Chapter 10 Quotes (Frankenstein): Flashcards
(30 cards)
“the abrupt sides of vast mountains were before me; the icy wall of the glacier overhung me […] the solemn silence of this glorious presence-chamber of imperial Nature was broken”
“the silent working of immutable laws, was ever and anon rent and torn, as if it had been but a plaything in their hands”
“sublime and magnificent scenes” / “they elevated me […] subdued and tranquillised it [grief]”
“they all gathered round me, and bade me be at peace” - the sublime, nature as restorative = link to NLMG.
“still I would penetrate their misty veil” / “What were rain and storm to me?” = hubristic tone, overreacher.
“I determined to go without a guide, for I was well acquainted with the path, and the presence of another would destroy the solitary grandeur of the scene”
“Why does man boast of sensibilities superior to those apparent in the brute; it only renders them more necessary beings. If our impulses were confined to hunger, thirst and desire, we might be nearly free” = ironic - all Victor does is reach beyond these instincts (which are arguably the foundation of man)
Intertextuality of Mutability by Percy Shelley = “nought may endure but mutability” / “for, be it joy or sorrow The path of its departure is still free”
“My heart, which was before sorrowful, now swelled with something like joy”
“allow me this faint happiness” / “as I said this, I beheld the figure of a man […] bounded over the ice”
“the wretch whom I had created” / “I trembled with rage and horror”
“its unearthly ugliness rendered it almost too horrible for human eyes”
“devil” / “daemon” / “vile insect!” / “your miserable existence”
“All men hate the wretched; how, then, must I be hated, who am miserable beyond all living things!”
“detest and spurn me” / “will glut the maw of death, until it be satiated…” - nature vs nurture > killing for retribution.
“My rage was without bounds”
“Abhorred monster!” / “Wretched devil!”
“Be calm! I entreat you to hear me” = subverting reader expectations of what the Creature would be like: he is the rational one despite being inhuman.
“I am thy creature, and I will be even mild and docile to my natural lord and king”
“Remember, that I am thy creature; I ought to be thy Adam, but I am rather the fallen angel” > biblical allusions, interpretation of the creature being a combination of Lucifer & Adam.
“I was benevolent and good; misery made me a fiend”
“I was benevolent; my soul glowed with love and humanity”
“Shall I not then hate them who abhor me? I will keep no terms with my enemies.”
“Yet it is in your power to recompense me, and deliver them from an evil”
