Analysis Of Quotes From Frankenstein By Mary Shelley

“What may not be expected in a country of eternal light?”

This quote is showing the character development and the plot line, as Walton is writing a letter to his sister. This letter helps explain how he wants to seek the true secrets and life, and the ultimate knowledge. The plot line is set, as Walton is going to seek this vast adventure and hopefully find what he is looking for. He is willing to sacrifice the comfort of the realm of known knowledge, to be able to expand on his kind of thinking and way of life.

The quote connects with one of the themes in this book, it connects with the idea of light being a symbol of discovery and knowledge. Walton writes to his sister how he is determined to find the secret of life and ultimate knowledge, and has an opportunity to do that in this country of “eternal light”. He wants to discover it by any means necessary, and the light is calling his name so he has to try his absolute best if he wishes to succeed.

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The reason why this quote was selected was because of the fact that he knows there is an opportunity out there to find the ultimate power of knowledge, and is willing to sacrifice the realm of known knowledge to find it. It is always very fascinating to see a man determined to seek the power of “eternal light” within their own country. He does not know what will happen but is willing to find out and maybe face some consequences along the way.

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“No human being could have passed a happier childhood than myself”

This quote very much goes with the plot line, as it shows how Victor Frankenstein had a bad childhood. However, this quote also foreshadows the rest of the book, as the readers begin to read about how the rest of Victor’s life is miserable, and in turmoil. This can also connects with the character development because his miserable life may be why he is seeking the secret of life and ultimate knowledge to comfort him. Him having a bad life can be connected to the reason why he is the way he is.

This quote connects with the theme of isolation, as Victor had such a terrible childhood and adulthood, he focuses all his efforts into his work. He began putting so much effort in his work that he did not realize how isolated he became from his family and responsibilities. This is the true reason why the monster even becomes “evil”, due to it being completely locked away. It started to become angered and full of hate, thus, wanting to make Victor as isolated as it. Victor then sees how he becomes so isolated from society and everything because of his work.

The quote was chosen because this has happened and was witnessed. A man or women having a such tough childhood and adult life that they isolate themselves and focus in a specific thing. This is very dangerous thing because of the fact that they tend to lose themselves in their own thoughts and can create voices making them evil. Isolation is something people need to look out for, because it is something that can happen to anyone if left alone for weeks on end.

“Ah! Cornelius Agrippa! My dear Victor, do not waste your time upon this; it is sad trash”

The quote stated by Victor’s father saying how the ancient alchemists are only trash, and he should not waste time on them, only adds to the character development of Victors. This only makes him who he is, by making him focus on his work even more and push away society. Victor is now more motivated to study his work and go against the rest of society, shaping his character of isolating everyone. His father encouraged him to become isolated by telling him what he loves to do is trash in other words.

Of course this quote goes with the theme of isolation as it involves Victor going against his father and society by focusing in his work even more. Even though his own father believes it to be trash, he is still very motivated to study them. This is why he begins to isolate himself from the world, he felt as the “world” was against him, so instead of believing them and stopping he continues to put all his attention to his work.

This quote was selected because parents do not understand their children sometimes, by telling what they like to do is trash, only motivates them to prove them wrong. Now this can go both ways, the child can create great things by this motivation and become successful, or the child will begin to truly lose themselves in their work. Telling their children that something they enjoy to do only makes them resent everyone and only focus on that, and this is where the lonely thoughts happen and insanity begins.

“I never beheld anything so utterly destroyed.”

The quote stated by Victory was said when he discovered lighting had hit a tree when he was a young boy. This goes with both the character development and plot line, because this is where the idea of a monster Frankenstein was created, and where he is going to isolate society. As the tree was destroyed it popped a light bulb of the natural sciences around him, creating his big problem with the monster. This is where he also begins to isolate himself and the monster from the world in order to complete his work, and the monster turns angry and creates hatred.

The way Victor says this quote in such a way of intrigue that it is quite scary. It can be clearly seen that Victor was going to try to create something big, and that is exactly what he did with Frankenstein. The tone was very mad scientist like, and this tone is what created the creation of the monster that also created many problems. It was able to be known that he was going to do something bad, or dangerous just by the tone of his voice when saying this quote, which affected later in the book.

This quote was selected because of the way he was so intrigued by the lighting hitting the tree, and was able to create something so big that it changed science forever. It is very interesting how simple and quickly someone can get a creation in their head just by something simple happening.

“So much has been done exclaimed the soul of Frankenstein- more, far more will I achieve: treading steps already marked, I will pioneer a new way, explore unknown powers, and unfold to the world the deepest mysteries of creation”.

This quote creates the character development of crazed mad scientists who wants to prove the world wrong of him. This will be the beginning of his deranged experiment in creating a monster, wanting to advance in science from those behind him. All this makes him seem crazy about the creation of his first monster, and the isolation will begin as he gets to work and shut off the real world.

The quote above connects with the theme of nature as Victory believes that people are only half made up and he himself can pioneer a new way to advance. He wishes to manipulate nature to help him create the perfect creature that will prove his theory to be correct, as people are being weighed down by pettey concerns of and countless flaws. Little does he know that this will be his downfall, and nature will always prevail at the end of it all.

This is the typical mad scientist’s talk, about how they are going to create new innovations that will change the course of science forever. However, almost 90% of the time this will be there downfall, as they believe they are helping society and the world with what they are doing. Only to find out that they are actually what is hurting society and creating more problems.

“Darkness had no effect upon my fancy; and a church yard was to me merley the receptacle of bodies deprived of life…”

This is where the readers can truly see the character of Victor to turn into insanity. He is beginning to see different from other people and is heading towards pure evil. The plot line also takes a turn for the worst as the monster is created and it has hatred just like the scientists who created it. The way of thinking of Victor turned from innovated to merley evil, just as he begins thinking of all the sinister meanings in his life.

The tone of this quote changed dramatically from the last quote of intriguing to absolutely craziness. The shift of tone is actually very important to the storyline of Victor, because he went from a scientist who wanted to manipulate nature and pioneer a new way of thinking too absolutely madness and evilness of his own life. His wanting to change science completely was a one ticket to craziness and the downfall of his own life.

The fact that someone who was meant to do somewhat good can turn upside down and fall to evil thoughts. He did not have a very pleasant life and this can be one of the major reasons why he wanted to change something so people can look at him differently. It is funny how someone can lose themselves in their own thoughts and completely turn into a purely evil person who begins to think very differently of others.

“How can I describe my emotions at this catastrophe, or hour delineate the wretch whom with such infinite pains and care I had endeavored to form”

Now the readers see the character of Victor changing from madness to absolute fear. He finally begins to realize what he has created, and is now feared of it. He did not think of the consequences that of course will happen when this creature was finished. The readers can really sense the fear and regretment in himself. His character is finally realizing the real world around him was trying to warn him of his madness, but he instead ignored all of them and followed his evilness.

This quote can connect with family, due to the fact that his own family knew what he was doing was “trash” and not worth doing. However, he ended up isolating his family completely and turning mad. If he would has kept his family by his side this creature may not of been created and Victor would of kept his sanity under control. Better late than never on the other hand, it was good that he finally realized what he did was monstrous, who knows what would've happened if he did not come to senses.

This is a classic move that happens to most people who isolate themselves and create something that is very dangerous to others. They listen to no one but themselves turn evil and do something that is absolutely horrifying, but at the end regret doing everything and try figuring out a solution. It is a classic move that happens to a ton of people, the sense of regret will never fade in human beings.

“Nothing in human shape could have destroyed that fair child. He was the Murderer.”

This is one of the consequences Victor has to deal with, as the monster he created with hatred in him is vengeance towards his master and is trying to make him isolated completely. The monster is accused of killing Victor, which the readers find out later he indeed killed him. Now the plot line is twisted, instead of the scientists being evil and crazy, the monster is now the evil one. Though not its fault, it was trapped and stuck with its own thoughts for too long.

This killing of the brother by the monster connects with the theme of isolation, which the monster was in for quite some time. It was able to configure its own thoughts and feelings, feeling hatred towards Victor wanting to make him isolated like it was for revenge. If the monster was not so isolated and was able to be free, there may not of been so much anger, and hatred of the monster. Isolation can really do damage to pretty much anything.

It was ironic how the evil scientists created a very violent monster with lots of anger and hatred in it for his own monster. The monster showed the master a reflection of himself and it made Victor realize who he has become hurting others around him with this creation.

“When I looked around I saw and heard of none like me. Was I, the monster, a blot upon earth from which all men fled and whom all men disowned?”

This quote is explaining the true emotions of Frankenstein at an early stage. He is expressing his feelings to Felix that maybe he does belong because of his character traits and how he looks a monster, he believes that no one is going to want to be seen with him around. This feeling then alters to a more hatred and violent feeling that wreaks havoc around town. The creation went from a curious creature to indeed a violent monster who kills.

The quote is significant to the plot line because this feeling of curiosity on why people did not like him, turned into loneliness. This created the monster to be left alone with his own thoughts, thus creating the absolute feeling of hatred and vengeance. This of course motivates him to kill in order to get to his master and earn its revenge for him isolating him for a long time.

This quote was very interesting because of the fact that this creature was able to think for itself and feel. Victor was actually able to make a creature that is able to feel emotions like an actual person is quite astonishing. He actually did pioneer a new way of thinking, although it was executed poorly, he still did something quite amazing. This is why the quote caught my eye immediately.

“I have no friends, Margret: when I am glowing with the enthusiasm of success, there will be none to participate my joy; if I am assailed by disappointment, no one will endeavor to sustain me in dejection.”

This quote is from the letter of Walton being written to Mrs. Saville,which explains how lonely it can be in the snow and in very much in despair for some company. He wishes that he can have some company soon, because a man alone with only his thoughts going over and over can be very dangerous. That is why it is good to have someone to talk to so they both can release emotion and let out everything out in the open.

This theme connects again with the concept of isolation and the harsh effects it can have on people even monsters as seen in the book. Isolation can be a good thing for some people, however, no one should be on isolated for a long periods of time because thoughts can turn into voices, and when voices start appearing in the head lots of chaos can occur.

The reason behind picking this quote is simply because of the reasons above. Isolation can be such a deadly thing to a human being, humans need people to talk to, they need communication. When that communication is shut off completely and people are left alone with their own thoughts, voices will start to appear telling them lies and sinister things.

“From that moment declared everlasting war against the species, and more than all, against who had formed and sent forth to this insupportable misery.”

This quote was chosen as the quote of the book, simply because of how it was created. The quote was created by a man named Victor who wanted to prove everyone around him wrong for believing in what he was doing was trash. This led to him shutting them out and wanting revenge on them by creating the other half of people and innovating science forever. Victor’s mindset was in the right place, however, the way he changed as the creation was being made, was his absolute downfall. He became made in his own thoughts and could not figure it out since he shut out society. Thus, after finally creating Frankenstein and keeping him locked away the creation started becoming self aware and developed feelings towards its master. The same feelings that Victor, the mater, had toward everyone who did not believe in his work, who made his life a misery. The creation then turned into a monster and began a killing spree, wanting to take revenge from his master who locked him away. That monster was a clear reflection of who Victor was, a man who shut down society and became evil, sitting alone with his own thoughts turning into “those voices”.

Works cited

  1. Shelley, M. (1818). Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor, & Jones.
  2. Bennett, A. A. (2017). The Cambridge introduction to literature and the environment. Cambridge University Press.
  3. Schor, E. (2012). Engaging with nature: Essays on the natural world in medieval and early modern Europe. University of Notre Dame Press.
  4. King, S. (2000). On writing: A memoir of the craft. Scribner.
  5. Botting, F. (2016). Gothic. Routledge.
  6. Mellor, A. K. (2017). Frankenstein: Annotated for Scientists, Engineers, and Creators of All Kinds. MIT Press.
  7. Knoepflmacher, U. C. (1995). Thoughts on the Aggression of Daughters. In The Endurance of Frankenstein: Essays on Mary Shelley's Novel (pp. 77-96). University of California Press.
  8. Clery, E. J. (2018). The rise of the supernatural in British fiction. Cambridge University Press.
  9. Donawerth, J. (1995). Frankenstein's Monster and Images of Masculinity. In The Endurance of Frankenstein: Essays on Mary Shelley's Novel (pp. 97-122). University of California Press.
  10. Smith, J. (1995). Cooped Up: Feminine Domesticity in Frankenstein. In The Endurance of Frankenstein: Essays on Mary Shelley's Novel (pp. 141-162). University of California Press.
Updated: Feb 02, 2024
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Analysis Of Quotes From Frankenstein By Mary Shelley. (2024, Feb 10). Retrieved from https://studymoose.com/analysis-of-quotes-from-frankenstein-by-mary-shelley-essay

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