Frankenstein - Critic Flashcards
Punter - human qualities
“The creature’s desire for companionship is one of his most human qualities”
Punter - idealisation
“The creature idealises the domestic world but is excluded from it”
Punter - scientific progress
“Frankenstein registers anxieties about scientific progress unaccompanied by social conscience”
Punter - forbidden knowledge
“Frankenstein is searching after forbidden knowledge, one of those over reachers who refuse to accept limitation and are subsequently punished”
Punter - responsibility
“The creature’s narrative suggests that Frankenstein’s main sin is not his act of creation, but rather his failure to take responsibility for what he produces”
Hindel - gothic hero/villain
“Victor Frankenstein is a typical Gothic hero/villain. Like Beckford’s Vathek, he displays an innocent desire to penetrate the secrets of heaven”
Williams - boundaries/ liminality
“The boundaries between the human and monster in Frankenstein remain problematically blurred”
Johanna Smith - Henry
“Henry is a model of conjoined masculine and feminine traits”
Johanna Smith - Henry and Elizabeth
“Clerval embodies, like Elizabeth, patience, clarity and self control”
Mary Shelly - Henry
“Henry’s wild and enthusiastic imagination was chastened by the sensibility of his heart”
Caldwell - Walton
“Walton is a less developed over-reacher than Frankenstein”
Caldwell - Walton ambition
“Walton’s reckless ambition and desire for glory are exactly the same as Frankenstein’s”
Caldwell - narrative
“The first part of Walton’s narrative serves to foreground the cautionary note of the text”
Veeder
“Victor thinks of women as correspondents and seeks male companionship”
Karen O’Brein - male and female sexuality
“He’s [Victor] transgressed against the female principle of nature and the male principle of God”
