Mary Shelleys Frankenstein Essay -- Frankenstein Essays

Mary Shelleys FrankensteinNineteen-year-old Mary Shelley didnt discern when she began it that her ghost story would become an enduring part of classic literature. Frankenstein is an estimable work simply for its captivating plot. To the careful indorser, however, Shelleys tale offers confused insights into human experience. The reader identifies with all of the major characters and is left to heed or ignore the cautions that their situations provide. Shelley uses the consequence person narrative style, allusions both to Coleridges jibe of the Ancient Mariner and the legend of Prometheus, and the symbols of both light and fire to reprimand against the destructive thirst for command friendship. Frankensteins tale is narrated in the second person in order to warn the audience directly. Relatively some novels are written in the second person, but those that are realize the singular ability to talk directly to their readers. Shelley went to great lengths to preserv e this admonish quality in her narrative in order to speak to the reader as you, the book had to be written as a letter. versed the destinies of her characters, however, Shelley knew that neither of the principals would survive long enough to realize their mistakes. She therefore invented Capitan Walton who would, in his letters, preserve the imperative tone of the second person that is so indispensable to her purpose. The book was written in the second person so that the warn that Dr. Frankenstein gives to Captain Walton is preserved and relayed to Shelleys readers you and me. A classic example of the exemplar voice inherent in the second person narrative is Coleridges Rime of the Ancient Mariner. The entire purpose of the mariners tal... ...th friendship not informed by morality has let loose on our 21st-century world such monsters as the atomic bomb, whose whereabouts are unkn accept, and whose existence threatens our lives any minute. Shelley may not have re alized all of the implications of her writing, but she soundless human tendencies. She raised a warning that unfortunately has gone largely unheeded . Like the ancient mariner, Frankenstein addresses his readers directly and warns against the destructive fire of forbidden knowledgeknowledge not anchored by morality. Perhaps the most obligate warning in the book is given in Frankensteins own weary voice as he prefaces his tale Learn from me, if not by my precepts, at least by my example, how dangerous is the acquirement of knowledge (57).Work CitedShelley, Mary. Frankenstein. Ed. Johanna M. Smith. Boston Bedford, 2000.