This time capsule aims to highlight instances through song lyrics where the prevalent motifs of creation and destruction can be noticed throughout Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. It will also demonstrate the role of ambition in fueling those actions. Through the creation of a playlist, I compared how Frankenstein and the Monster’s desires to create and destroy are brought on by similar emotions but differ in reasoning based on their juxtaposing social statuses. This analysis will address two songs that can be connected to Victor Frankenstein’s creation of the Monster, as well as the Monster’s loneliness and his own “self-destruction” at the end of the novel. To begin, I chose the song “One Piece at a Time” by Johnny Cash (1976) to represent the
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It can be said that Victor’s over-ambitious attitude at the beginning of the novel made him think that a human resurrection was an exciting accomplishment, but soon realized what a horrendous mistake he had made when he was terrified by the being he had brought back to life (Shelley, 39). His self-deification combined with the string of deaths of his own family that follow in the wake of the Monster being brought to life demonstrates how Frankenstein’s ambition to create was a destructive force. His aggressive yearnings are a driving force in the later guilt and shame he feels for ever conceiving such a horrendous creation. Even Victor’s attempt to destroy the creature acts as another ambition of his, consuming him until his death. Through the mistakes of Victor Frankenstein and his overwhelming ambition, Shelley portrays the human weakness of setting one’s expectations too high and urges readers to consider the consequences of ignorance before completely sacrificing their autonomy for their …show more content…
The song “One” describes the loneliness that accompanies being single and longing for a companion. The Monster desired a female partner, but even if Victor had granted him that wish, both monsters would still be cast out by society. Through the Monster’s feelings of lonesome abandonment that comprise his decision to float off into the Arctic to never be seen again, Mary Shelley tends to the ideas of social conformity and the implications of long-term loneliness on an individual’s desire to live. Overall, our time capsule project was not very successful as a group project. While we had originally thought of the idea of creating a playlist regarding the topics analyzed above, the group did not stay the course. A major challenge that I faced while composing the project with my group was communicating what needed to be done and how/who should do what. I put effort into finding songs to use in our playlist and was confused when the rest of my team was no longer on board with that idea, especially as nobody had brought anything up in
It can be said that Victor’s over-ambitious attitude at the beginning of the novel made him think that a human resurrection was an exciting accomplishment, but soon realized what a horrendous mistake he had made when he was terrified by the being he had brought back to life (Shelley, 39). His self-deification combined with the string of deaths of his own family that follow in the wake of the Monster being brought to life demonstrates how Frankenstein’s ambition to create was a destructive force. His aggressive yearnings are a driving force in the later guilt and shame he feels for ever conceiving such a horrendous creation. Even Victor’s attempt to destroy the creature acts as another ambition of his, consuming him until his death. Through the mistakes of Victor Frankenstein and his overwhelming ambition, Shelley portrays the human weakness of setting one’s expectations too high and urges readers to consider the consequences of ignorance before completely sacrificing their autonomy for their …show more content…
The song “One” describes the loneliness that accompanies being single and longing for a companion. The Monster desired a female partner, but even if Victor had granted him that wish, both monsters would still be cast out by society. Through the Monster’s feelings of lonesome abandonment that comprise his decision to float off into the Arctic to never be seen again, Mary Shelley tends to the ideas of social conformity and the implications of long-term loneliness on an individual’s desire to live. Overall, our time capsule project was not very successful as a group project. While we had originally thought of the idea of creating a playlist regarding the topics analyzed above, the group did not stay the course. A major challenge that I faced while composing the project with my group was communicating what needed to be done and how/who should do what. I put effort into finding songs to use in our playlist and was confused when the rest of my team was no longer on board with that idea, especially as nobody had brought anything up in