Inglese, FRANKENSTEIN, Appunti di Inglese

Scarica Inglese, FRANKENSTEIN e più Appunti in PDF di Inglese solo su Docsity! FRANKENSTEIN The story is introduced by a series of letters written by Robert Walton, the captain of a ship bound for the North Pole, to his sister in England. Trapped in the ice, Walton finds a dying man, Victor Frankenstein, travelling across the ice. Walton takes Frankenstein aboard his ship, where he tells Walton his strange story. Dr Frankenstein studied science at the University of Ingolstadt in Germany. He discovered the secret of giving life to inanimate matter. Using body parts from corpses, he assembled a monstrous creature and gave it life. The creature's horrible appearance inspired tear and loathing in everybody it met, but endowed also with human feelings it also became lonely and miserable. Reacting to the rejection it encountered, the monster learnt to hate men. It killed Frankenstein's brother, William, and succeeded in incriminating Justine, a servant girl of the Frankenstein family, who was unjustly executed for murder. Frankenstein caught up with the monster on a glacier in Switzerland. The creature persuaded Frankenstein to create a female companion for him. Frankenstein nearly completed this second monster but was horrified with his work and destroyed it. The monster took revenge on Frankenstein, killing his good friend Henry Clerval and then murdering Elizabeth, the girl Frankenstein was about to marry. Frankenstein, now determined to exact revenge, pursued his creature as far as the Arctic. This brings us back to the beginning of the novel and Frankenstein’s rescue by Captain Walton. The narrative now proceeds with the last in the series of Walton's letters which recount the death of Frankenstein on board the ship. A few days later, Walton, finds the monster weeping over Victor's dead body, full of sorrow and remorse, The creature now wishes to end its unhappy, lonely existence and walks off onto the polar ice where it will die. Gothic: After its birth in the Middle Ages, Gothic architecture became fashionable again in the 18th century. For the writing, instead, Horace Walpole wrote for the first time a gothic story full of passion, horror and monstrous ghost. Walpole’s novel was a huge success and was quickly imitated writing stories full of mystery and horror, often involving the supernatural. Setting were often castles full of secret passages. Mary Shelley made use too of gothic elements in Frankenstein, making it even more a success. Science fiction: A science fiction story is generally based on imaginary developments in science and technology, we can see that in Frankenstein because he’s a student of science and Mary presents his process of creating life as believable. Monsters and Madmen: In the novel it is shown the sense of “the uncanny”, which is the doubt whether an apparently animate being is really alive or whether a lifeless object might be animate so it is a device to leave the reader in uncertainty. Romantic landscapes: Mary Shelley’s novel has also romantic elements, including the importance of terror and the choice of landscapes. In fact, Romanticism highlight the sublimity of natural landscapes and ruins. CHARACTERS: Victor Frankenstein The doomed protagonist and narrator of the main portion of the story. Studying in Ingolstadt, Victor discovers the secret of life and creates an intelligent but grotesque monster, from whom he recoils in horror. Victor keeps his creation of the monster a secret, feeling increasingly guilty and ashamed as he realizes how helpless he is to prevent the monster from ruining his life and the lives of others. The Monster The eight-foot-tall, hideously ugly creation of Victor Frankenstein. Intelligent and sensitive, the Monster attempts to integrate himself into human social patterns, but all who see him shun him. His feeling of abandonment compels him to seek revenge against his creator. Robert Walton The Arctic seafarer whose letters open and close  Frankenstein. Walton picks the bedraggled Victor Frankenstein up off the ice, helps nurse him back to health, and hears Victor’s story. He records the incredible tale in a series of letters addressed to his sister, Margaret Saville, in England. Alphonse Frankenstein Victor’s father, very sympathetic toward his son. Alphonse consoles Victor in moments of pain and encourages him to remember the importance of family. Elizabeth Lavenza An orphan, four to five years younger than Victor, whom the Frankensteins adopt. In the 1818 edition of the novel, Elizabeth is Victor’s cousin, the child of Alphonse Frankenstein’s sister. In the 1831 edition, Victor’s mother rescues Elizabeth from a destitute peasant cottage in Italy. Elizabeth embodies the novel’s motif of passive women, as she waits patiently for Victor’s attention. Henry Clerval Victor’s boyhood friend, who nurses Victor back to health in Ingolstadt. After working unhappily for his father, Henry begins to follow in Victor’s footsteps as a scientist. His cheerfulness counters Victor’s moroseness. William Frankenstein Victor’s youngest brother and the darling of the Frankenstein family. The monster strangles William in the woods outside Geneva in order to hurt Victor for abandoning him. William’s death deeply saddens Victor and burdens him with tremendous guilt about having created the monster. Justine Moritz A young girl adopted into the Frankenstein household while Victor is growing up. Justine is blamed and executed for William’s murder, which is actually committed by the monster.