PART TWO: “I don’t believe the body downstairs ever died. There is no cause of death, because it never died. And it never died because it’s never been alive.”
The quotation presented above comes from Jack Finney’s famous novel “Invasion of the Body Snatchers”. The quotation suggests to us that it is not death that is uncanny, but rather improper life. Miles describes the body he finds as a product of artificial manufacturing which is the very essence uncanniness because it indicates improper life; it is simply not meant to be. Relating to Freud’s principle theme of ‘the double’ (the idea that something like us could very well replace us), the quotation provides evidence of the possibility of this phenomenon, which pushes the reader from terror into the realm of horror8. An analogous dimension of the quotation can be observed through Miles’ unfamiliarity with the situation he describes. As a man of science, his encounter with the impossible is the prime cause of the uncanny. The human body which was once “old long and familiar” now becomes foreign and mysterious which Freud labels as the feeling’s principle cause.
“My life had hitherto been remarkably secluded and domestic; and this had given me invincible repugnance to new countenances.” *** this is also
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In it, the narrator Victor Frankenstein describes to us the circumstances under which he went to the University of Ingolstadt. H describes that his whole life had been spent with people whom he considered beautiful and aesthetically pleasing in some way or form. Victor blames his seclusion as the reason why he finds new people and places repulsive, or even ugly, but in fictional reality it is due to his immensely narcissistic nature; an ego defence mechanism. This so-called narcissism will eventually lead Frankenstein to his ultimate demise. His ego prevents him from realizing the consequences of his scientific
Here is where the forces of self esteem is applied. The speaker is already unpleased with the structure of the human body and then he discovers he is the product of intimacy, which he can only relate to disease. This makes him feel as if he's just some animal. He then goes on to talk about how his father isn't a serious man and relates him in this way to Frankenstein. He reflects on another memory he has of his parents sitting on the porch laughing, drinking,
At the beginning, Victor is introduced to be a young, driven scientist with a desire to discover new things. He broken heartedly pleaded to Henry and Professor Waldman, “listen. You love someone, they have a sick heart-wouldn’t you give them a healthy one?”(scene 6) He genuinely saw it that way, to help others not feel the pain and sorrow he felt. Frankenstein’s innocent ambition quickly goes downhill as his craving for knowledge and the ability to create a being that will not grow old or sick takes over.
This is important because it shows how if man goes beyond his limits, then nature lets man create all types of consequences for himself because he did not respect nature’s powers. In my opinion, Victor Frankenstein chose to believe in the philosophy of science rather than focusing on his family, which ultimately, led to his demise. The scientist’s obsession is seen in the quote, “No one can conceive the variety of feelings which bore me onwards, like a hurricane, in the first enthusiasm of success. Life and death appeared to me ideal bounds, which I should first break through, and pour a torrent of light into our dark world. A new species would bless me as its creator and source.”
In the story Frankenstein, one certain theme that sticks out is isolation. Isolation is portrayed by many characters in many different ways. Victor's feeling of isolation revolved around his studies and the monster. The Monster felt the feeling of isolation from always feeling like an outcast as well as feeling like he is doing something wrong. The character's actions in this story were the main cause of them feeling isolated in the end.
Victor was intrigued by his readings of famous alchemists. With both very close to him, Victor grew happy and well but it is evident that one can have too much of the other. Anything without balance is dangerous to an individual and Victor Frankenstein clearly shows this. Life for Victor would have easily been improved if loved ones were constantly around.
In Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, Victor is fascinated by the creation and decay of life and is relentless to create him one, but turns out to be a horrifying nightmare by bringing a monster into the world. One's desire can be so great that it blinds people from the things in life they truly care about, but would not know till it is gone. Victor Frankenstein goes from an arrogant man who only thinks about his only desires to a guilt ridden man who wants to protect others after his mistake killed innocent people. Victor Frankenstein is an arrogant man who only thinks about his only desires and does not care about what people says. Since he is spoiled by his family by giving him gifts like Elizabeth “as his- his to protect, love, and cherish” (30).
Uncanny means a sense of estrangement in a place showing something which is threatening and tempting to outlay in the bounds of the intimate. It is signified in the Sigmund Freud’s story which elaborates on the modern human condition (Freud, 1955). Freud describes more about the psychological developments and its effects to human beings. Similarly, uncanny elements are also demonstrated in the epic of the Joyce Carol Oates’ Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been, which is illustrated by the character, Arnold Friend. Oates addresses how psychological challenges are brought on by an obsessive love and uncanny habits.
“My ardour was indeed the astonishment of the students, and my proficiency that of the masters. Pg 49” this quote is a very clear example of how Frankenstein is seeing himself as much more important than the other students and even as good as a master already at the college. It is not stated how long he has been attending the college, but it is an assumption that it has not been a long amount of time at all and he is saying how amazing he has gotten already that he is the equivalent of a master who has been teaching for years and years. “Narcissistic Personality Disorder is a disorder that is characterized by a long-standing pattern of grandiosity” the quote by Frankenstein fits this characterization well because he is exaggerating his own abilities and
Victor Frankenstein is selfish. The novel portrays Victor as a selfish character who is only concerned about his own well-being. Frankenstein wanted to manipulate the power of life. He abandons his creation because of the creature’s appearance and also withholds information or lies about his creation. Due to Victor 's selfishness, readers feel sorry for his creation.
The monster is spurned by society because of his horrific appearance, his body, alone and hated, unfit for the company of strangers, just as Frankenstein fears he is. He is miserable which makes the hatred grow, as he says, “all men hate the wretched; how then must I be hated, who am miserable beyond all living things!” In fact, this wretchedness and enforced isolation is the monster’s main character trait, parallel to the isolation being Frankenstein’s biggest fear. Now that Victor is in college, he does not have his family to fall back upon for affection.
As you can see, Victor 's departure from home is a dark foreshadowing of things to come. There is nothing affirmative in his departure from home: it is immediately preceded by his mother 's death, the journey itself is "long and fatiguing," and he knows no one at all at Ingolstadt. At university, the obsessive pursuit of knowledge will come to take the place of Victor 's friends and family; it will both substitute for human connection and make any such connection impossible. Frankenstein becomes progressively less human-that is to say, more monstrous as he attempts to create a human being. He tortures living creatures, neglects his family, and haunts cemeteries and charnel houses.
There are many signs that happen in Frankenstein’s early life that’ll deflect him from pursuing his original studies, such as, his father not explaining why Victor shouldn’t read the book by Agrippa, the storm that he’s fasciated from and after he discovers the tree that was struck by lightening the night before. While, the Monster is traumatized after being abandoned by Victor. The Monster wants to be validated and loved by Victor. His need for validation leads him to seek it out whenever he can, though it proves to be disastrous.
The need and mutual respect for love and companionship is what truly makes one human. In the book Frankenstein it is seen from the first time Victor brings his monster to life that he has no compassion or attachment towards him. In fact, he abandons him out of fear. Throughout the story the monster feels a lack of affection, not only from Victor but from the other people he meets and wants to make friends with, leaving him in misery. Due to persistent abandonment and apathy, the monster sought out revenge and committed treacherous acts of violence.
Victor questions why men so instinctively attempt to become superior to nature when men are also a product of nature. He criticizes that if humans reverted to our primal instincts, “hunger, thirst, and desire” (67) that we’d be free, or content with our lives. This is his subliminal self-reflection as he understands that seeking the secret to life, by creating the monster, did not bring him happiness but rather brought him misery and self-loathing. In this last line of the passage, Shelley highlights a major morale and theme of the story which is using science to tamper with nature, a critique against the enlightenment period. The consequences of Frankenstein’s creation have not only caused the death of William and Justine but will also become the reason for his own inevitable doom
Since the genesis of the Gothic era, intoxicants and states in which lines between imagination and reality are blurred, have been prevalent; this convention remaining evident within the appropriation of Black Swan. Sigmund Freud’s perception of ‘The Uncanny’ reveals that repressed desires emerge in dreams, and when one is opposed with this exposure in reality, feelings of uncanny are thus produced. Lisa Hopkins reiterates the Freudian studies regarding The Uncanny, as she reveals the Gothic having a tendency “to portray all states of mind that intensify normal thought or perception. Dream states, drug states, and states of intoxication have always been prevalent in the Gothic novel because repressed thoughts can surface in them.” Nina experiences