Vision, Language, And Experience
Throughout Shelley’s Frankenstein there is constant tension between the visual and verbal. At one moment the reader can sympathize with the creature and at another the reader can relate with Victor’s anger. The visual portrayal of the creature does have an effect, but not nearly as much as the language. The sympathy changes throughout the volumes particularly do to the narratives of the characters. When Victor speaks it seems believable that the creature is a horrible thing, but when the creature speaks the perspective completely changes. But, there is still a problem because a conclusion cannot be addressed. Though language has an overwhelming effect, there is still a huge communication barrier between the characters in the novel and the reader’s understanding of them. Through this barrier, Shelley conveys a powerful message: people can only truly understand each other when put through the same experience. In the novel, Victor and Walton are the only two characters that really connect and it is because they share somewhat of the same experience. Both of them are excessively ambitious and both attempt, as Victor is successful, to defy the limitations of man. Walton writes in his
Shelley’s Frankenstein is a play on the power of language, the effect of the narrative, and the strength of experience. However, though language may be the highest form of communication, there is still a barrier. Walton and Victor connect do to their sharing of the same ambition; the creature remains lonely because there is no one who shared his experience; and the reader is left in the dark because language doesn’t tell us enough. Shelley conveys in her novel that only when people share the same experience can they truly begin to understand one other. I was at first touched by the expressions of his misery; yet when I called to mind what Frankenstein had said of his powers of eloquence and persuasion, and when I again cast my eyes on the lifeless form of my friend, indignation was rekindled within me (188). Interestingly, Walton goes through a quick change of heart in just a few sentences. After hearing the creature talk about his mournful life, Walton is moved. The creature’s language had won him over for a few moments, but he quickly changes his thoughts after remembering Victor and his story. Walton’s reaction is a direct reflection of what the reader experiences in the culminating pages of the text. Hearing the ardency of Victor’s miseries followed by the monsters miseries throws the reader into confusion. This play on language, particularly caused by the interchanging of narratives, proves that even language has its barriers. The creature cannot make Victor understand; Victor cannot make the creature understand; a
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Approximate Word count = 1046
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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