In Mary Shalley's story, victor frankenstein's creation of a living being brings tragic results. This work provides the BEST example how

Question

A) Literature can manipulate biographical events for mass appeal.

B) an author can use plot to develop the setting.

C)literature can reflect concerns within its historical context.

D) an author can use characterization to establish tone

 

Answer 1

       I think that it is answer c. This novel reflects the views of the time in which it was written. Shelley's Frankenstein sheds light on the religious views of the Romantic Era. Victor is essentially playing God by creating life and the monster or the creature is like his Adam. Shelley even draws a comparison between Frankenstein and the God of Genesis through Milton's Paradise Lost. Frankenstein loathed his creation and regretted creating him the moment he saw him. This seems to hint at a belief that if there is a God, he is not a loving God.

 

       The book is clearly a commentary on atheist views that were beginning to become popular during the Romantic Era. The creature begins to learn how to read and write. This leads him to read Milton's Paradise Lost and adopt the Christian values that he sees in the poem. Victor and the other peoples rejection of the monster at this stage is a reflection of societies rejection of Christian values in favor of atheism. 

It is also a commentary on race and conquest. During this time, England was colonizing many different countries and subjecting the natives to their rule. Shelley tells us that the creature was made from body parts taken from various different dead people which makes his ethnicity unclear. This would have made English readers at that time uncomfortable. The monster eventually asks Victor to make him a female like him just as the God in Genesis did for Adam. Victor refuses fearing that this alien creature might develop the means of reproducing if he had a female made for him. The possibility of the monster reproducing and creating a whole new species of monsters that could overtake the country was a scary idea because England did not want the influence of the native people in their territories taking over and tainting their pure English bloodlines or culture.