Frankenstein By Joseph Wells: A Literary Analysis

Friends will determine the direction and quality of your life. Loneliness is a battle that all people will once face at a certain point in their life; it is how they handle it that determines the outcome of that battle. In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein loneliness is the most significant and prevailing theme throughout the entire novel. Shelley takes her readers on a wild journey that shows how loneliness can end in tragedy.

Star War, Star Trek, those are probably the names that pops into your head when you think of science fiction. However, for over a hundred years, artists and philosophers from all around the world, has never been certain of the true definition of Science Fiction. Although, individual definition of science fiction has erupted in the few decades, especially during the 19th century, when the idea of extraterrestrial surged the media. Today, there are numerous definition of science fiction, each different from one another in its own element. For example, science fiction stories, according to Ray Bradbury are a possibility that has happened in the past or will happen in time. This means that science fiction is the past, the present and the

On a more superficial level, the fact that the novel has been deemed as "science fiction" opens it up to a

It is important to understand how science fiction is used to convey an author’s ideas. In a nutshell, Darko Suvin delineates science fiction as a literary genre that utilizes cognitive estrangement in order to build an imaginary, yet believable, world centered around a novum (Suvin 7-8). He further defines estrangement as the creative and fantastic side of the genre. The

The main problem lies within the fairly open and murky definitional criteria. There are no set, distinct guidelines as to what science fiction is and what is not; however most definitions seem to revolve around the idea that science is reality, and how that science effects the reality it is in. It is meant to illustrate the relationship between cause and effect representing a society in chaos, disturbed by the scientific matter, which may or may not be based in fact. This longwinded explanation may seem complex but what it is really saying is that science fiction is meant to illustrate the effect of the improbable (within scientific plausibility) against the setting it is in. It studies the resulting events that did not happen, may have happened, or have not happened yet from a rational perspective, mostly interested in the impact on the people involved. Science fiction is a form of fantastic fiction, which exploits the imaginative and profound perspectives of modern science. It differs from the fantasy genre to which it is commonly compared as it is meant to respect the limits of scientific possibility.

“I ought to be thy Adam; but I am rather the fallen angel” (Shelley 87). In the popular novel Frankenstein, author Mary Shelley examines difficult questions regarding the creation of life and the shortcomings of mankind. The narrative is centered around a young scientist by the name of Victor Frankenstein, whose unrelenting pursuit of knowledge leads him into the most dangerous experiment of his life, the results of which would haunt him for years afterwards. There is no doubt that this novel seemingly correlates with the creation account of Adam in the book of Genesis, yet there are key similarities and differences which set them apart from one another. In Frankenstein, the author shifts from keen anticipation to unmistakable self-loathing thorough various allusions including the original creation of man, the desire for a mate, and the introduction of death to the world; proving that no mortals should attempt to take on the role of God because they are imperfect beings and will ultimately fail.

Fictionally, the greatest-written villains in history possess attributes that give them cause for their behavior, with the most universal and essential of these core traits being a deep, personal backstory behind their acts. For instance, in classic stories like Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, the Monster presents thorough reason to its Creator in terms of why it has turned to wickedness. The Monster does not kill purely for the sake of being evil, its actions are resulted from its desire to be loved by man, yet failing at every attempt to achieve it. Motivation behind monstrous acts is necessary in works of fiction because non-fictionally, people labeled as monsters by society possesses motivation behind their actions as well, whether it be

Extraterrestrial beings, dazzling light shows, and dangerous laser guns are among the many thoughts that go through a person's mind when the genre science fiction is brought up. It seems as if each piece is so different, and so unique. However, many science fiction pieces are extremely similar. The science fiction pieces "Anthem," "Fahrenheit 451," and "The Pedestrian," are similar in the fact that they all encompass an expansion of technology, a new perspective on the well being of society, and each author's purpose for writing the book.

To say that fiction or fantasy relies solely on the imagination, would lessen the importance that the personal lives of many fantasy writers plays on the conception of a story. For Mary Shelley, her life was the basis and inspiration, maybe subconsciously, of her very first, and arguably most famous novel, Frankenstein. Through the influences of people and events, Mary Shelley was able to write about friendship and alienation in Frankenstein.

The characteristics that define the science fiction genre can be difficult to pin down. A genre such as the western has easily identifiable characteristics such as cowboys, guns, the wild west, and bad

“Science, my lad, is made up of mistakes, but they are mistakes which it is useful to make, because they lead little by little to the truth.” (Jules Verne). The genre of science fiction can be related to science in this way. Jules Verne was one of the most influential people to the genre of science fiction, and has been accredited with many things that deal with the genre.

Joanna Russ argues that science fiction is didactic and that it focuses on the collective rather than the individual hero while, Samuel R. Delany argues that science fiction is a distortion of the present. However, they both argue that science fiction must be learned, interpreted, and critiqued differently than other literary texts because it has its own unique conventions.

In the gothic novel Frankenstein, author Mary Shelley offers an ominous tale of science gone terribly wrong using the theme of the father and son relationship that also goes terribly wrong. Though Victor Frankenstein does not give birth per se to the Monster, Frankenstein is for all intents and purposes the Monster's father as he brings him to life via his scientific knowledge. Once the Monster is alive he looks to Frankenstein to protect him as a father would, but Frankenstein who is mortified by his creation shuns him. The longer the Monster lives without Frankenstein's love and the more he discovers what he is missing, the angrier he gets and he sets out on a mission to destroy Victor Frankenstein. In Frankenstein, Shelley's purpose is to reveal what happens to society at large when individuals fail in their duties as parents.

Welcome to the world of science fiction, sometimes known familiarly as “SF,” but rarely “Sci-Fi,” which is generally considered to be pejorative by aficionados of the genre, and more appropriate for films than literature. Science fiction is one of the three subdivisions of fantastic literature, the other two being fantasy fiction and supernatural horror. Although definitions vary and some individual works may blur the distinction between one branch and another, most fantastic or speculative stories and novels can—by general consensus—be placed in one of the three categories. Science fiction is the youngest of the three, but since the late 1940s it has been by far the most popular, and the total number of science fiction titles published in book form presently exceeds that of fantasy and supernatural fiction combined.

The literary genre of science fiction is diverse and its exact definition is still a subject of argument for both scholars and students. The genre of science fiction, as quoted by Britannica Encyclopaedia, “is a form of fiction that deals principally with the impact of actual or imagined science upon society or individuals”. The term science fiction was popularized in 1920s by an American publisher Hugo Gernsback, who is considered as one of the principal advocates of the genre. This lack of unanimity is evident while tracing the history of the genre. Among all such arguments, primarily there exist two broad camps of thoughts regarding the origin of the genre. One group considers the early fantasy works such as Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh as the commencement of the genre whereas the second group the scientific revolution that happened between the 17th and 19th century and the major discoveries in the field of Astronomy. Mathematics, Physics and Biology as the factor that caused the rise of the literary genre of science fiction.