“I, the miserable and the abandoned, am an abortion, to be spurned at, and kicked, and trampled on” said by The Monster this quote can exemplify as a pro towards the Enlightenment. The idea here is that being kicked and trampled on are the people of the bygone era who are not embracing idea of freedom and the public sphere. Political figures such as Marie Antoinette is an example of someone who was left behind at the previous era.


- Dev Singh

“So much has been done, exclaimed the soul of Frankenstein—more, far more, will I achieve; treading in the steps already marked, I will pioneer a new way, explore unknown powers, and unfold to the world the deepest mysteries of creation.” That was a quote that emphasized the struggle of Victor Frankenstein to choose to do right thing. In the eyes of the reader, right would the non-violation of life and not the resurrection of the dead. Also, to correct his mistakes Victor has to seek out and stop the Monster or kill him again.


- Dev Singh

The article is telling us that the story of Frankenstein is identical to many myths because Frankenstein is a story that is paradoxical to life and death. The monster is someone who is portrayed as a hero and a villain at the same time. The reason why Frankenstein has been beloved for years is because of the history of the 19th century that Mary Shelley incorporated in her novel. The romanticism contained in the novel and the idea of the monster being shunned by society and also Victor Frankenstein who is trapped between doing the right thing and doing what he wants.


http://www.susantylerhitchcock.com/level2_frankenstein.htm


- Dev Singh

Insight into The Enlightenment

The Enlightenment was the death of secrecy and the birth of the public sphere. It was the advent of knowledge where people were allowed to express themselves more freely and share ideas amongst each other. Ideas such as freedom of speech and new forms of science and literature were prominent. Some important people involved in this movement include George Berkeley who created the theory of subjective idealism, Adam Smith who virtually created the idea of the free-market economy and wrote “The Wealth of Nations”, and Thomas Jefferson who wrote the Declaration of Independence and later became a president of the United States.

- Dev Singh

“I saw—with shut eyes, but acute mental vision—I saw the pale student of unhallowed arts kneeling beside the thing he had put together. I saw the hideous phantasm of a man stretched out, and then, on the working of some powerful engine, show signs of life and stir with an uneasy, half-vital motion. Frightful must it be, for supremely frightful would be the effect of any human endeavor to mock the stupendous mechanism of the Creator of the world” said Victor Frankenstein. The quote exemplifies the idea of misused knowledge which spurred Victor to create the Monster. Knowledge was very important to the enlightenment thinkers and they wanted secular knowledge and so Shelley says in this quote that the misuse of knowledge can lead to your downfall. This idea relates to the French Revolution that was sparked by the Enlightenment and led Napoleon Bonaparte to power. Shelley also states the relationship between creator and being, giving a sort of satire of God and us as we were created by God.

- Dev Singh

“I, the miserable and the abandoned, am an abortion, to be spurned at, and kicked, and trampled on.’ Said the Monster. This quote ties into my previous research because it precisely demonstrates to us that the Monster is an evil being worthy of no person’s affection. The hate of the world against him, The Monster does not fight back which unlike the stereotypical perception of a monster we have in our minds. In this way, we can say that The Monster has some compassion and empathy for human life even though he is so despised he wishes he were never born.

- Dev Singh

Frankenstein's inception

The basis of this article points out that Frankenstein demonstrates the basic constraints of the philosophy of the conception of the self. The novel does so by placing with in a conventional narrative that every minute detail is important for self-education when studying or reading. Shelley makes use of empiricist theory in this novel, but flip-flops in that regard as The Monster is missing vital personality traits and the lack of those traits make him out to be a monster when in fact he is human.

http://ats.coloradocollege.edu/co100-04-b1/images/7246921.pdf

- Dev Singh

People responsible for The Enlightenment

Some of the key Enlightenment thinkers were John Locke, Voltaire, and Rosseau who shared different ideas regarding the philosophy of existence and freedom, the movement of democracy, and the feminist movement. The Enlightenment arose in partially against the Church as people wanted to separate religion and politics and the discontent most people had with their lives. The French Revolution was sparked by the ideas of the Enlightenment such as Democracy which was the main cause to overthrow King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. Enlightenment thinkers were obsessed over the idea of “sublime” which refers to aesthetics in the quality of transcending greatness which could be physical, moral, intellectual, or artistic.

- Dev Singh