Societal connections in Victorian literature...

Tackling these Victorian texts has been a fun and occasionally frustrating experience, but one thing that I've noticed is ever-present is a new kind of societal awareness in the writing. Where as past English authors seemed to focus on the individual in almost existential terms, Victorian authors seems to me more concerned with the individual as a part of society. There were plenty of changes happening during this time period, so that might account for this new awareness, but class struggles and differences are more apparent, and the struggles of women are also represented for the first time in this class. The Victorian period ushered in a new type of literature, one that definitely left its imprint on what came afterward.

And now Dickens awaits...

Victorian Literature...

I feel we have come to a point at which I will struggle. I've been underexposed and underappreciative of a lot of Victorian literature, but I am interested to understand it with greater clarity and find enjoyment in it that I find in my favorite literatures. So, here we go, hopefully I can come away from this with a better understanding and appreciation...

Frankenstein's creation...

The issue of narrator brought up by Doc Hoc is an interesting one.

I like the idea that Victor himself is certainly not supposed to be trusted, simply because of his mental and psychological state. He is tormented by his own failure and by the vision of his horrific creature, so there's no way that his testimony can be taken as an effective guide to the story.

But his monster... this is a being that has been taught nothing. Not only has it not learned to deceive from any other source, but it is also in a very vulnerable position of being in a mode of discovery, both of the world around him and the world within him. These two things in conjunction with each other make him a very reliable and honest narrator.

Frankenstein's evolution...

I'll be the first to defend Mary Shelley's Frankenstein as the definitive telling of the tale. This might seem like a major "duh!" statement, as she was the original creator of the story and the monster, but Frankenstein has taken on such a life of its own over the last two hundred years that the vision most of us identify with today is hardly Shelley's at all.

However, I will also not discount the evolution that the character, Frankenstein's monster, has undergone over the years.

As students of literature, we'll often advocate the original texts over any form of media created for mass consumption, but the dumbing down of a highly complex idea or story is inevitable eventually. Frankenstein caters to this more than anything. It's about a monster cobbled together from a human scrap heap. That right there is enough to entice the imagination. We should congratulate Shelley for her highly psychological work with this subject, because it takes a great mind to take something so straightforward and take it to a different place. But the evolution of the story and the character are obvious and should be expected.