1980. A recurring theme in literature is the classic war between a passion and responsibility. For instance, a personal cause, a love, a desire for revenge, a determination to redress a wrong, or some other emotion or drive may conflict with moral duty. Choose a literary work in which a character confronts the demands of a private passion that conflicts with his or her responsibilities. In a well-written essay show clearly the nature of the conflict, its effects upon the character, and its significance to the work.
The character of Victor Frankenstein in Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein, shows the classic war between passion and responsibility. The major theme shown in Frankenstein is responsibility for one's actions. Mary Shelley uses an intrguing conflict to illustrate Victor Frankenstein's emotional conflicts and to show him in the light of a tragic hero.
Victor Frankenstein's life story is at the heart of Frankenstein. He changes over the course of the novel from an innocent youth, fascinated by the prospects of science, into a disillusioned, guilty man determined to destroy the fruits of his arrogant scientific endeavor. While he is creating the monster, he never stops and thinks about the ramifications he may be bringing upon society. Only when his creation spins out of his control does he realize the huge responsibilities he must give the creature and backs off. This leads to the monster believing that Victor is neglecting him and destroys everything Victor loves. Though torn by remorse, shame, and guilt, Victor refuses to admit to anyone the horror of what he has created, as he wishes to take responsibility to destroy his creation. However, he also refuses that openly acknowledge that he is responsibly for the people the monster kills. The fact that the monster killed people whom Victor knew scars him emotionally until his death.
At the end of the novel, having chased his creation up north, Victor relates his sotry to Robert Walton, the captain who helped Victor, and then dies. Shelley gives multiple perspectives in order to give the reader with contrasting interpretations of Victor: A classical mad scietist, transgressing all boundaries without concern for the larger society, or a brave adventurer, who is not to be held responsible for the consequences for his actions. In either case, Shelley uses the emotional conflict of Victor about the monster he created, on his passion and responsibilities, to show Victor Frankenstein as a tragic hero.
Good job answering the prompt. Your intro-thesis helped set you up for the remainder of the essay. My only advice is to bring in concepts of DIDLS to help prove and justify your thesis.
ReplyDeleteIn your intro don't be afraid to use your details. It makes the intro more relate able to the rest of the text. It also creates a consistent tone through out the essay.
ReplyDeleteThis topic is very hard... However you do a great job with it. Try explaining/ relating it to your thesis more. Just a couple sentences on the end of each body paragraph would be amazing.
I'd build your essay more closely around the prompt. The question of exactly how his personal passions conflicted with his responsibilities lied largely unaddressed, I think in part because you didn't quite firmly establish what each of these things are. Your final analysis was strong; textual and relevant. The middle got a bit plot-summary heavy, but all that would take to fix would be a touch of analysis, because it's clear that there's SOMETHING you're getting from these events but you're flying by them too quickly to really get at.
ReplyDeleteYour thesis was good, but it was a bit of an island; your paragraphs summarized plot quite a bit and would sometimes wander near the assertions you made in your thesis but wouldn't quite directly address them. You strongly establish that Victor is scarred but don't tie it to anything. You also mention him as a tragic hero but never really delve into what that means or what it says about the world. You've dug up some interesting pieces; see if you can't fit them together into something even bigger.
ReplyDeleteThis is a good essay, but definitely not your best. What's the significance of this conflict? Why is being a tragic hero significant? You could have broken the giant body paragraph into at least another one. Your thought process seems a bit thrown together, try making more sense of the prompt and less background of the novel.
ReplyDelete