Kirsten's Online Journal

• The fear of not ‘being’ someone or something
• The fear of being rejected and alone
• The fear of the uncontrollable

For the three bullet points above, discuss how these types of fear are presented in Frankenstein. You can use characters, events or a combination of both to explain how Shelley teaches us about these fears. In addition, you should address the impacts that these fears had on the characters in the text- what did it motivate them to do and what were the consequences of the action they took?

The fear of not ‘being’ someone or something

Frankenstein story follows the idea of fear, Dr fransktein himself was fearful that if he didn’t achieve and be something then he would let himself down, the way he choose to express himself as being something wasn’t through a respective way – creating a creature to satisfy his interest in death. This created anxiety of the outcome for fransketien and had a negative impact on him as a character, and then lead him to sacrificing his friends rather than facing the creature. The creature went from being nothing to something when he was re born , he daily faced the idea of not being something, he came into the world with cluelessness and seen as nothing, a monster rather than a human being with the ability to feel emotions.

• The fear of being rejected and alone
• the creature goes through the story by being born into an unborn world , followed by being abandoned this goes onto him trying to help people yet again being pushed aside and chased – being called a monster and a horrid sight. not only being alone but being isolated in the story is a large part, fransketin sets himself away from the social world to work on his own work, fransktein suffers being alone through his mother dying and separating himself from his family and friends.

• The fear of the uncontrollable- After creating his creature Frankestein comes across the fear of the uncontrollable, the creature sets loose and causes terror by killing people, fransktein understands that he can’t stop him as he is stronger and faster than him, this can also be a mental thing for Fransktein, knowing that something he created can’t be controlled ad he has no ability to stop him. The creatures fear of the uncontrollable is slightly different, he can’t control how people view him and react to him, he doesn’t know that if he shows himself to the villagers which he has been helping how they are going to react to him, he can control his anger problems after being shunned and abandoned

These aspects of fear create the characters throughout the story, they are self reliable and they learn to not count on others but to stand for themselves- which can also turn into greed as the story goes on, the consqueces show to be death of loved ones and being hated

Mary Shelley shows the idea of fear throughout her story to us, through

Peoples personality’s and beliefs are often changed with events that peen throughout their lives. Victor Frank steins childhood was shaped around events, for instance the death of his mother, attending unveiresty which created a spark of interest into death “Of what a strange nature is knowledge! It clings to a mind when it has once seized on it like a lichen on a rock.”- victor – which leads to the creation of the ‘creature’ and finally the decision to not make the second creature. These decisions and events can change how future events can be played out. When Victors mother died it created sense of depression within him and also pursued the interest of death as a whole . When victors attends unvriresty and begins to study and develop his interest further into death it creates his drive to create the ‘creature’, this turned Victor into a state of regrets and anxiety which is why we later see Victor devoting his life to stop this creature in tuning other peoples lives, he felt that this was now his life duty since he created it. Finally when Victor makes the decision to oppose the creatures wish and not create the second creature, it develops into a dilemma as he the creature now wants to cause more grief and pain in Victors life, “If I cannot inspire love, I will cause fear!”  -creature which extends Victors life of living in fear and anguish.

The God complex

The god complex means the idea of having power of life/ death, things that relate to the idea that god exists. Dr Frankstien often relates his story to this aspect, for instance he says ” it was the secrets of heaven and earth that I desired to learn” this is Frankestien saying he wants gods power or the secret to life and death, he often uses the god complex to share his ambitions and wants.

A distressing event in their earlier life

A distressing event means getting anxiety or stress due to a occurrence. For Frankstien an early distressing event for him was the death of his mother, due to Scarlett fever. Not only did this cause grief within Frankenstein but it also spiralled an obsession with life and death within him.

A flaw in their moral compass

a flaw in a moral compass is someones personal ability to understand there choices when it comes to right and wrong

Dr Frankenstein hasn’t formed the idea straight away that creating the monster is a bad idea, he pursues his interest in death by creating it and doesn’t give up till its created , when it is created he then feels regret and guilt. This shows that Dr Frankstien moral compass doesn’t kick until something does go wrong, his knowledge of threats pursues him to change his mind towards crating another one, however thinking in the first place that potentially making another one is wrong, yet this doesn’t kick into his mind until he thinks about the consequences towards his family.

• A moment of recognition or revelation

In Frankstien he has moments of recongtniton and revelation

• When he created the monster and straight away left it as he realised it was wrong
• when his mother died he started to think about death as an interest

The creature

the creature learns about the world in a hard way, when fransktein leaves him as soon as he was born due to disgust of him ” unable to endure the aspect of the being I had created, I rushed out of the room” the creature has no knowledge of the world and has to fend and learn for himself.

He didn’t cope well as people where disgusted by the sight of him, they thought he didn’t deserve life or to be around him. This seemed unfair as it wasn’t his fault he was bought to this new world, and just because he looked different and couldn’t talk their language, he was hated and made riddance of. The creature is actually gentle and kind, he realises the emotions of people and sees pain in others, he is only rough when he is hurt, he didn’t deserve to be made fun of.

The creature is made into a “monster” when people turn him, his evil side is purely formed by neglect and no love- when fransktein creates the monster and it is seen by him as disgusting, Frank-stein is simply judging him by looks, similar to when he comes into contact with other humans and villagers – they try to get him to leave and are scared of him. However in society we often judge people on the outside but we don’t even know them, because the outside looked scary or ugly people assumed so was the inside and that he must be a threat towards him- however I believe that these moments cause a weight on peoples mind, we don’t remember the good things just the bad things, and as person I know that your self confidence and attitude will change, you’ll close up and show a different side to people.

Minor charcters

Robert walton –

Roberts letters are used at the start and end of the story, to allow the story to be told, in the story he is a sea goer that nurses fransktein back to health when he leaves to go and destroy his creation. The story of FRankstien is recorded through letters etc…. ” I have no friend, Margaret: when I am glowing with the enthusiasm of success, there will be none to participate my joy; if I am assailed by disappointment, no one will endeavour to sustain me in dejection.”

Henry c-

Henry is a school mate and freind of Fransktein, he was a generous and kind man that shared some passions of Fransktein, they explored places tighter before he was killed by the creature – Henry was important in the story as we got to know him, and he showed us the importance of revenge that the creature had towards Fransktein ” I had rather be with you in your solitary rambles, than with these Scotch people whom I do not know; hasten the, my dear friend, to return, that I may again feel myself somewhat at home, which I cannot do in your absence. My dear Frankenstein, how glad I am to see you!”

Elisabeth –

this is the adopted sister of Frankstien, and later the wife of him. they write letters to each other, she’s important character as she meant a lot to Frankstien, a lot of things he did was dedicated and thought of with her. she was a sacrifice to the monster, who out of revengeance to Fransktein was strangled on her wedding day. ” They consulted their village priest, and the result was that Elizabeth Lavenza became the inmate of my parents’ house–my more than sister–the beautiful and adored companion of all my occupations and my pleasures.”

One after the other my feet pound against the cold grey concrete, the lumps of broken glass piercing  my bare feet with every step i take. The short cut through the back of Mrs william garden is my best option , trying to take the least amount of steps possible so they can’t trace me. im stuck and i here a ripping sound , realising my grey rags had snagged on the corner of the barbed wire fence, i pull hard and keep going. I hear heavy breaths and realise they are gaining fast. I  take a hard left and sprint till i reach a tall building that’s coloured a faded brown, it reads  amart and co  , i grab a rock the size of my fist and forcibiling throw it into the dirty window , when it shatters i take the rock and clear the fragments of the remaining  glass from around the edge of the window panel, i reach my hand in and twist left on the silver knob, unlocking the door .Upon entering  i notice its almost pristine inside, it smelled of rose bubble bath and coconut,  you would think people actually still worked here.

I pull myself up the 4 flights of stairs, at the end a slight sweat breaking down my forehead.

The view that looks over the whole of dystopia is amazing ,the buildings are all demolished and rumble is the only memory of them even existing, i remember dad taking me up here when i was a kid, he would put his hand on the glass and say ” enjoy this , this is our dystopia” i miss him, i miss everything, how did this come to be our dystopia , it was meant to be the future, but lately ive been thinking this is the end.

the windows shattering, glass flying everywhere, blood dripping from wounds, i hear screaming, hundreds of people’s cry for help , hands  banging against the walls, then two distinct gun shots fired at my head.

i wake with a sudden jolt,  a sweet smell circling under my nose, i walk to the window and peer out, fluorescent pink orange and blue  colours take over the air  surrounding the buildings , ” smoke bombs” i mutter under my breath. I grab my back pack and open the window, looking  down i see a long fall with a grey path meeting the end, i grab onto the window rim and press my stomach against the wall , one foot at a time i shuffle along the sill till i reach the balcony of the next window, i hear a door open and low voices , grabbing the steel pole i hook my feet around and close my eyes, i count to three then let my body fall down the pool, my hands grasping then letting go. Eventually i reach the bottom of the building , peering up i see the clouds starting to settle a deep grey and two heads poking over the balcony , they whisper something to each other then jump, woooooosh and they are right next to me.

” come with us, your time is now done” he snarled 

see theres part of the story i havent told you, so by now you probably are confused by whats happening. So here it goes..

 

dystopia wasnt always like this, up to 2040 it was a peaceful city , with a warm aroma and friendly people, we had no enemy’s and that’s how we liked it. I always enjoyed chemistry in high school, i had my own little lab at home , not that i ever made anything interesting, one day i did though. 

I was mixing fenestrae and nitro methane , just as any teenage would do, to see what happened, and suddenly it started producing a purple gas, it went into my lungs and i woke up twenty minutes later, i thought nothing of it until  4 months later    , No one saw it coming, they flew over in about 100 hundred planes dropping these gas bombs , wiping out our population, except me i must be immune , bloody nazis. They destroyed half of dystopia and made it illegal to accesses any part of dystopia,  , but i knew i had a mission , to one day bring back dystopia , but that’s another story , till then i bid you farewell …. 

Beyond the building is a ruined world, its walls traced with  lucisous green ivy. Within the water that takes over the outside perimeter, there’s millions of sculptures, some small , some big, some invisible, but they all have something in common, they don’t exist. Before you look at the pigs that take over the sky you need to under stand something, this world isn’t as it seems, one step over the grey  soldier lined bridged , and you disappear.

 

Fate, what is fate ? its an pre determined outcome , in this area its for the character /Romeo and juliet. Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet is structured around fate, its an added depth  and motion. Its used almost to connect with each character personally, it helps understand and develop  the idea in a more detailed perspective, Fate is out of a persons control, it’s an ending or beginning or even an event that supposedly happens on purpose ,  Romeo and juliet where predetermined fate , they were born into families with a hate and despise of each other, there pre-determined fates were revealed in the prologue ” two star crossed loves , take their life” with that simple sentence ,  the theme of fate is continued on in  the play. As these words go on im going to tell you about Romeo and juliets lives and how fate is apart of it, through metaphors and then onto coincidences its shown from the beginning to the end.

In the play Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare uses metaphors often, he uses them to pull together unlike events or descriptions and  to compare them to a completely  different event happening at the same time, they allow us to show the audience another perspective of something without giving away anything. Often Shakespeare metaphors are hard to pick up on, you have to think about the words your reading and the order they are in , which keeps the audience  tuned in and guessing what the fate of the characters could be. A metaphor is a context of words that compare two alike things  without using the word like or alike . An example of a metaphor  used in the play is…..

” I fear, too early, for my mind misgives
Some consequence yet hanging in the stars
Shall bitterly begin his fearful date
With this night’s revels, and expire the term
Of a despised life closed with in my breast,
By some vile forfeit of untimely death.”
– Romeo

Which is saying that he feels his fate is that he might die soon, which is true . Which brings me to my next point…..

Fate is tied in at many occasions in the play, many of the fates can be questionable , like was its Romeos fate to drink the poison before she woke up? the story started of with the prologue revealing the fate of Romeo and juliet to the audience, the characters unaware of it however knew that the love was doomed. The fate throughout the play seems to change,  as events make the ending look happy, however the ending stays the same and the fate of Romeo and juliet stays consistent.

“But soft, what light through yonder window breaks?
It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.
Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon,
Who is already sick and pale with grief
That thou her maid art far more fair than she.
Be not her maid, since she is envious.
Her vestal livery is but sick and green
And none but fools do wear it. Cast it off.”

This quote is comparing juliet to the stars and sun, Romeo  is clearly in love with her and starts to describe her with words connected with earth and  connected to  their world ,but doesn’t know yet that his fate  indeed will end in a negative manner, could this be a coincidence?

By using coincidences , Shakespeare is able to connect the story line using his different aspects. Coincidences are a unlikely event joint to another that changes the outcome or fate. An example of a coincidence in Romeo and juliet is when the  servants from the Capulet house   are in the street and they come across  Romeo and Benvolio , the servant ask for their assistance to read the names for the party,totally unaware of who they are, Romeo reads it and comes across Rosaline. Benvolio challenges Romeo to go to the party, this is when Romeo meets juliet and the coincidence unrolls.

Had Rosaline and Romeos love not just ended, then would Romeo and juliet ever meet? quite possible not but its questionable , the coincidence here is that the time Romeo is finally single he happens to meet juliet , which sparks a new form of love and frankly death.

Another  huge coincidence  in the play is that Romeo falls in love with a Capulet, which just so happens to be the worst enemy of his bloodline ( family) which results in a deadly love and ultimately death.

“Is love a tender thing? It is too rough, Too rude, too boist’rous, and it pricks like thorn.”

“What’s here? A cup, closed in my true love’s hand?
Poison, I see, hath been his timeless end.—
O churl, drunk all, and left no friendly drop
To help me after! I will kiss thy lips.
Haply some poison yet doth hang on them,
To make die with a restorative.              She kisses him
Thy lips are warm!”

This quote is the final part of Romeos life an juliets, he just drank the poison and juliet realises it, the love was doomed and ended in two deaths

” Thus with a kiss i die” thus with a kiss i must end this essay ( maybe minus the kiss) with a simple answer , just because you quite possibly might need one after my long and stretched attempt to answer our fabulous teachers question or so called topic for our assignment  …..

FATE..

Romeo and Juliet were strung along fate, it made a huge impact in this play and the characters lives, their fates were displayed at the start and played through till the end, fate was the main part of this play and seemed to be built around it . It was planned and structured to every detail , with almost every  second pulling back to the topic of fate, Romeo and Juliet were fated to love and fated to die. With that simple conclusion i must bid you farewell , Thankyou

Kirsten Blackley

Per sempre essere contuined nelle vite degli amanti attraversati dalla stella ( shakespeare got his idea for romeo and juliet from a poem which was itallian )

31/5/17 xx