Thursday, April 21, 2011

Tragedy - Frankenstein

"She left me, and I continued some time walking up and down the passages of the house and inspecting every corner that might afford a retreat to my adversary. But I discovered no trace of him and was beginning to conjecture that some fortunate chance had intervened to prevent the execution of his menaces when suddenly I heard a shrill and dreadful scream. It came from the room into which Elizabeth had retired. As I heard it, the whole truth rushed into my mind, my arms dropped, the motion of every muscle and fibre was suspended; I could feel the blood trickling in my veins and tingling in the extremities of my limbs. This state lasted but for an instant; the scream was repeated, and I rushed into the room" p. 186

 I don't feel like this novel qualifies as a tragedy in the same way in which some of Shakespeare's stories do, but I do feel that it has its own type of tragic manner to it. First, Victor feels that he is accomplishing the greatest feat of his life, only then to hate himself for it. Then, he lives to see the death of his brother, and innocent family friend, his own best friend, the woman he loves above all else, and his father. His entire life is filled with death and misery, and yet the monster still taunts him, At one point I still felt for the monster, but now, for all of the loss Victor has seen, it is difficult to do so. It is truly tragic that any one monster could do so many things to harm one person, moreover his creator. It is even more tragic that the cause of the monster's anger, his deformity, was not an intention on his master's part. It was circumstantial. Resultant of all of this, Victor suffers, and his work if for naught, and in my opinion, that is indeed tragedy.

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