Monday, February 18, 2013

Close Reading Essay of Frankenstein


Frankenstein
            The deaths of his loved ones leave him with a sense of loss, guilt and despair because he knows he is indirectly responsible for their deaths. There is also apostrophe when Victor asks a very dead Henry questions about his death. Victor addresses the rhetorical questions towards Walter. Syntax is powerfully emotional language that express the depth of Victor’s reactions: ‘parched with horror’, ‘shuddering and agony’ etc.. The words refer to his mental and violent physical reactions that took place at that time. And Victor once again falls into illness as his body is racked by guilt and despair. The fact that only the magistrate understands his native German foreshadows the fact that he will be the one to convince others of Victor’s innocence. Shelley employs ironies and hyperboles, ‘More miserable than man ever was before’ while saying that his suffering is more than any of those of the victims of the monster. This shows that Victor is self-absorbed by himself and his own obsessive actions and is proven by his first thought at the sight of Henry’s body, ‘my murderous machinations’.
There is also another moment of foreshadowing when talking about the brides and youthful lovers referring to when Elizabeth is killed on the night of their wedding. He dreads becoming fodder for worms, when it is ironic that he dug through body parts to create his monster. “Of what materials was I made” could be something easily said by his creation, showing that the two of them might be more similar than Victor thought.

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