Frankenstein - Chapter 4 Flashcards
(6 cards)
‘I am not recording the visions of a _____. The sun does not more certainly ______ in the _______ than that which i now affirm is true’
‘visions of a madman. ‘
‘certainly shine in the heavens’
Chapter 4
interjection by Walton into Victor’s narrative assures the reader that the supernatural nature of the events to come are actually real, genuine science. The simile draws scary links between real life and gothic horror.
‘from the _______, a sudden light broke in upon me, a light so ____ yet so simple.
‘from the midst of the darkness a sudden light broke in upon me, a light so brilliant and wondrous, yet so simple.’
Victor, Chapter 4
Shelley juxtaposes dark and light imagery for two possible reasons:
1.) emblematic of the dichotomy between death and life in Frankenstein - how Victor’s ambition to cheat death ultimately leads to the death of his family.
2.) The quick change allows Shelley to brush over any detailed explanation of the science around the discovery of life to focus on the consequences of such discovery - urging society to focus more on the consequences of the new social and scientific discoveries of the 18th century rather than the development of it itself.
‘How dangerous is the _____ of knowledge and how much happier that man is who _____ than he who aspires to become ______’
‘How dangerous is the acquirement of knowledge and how much happier that man is who believes his native town to be the world, than he who aspires to become greater than his nature will allow. - Victor, Chapter 4
A retrospective look onto his ambition, using the metaphor of the common man to emphasize perhaps the beneficial nature of not exceeding societal limits.
A new species would _____ me as its _______ ; many happy and excellent natures would _____ their being to me.
‘A new species would bless me as its creator and source; many happy and excellent natures would owe their being to me’ - VF
Here, Victor is comparing his power to God - placing the power of his ability to create life onto the level of God. He then argues ‘No father could claim the gratitude of his child so completely as I should deserve his’ - implying he deserves fame for his creation over God.
Often compared to Vol2ch2 (chapter 4) - ‘Remember, that I am thy creature. I ought to be thy Adam, but I am rather the fallen angel’ as the creations references the fallen angel - a parallel to ‘paradise lost’ whereby Satan was the fallen angel because of God’s paternalistic tyranny. Although Victor sees himself as a ‘new God’, Indeed he is not, and the creature is not his Adam, but rather his enemy due to his controlling, neglecting actions.
‘My cheek had grown ____ with study, and my person _____
‘My cheek had grown pale with study, and my person emaciated with confinement’ - another reference to the destructive nature of loneliness for Frankenstein. In the end, Loneliness is forced upon Victor by the creature, highlighting how his choice to isolate himself leads to his forced isolation anyway.
‘Greece had not been _____; Caesar would have _____; America would have been discovered more gradually.
‘Greece had not been enslaved; Caesar would have not spared his country; America would have been discovered more gradually.’
Zaina analyse this for me it always confuses me
