Slippery Nature Of Lang Flashcards
(8 cards)
Key ideas
The monstrosity of lang— descent into cultural misrepresentation
Reading PL= TP for the monster -if he hadn’t read PL he would have remained good and not compared himself to Adam or have known the benchmark for goodness by comparing his creator to god.
Monster’s mastery of lang serves as a compensation for his deformed figure, making him an eloquent creature.
- lang as powerful for the marginalised , learns reason, demonstrates a refined intelligence and can easily appeal to a person’s compassion = more human than beats. Victor’s disposition towards the monster momentarily shifts from disgust to compassion= ‘his words had a strange effect upon me. I compassionate him.’ = monster’s purpose with lang; it is a means of connecting with man, despite obvious physical differences. It is language that will allow the monster to be man’s equal
Question
How deep are the roots of that ‘cultural tradition’ in society and the minds of common people?
Monster’s exclusion from communication is in fact monstrous itself bc since positive communication with man is improbable, the monster believes he will only begin to signify through the creation of a female monster that he can communicate with on a similar level.
The monster views a mastery of lang as a means for integration into existence and recognition.
Chinese box structure
Self-serving bias, rhetoric of victor
‘The die is cast
Flex intellectual competence even on his death bed.
The monster’s acquisition of language has shaped his perception of identity and morality, it has also consequently limited his perception of self
‘Remember, that i am thy creature, i ought to be thy Adam; but i am rather the fallen angel, whom thou drives from joy for no misdeeds. Everywhere i see bliss, from which I alone am irrevocably excluded.’
Perhaps misinterpretation of roles and identity bc through his readings the monster concludes that his only role in this world is that of lucifer- A fallen creature that was cast out of heaven, destined to cause chaos and pain to others.
Although the monster was ‘united by no link to any other being in existence,’ god created Adam, ‘a perfect creature… guarded by the especially care of his creator (as well as) lowed to converse with and acquire knowledge.’ Therefore the monster sees more disparaging differences than similarities between himself and Adam. He is led to believe that he is incapable of such pleasures since it does not fit the ‘wretched, helpless and alone’ role of lucifer.
Despite expanding his knowledge he has also…
Limited his sense of identity, subjecting himself to the restrictive identifiers present in hegemonic language, established centuries before his creation.
Lang is monstrous : it has become a…
Cultural system with a pre-established hierarchy that defines all possible definitions of being. The monster is not a master of language, but rather language masters his identity, which has been limited by the cultural hierarchy in lang -views himself as either lucifer or Adam but chose lucifer bc Adam is perfect and beautiful.
God-like science if lang
Mon believes that becoming an adept in the ‘godlike science’ of lang he will be able through his gentle words win their affection
