Frankenstein-review, recensione in inglese del libro di Mary Shelley, Sintesi del corso di Inglese

Scarica Frankenstein-review, recensione in inglese del libro di Mary Shelley e più Sintesi del corso in PDF di Inglese solo su Docsity! FRANKENSTEIN-BOOK REVIEW 1. TITLE: Frankenstein 2. AUTHOR: Mary Shelley 3. COPYRIGHT DATE: 1985;1992;2003 4. GENRE: Gothic science fiction 5. HISTORICAL, CULTURAL, SOCIAL BACKGROUND: Frankenstein is part of the gothic fiction, a narrative genre that takes place during the second half of the 18th century. This age was full of innovation and change at the European level and also outside. Between the various important events the most significant historical facts were the American Revolution and the French Revolution. The first was carried out from 1775 to 1783 and was a conflict between the Kingdom of Great Britain and the thirteen North American colonies, who claimed their independence from the mother country. This conflict led the thirteen colonies to achieve their independence and to approve, in 1789, the United States Constitution. The French Revolution broke out, instead, in France between 1789 and 1799. Founded on three principles, liberty, equality and fraternity, brought, among many changes, the abolition of absolute monarchy, the proclamation of the republic with the abolition of the so-called Ancient Regime and the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen that is the base of the modern constitutions. Social background is ruled by The Enlightenment, a social, political, cultural and philosophical movement that took place in Europe during the 18th century and that had, as its fundamental principles, liberty, reason, progress, tolerance and fraternity. At the end of the Eighteenth century it developed in Germany another artistic, cultural, musical and literary movement, the Romanticism, which had, among the main themes, eroticism, individualism, subjectivism and the negation of Enlightenment reason. Finally, regarding the social context, in this period it was very important the Industrial Revolution, a process of economic development or industrialization of the society that began in England in the late Eighteenth century and that led the society to be from an agricultural-crafts-commercial system to a modern industrial system composed by innovative technological machines. However, despite these innovations, the conditions of women and children, being exploited in the work of the factory, did not change. 6. NARRATION: Frankenstein is written in first person and, so, by a point of view more introspective. In the book there are two main narrators: the first, in the part of the book in which are reported the letters that a mariner writes to his sister, is the mariner himself, Robert Walton, and the second is Victor Frankenstein that tells the story of the monster. Than we can find other two narrators, Elizabeth Lavenza and Alphonse Frankenstein, that, through their letters to Victor, recount pieces of the story. Finally also The Monster tells his story in first person. 7. SETTING: The setting of the letters is the Artic, while the story told by Victor is set in different places. At first it is set in Geneva, in Switzerland, that is the hometown of Victor, than in Inglostadt, in upper Bavaria, where Victor frequents the University and later creates the monster, in the valley of Chamounix, in France, where Victor meets the monster again, in Great Britain and finally in the North Pole, where he meets Robert Walton. 8. MAIN CHARACTERS: Victor: son of Alphonse Frankenstein and Caroline Beaufort, is born in Naples but he grows up in Genevese. Closed and introverted, he can not relate to his classmates, except with Henry Clerval with whom he will tighten a strong and sincere friendship. Growing up, Victor, thanks to a book by Cornelius Agrippa, becomes interested in natural philosophy, but when he discovers that his myths, on which he based all his knowledge, are not truthful, he decides to devote himself to the study of mathematics and science attached to her. Taken by a relentless thirst for knowledge, after the death of his mother, he decides to go to the University of Ingolstadt, where he resumes his studies of natural philosophy and can become an expert. He wants to give life to a creature entirely inanimate but the achievement of this objective requires to Victor hours and hours of hard work and insulation so that he becomes ill. When his work is finished, Victor understands that he has created nothing but a monstrous heap of muscles and limbs and when he realizes that the monster is a vicious murderer he feels into himself a great and strong remorse. He is then destroyed by a sharp pain when the monster kills, during the wedding night, the cousin and wife of Victor, Elizabeth. Finally, he dies in the North Pole, after meeting Robert Walton. The monster: created in Ingolstadt by Victor, it has a "gigantic stature; That is to say, about eight feet in height, and proportionably large" ,yellow eyes, the skin, yellow and wrinkled, barely covers the muscles and arteries , the hair is black and shiny, and it has white teeth and black and straight lips. It is abandoned by its creator shortly after being "born" because of its shapeless looks. Just created, it is not familiar with the word and it is terrified of fire. Despite its scary appearance it just wants a normal life among the people, but this is not enough and people around it, frightened, reject it constantly. Angry because no one wants it, it decides to take revenge with the human race from its creator. To hurt Victor it kills at first his brother William, than Justine and finally his friend Clerval and to put an end to the murders it asks its creator to create another creature who can keep company to it. Frankenstein, fearing that two monsters can procreate, decides not to do so and, so, the monster kills Elizabeth, the wife of Victor. Robert Walton: he is eighteen and English and, after losing his father prematurely, was raised with his sister by his uncle. I chose this sentence because, as well as it sums up the meaning of the message Victor wants to give, it also summarizes a debate that is now open and known. There are, in fact, a lot of people that believe that knowledge is so beautiful, but also very harmful to humans. Knowledge shows man his shortcomings and those of humanity, the brutality of which they were capable characters in the past and in the present and, so, it makes the man more miserable. I believe that knowledge is the most beautiful treasure that a person can find, but I also think that the price to pay for this treasure is very large. I think Victor was disappointed by the sciences as he could be from a love gone wrong: he was in love with knowledge and it has turned against him. Regarding this sentence I would like to add another closely related: “A human being in perfection ought always to preserve a calm and peaceful mind and never to allow passion or a transitory desire to disturb his tranquility” To achieve his wish, Victor ended up getting sick, isolating himself to almost go crazy. So is it right to follow a wish even when it robs us of our health? He tells us that this is not right, but I think that when a person really wants, so hauntingly, something even if it is wrong, it is a too big impulse to be stopped. 13. WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE COVER?: the cover of my book portrays the face of the monster and I can see the seams and the pitons that hold the pieces together. He has a frightening expression that doesn't refer to anything good. I don't like the cover so much because it seems that it wants to represent the monster for what it is not, but I also think that it could be a sort of provocation for the reader. 14. PERSONAL OPINIONS: when I began this book I wasn't very convinced; I thought that, because of the genre of the book, I wouldn't like the story. However I had to change my mind because thanks to the narration, that is very careful to all the details, I could immerse myself into the story very soon. So, I sincerely recommend it to every kind of reader because, as the book teaches, you never have to stop at appearances. Chiara Gigante