Brigham Young University

Nathaniel Hawthorne's short story The Birthmark features Aylmer, a famed scientist, and Georgiana, a beautiful woman with a unique birthmark. Throughout the story, the couple delves into the world of science as Aylmer devotes himself to removing Georgiana’s birthmark with his experiments. Hawthorne purposely pokes at scientists who envision themselves as godlike, meaning that they can control nature at their will. As the story delves further and further into Aylmer’s madness, the distinction…

The monster of which Frankenstein creates possesses many similar actions to those of a child. He portrays actions and thoughts of impatience, questions of morality, and tantrums. Viewing the creature as if it were a child would alter the visions a reader perceives because his statements and actions would be considered unreasonable and immature. The monster elaborates to Frankenstein; the assault he committed to the man, “At that moment I heard the steps of my younger protectors. I had not a…

To begin the world has a certain way of controlling people. The study of memes which is brought to light by Dr. Susan Blackmore who devotes her research on memes and how they attach onto their host which she argues in her article, “Strange Creatures.” In “Who Holds the Clicker?”, Lauren Slater elaborates on a man named Mario Della Grotta who suffers from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). Slater uses Mario Grotta as an example because of the simple fact that he cannot live his life to the…

Teens everywhere in the world, tall or small, black or white, repeat certain actions, oblivious that they even do them. Overtime, however, our habits define us more than just our expressive attire; they make or break us. Sean Covey wrote the book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens to inform teens to about the characteristics that happy and successful adolescents have in common. Through consistently choosing and applying the principles of Covey’s seven habits, teens increase personal power in…

They are different characteristics of the socioemotional development of an adolescence. Many people know this stage as the age of rebellion, out of control, irresponsible, and arrogance. However, there more things that teenagers are experiencing for the first time and not every one of them reacts the same to these changes. Apart from the physical changes of puberty, teenagers go through many emotional situations also due to the change in their hormones. They are situations in which an…

Perhaps one of the most emotionally appealing themes a writer can utilize is that of the social outcast endeavoring to find its place in the world, a theme utilized to great effect by both Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre despite their character’s different fates, the former featuring a supposedly monstrous creation who is ultimately rejected wholly by society and the latter an orphan child who is eventually able to carve an admittedly precarious foothold as a…

Romanticism is a literary movement which is marked by several key components, many of which are observable in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. One element of Romanticism is the belief that imagination is able to lead to a a new and more perfect vision of the world and those who live in it. In this novel, Victor Frankenstein is the idealist who wants to create life from nothing; that is the ultimate ideal, marking victor as a Romantic. In another sense, Victor's actions demonstrate the Romantic…

In this passage from Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Victor is overcome with disgust and horror at the sight of the creature he has reanimated. Consumed with fear, Victor decides to “seek a few moments of forgetfulness” (Shelley 35) and falls asleep. In his dreams he envisions his lover, Elizabeth transforming into his dead mother. Victor wakes from his nightmare with a start, only to face another one in real life. Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein is often interpreted as a response to the…

How Does Shelley’s Frankenstein Comment Upon Gender Issues? In her world-renowned novel, Frankenstein; or the Modern Prometheus, Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley recounts the tragic story of the miserable Victor Frankenstein and his monster. The plot of the story is centered around the novel’s subtitle: “The Modern Prometheus”. Mary Shelley portrays Victor Frankenstein as the modern incarnation of Prometheus because he symbolizes the dire consequences resulting from seeking god-like knowledge and…

Themes are the fundamentals and universal ideas that are often explored in literary text for my propose the text that will be explored is Frankenstein by Mary Shelly. Frankisten is about Victor Frankenstein and his journey in creating the creature that terrorizes his homeland and his own life. The book Frankenstein hold many themes that seemingly all cannot be expected but two themes in the story I believe can be the umbrella that holds all of the themes under it. The two themes that will be…