one of us” (Shelley 317). The wretch wants Frankenstein to acknowledge the ties they share, ties created the moment Frankenstein brings the body to life. The notion that a creation is part of the creator is explicitly clear here. The wretch asserts that their connection is so deep, only death can break it. Still Frankenstein rejects him, even after hearing about the monster’s
Pride is a feeling often associated with creating something new. Inventors, artists, and visionaries are lauded for developing something completely original. In the chapter titled “Creation and the other” of Derek Attridge’s book The Singularity of Literature he presents a different notion of originality. Attridge writes about what it means to create something original and that creation’s place in society. He argues that every new creation is the product of one’s idioculture and because of the confines of this culture, there is no true “other.” In his words, idioculture is “the name for the totality of the cultural codes constituting a subject, at a given time, as an overdetermined, self-contradictory system that manifests itself materially in a host of ways”(20).
This idea might give insight as to why Victor Frankenstein is so repulsed by his creation in Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein; the Modern Prometheus. Frankenstein believes he is making something completely new and different. However what seems to truly scare him is that the monster he has created shares so many similarities to him. His fear of the creature causes him to abandon it, only to cause him more problems as the novel progresses. Shelley argues that creation is an extension of the …show more content…
The wretch tells Frankenstein, “Yet you my creator hate me and spurn me but thy creature to whom thou art bound with ties only dissoluble by the death of one of us” (Shelley 317). The wretch wants Frankenstein to acknowledge the ties they share, ties created the moment Frankenstein brings the body to life. The notion that a creation is part of the creator is explicitly clear here. The wretch asserts that their connection is so deep, only death can break it. Still Frankenstein rejects him, even after hearing about the monster’s