“ He struggled violently. ‘ Let me go,’ he cried, ‘ monster! Ugly wretch! You wish to eat me and tear me to pieces. You are an ogre. Let me go, or I will tell my papa” (pg. 131). These two quotes are from a very suspenseful and eye opening scene in the book where the monster explains his actual journey and what he has done that is so bad. This shows a scenario of dramatic irony in a way that the reader knows exactly what this one character has done and understands what is to come when the rest of the characters, especially in the Frankenstein family have no idea what had happened and how without such a story that the monster went through to get to this point.
“ Hideous monster! Let me go. My papa is a syndic - he is M. Frankenstein - he will punish you. You dare not keep me” (pg.131). |
Dramatic ironyDramatic Irony is irony in which the audience knows much more about what is going on than the characters in the book or play. The majority of the time when dramatic irony is used by characters it is to symbolize that one character knows this information as well as the audience but not all characters know the actual outcome and this is helpful when determining foreshadowing. In Frankenstein, there are some major instances where dramatic irony is present, for instance when Victor was dealing with his creation, William's death and the creation/monsters journey. The first example found in Frankenstein was of how Victor begins to deal with his creation and basically he is in shock. This becomes a sort of dramatic irony because only the reader/ audience knows the true reason as to why Victor has become extremely ill and it is because he can't believe he brought something back to life with a "spark." Even Henry Clerical, his best friend, comes to visit to see how things were going and Victor doesn't even mention what he has been up to. As well he receives letters from home and they kept asking how he was and never once explained the true reasoning until the news of William's death and then when Victor runs into the creation again. On page 61 , a moment of dramatic irony is seen with Victors feelings of guilt. "My journey was melancholy. At first I wished to hurry on, for I longed to console and sympathize with my loved and sorrowing my friends; but when I drew near my native town, I slackened my progress." This demonstrates dramatic irony since he has a weary feeling of going home but as the reader you can get an idea as to why and no one else in the story understands why he became ill and what happened to his creation.
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Tragic IronyTragic irony is a form of dramatic irony in which the audience is aware of something that the major characters may not fully know or acting as an impending tragedy of what is to come. Usually the use of tragic irony deals with the death of major characters or some fatal scene coming together. Most of this irony is established in the beginning of dialogue in plays, books, or any type of literature. For example, the play, Romeo and Juliet began with a preface of the sharing knowledge to the audience of the future tragic deaths of both Romeo and Juliet. In Frankenstein, the tragic irony doesn't seem so apparent at first until you read a bit deeper and understand what is actually happening. What seems to be the tragic irony is that the audience knows that William will eventually die, when the preface says, " Or the literary death of little William could express her anxiety over the real baby William, or a wish to dispose of her half-brother William, her own younger sibling, or her father" (pg. xxi). I believe that this a sort of tragic irony because only in the beginning of the book you would find out the tragic future of a character named William who is portrayed in the book and not only just in the authors life. By knowing this it appears to the audience that this is going to happen no matter the turn of events but none of the characters seem to know, so this shows the true irony of the situation. Another found tragic irony in Frankenstein is found in the letters when the situation is presented of Robert Walton stumbling on Victor Frankenstein in the middle of the sea heading toward the North Pole. I believe that the tragic irony is how only the reader really knows what will happen to Frankensteins later creation and that it seems to not be so good especially since he was being chased by Victor toward the North.
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"for your sympathy, but it is useless; my fate is nearly fulfilled. I wait but for one event, and then I shall repose in peace. I understand your feeling" (pg.15). I believe this quote does show some of the tragic irony represented in the last letter written by Walton to his sister with the information about Victor and his problem. Knowing this leads to feeling a tragedy is soon to come and that seems to be the reason of why he had made it so far north. The irony of this really is that Victor throughout the book feels guilty about his creation and everything he had done and yet it seems so ironic to look back on this situation and see how much Victor may seem to care about his creation and the monster doesn't even know it.
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"As I said this I suddenly beheld the figure of a man, at some distance, advancing towards me with superhuman speed..." (pg. 85). After that he got letters from home and London, from Clerval about going to England and how he wants Victor to come so he had to get his laboratory ready to leave by getting rid of all remnants of the half formed creature. As Victor left he travelled toward Ireland without knowing until he got there and was told to give countenance for a crime that occurred before he arrived. Then he was told of the crime being that the person killed was strangled on the neck and Frankenstein freaked because he thought his creation had done it. He then found out that the man killed was his dear friend, Clerval, he became so depressed and so misfortunate. And from this, Victor was accused of committing this killing and he was outraged for this was not his doing and began only hoping for death. Once this happened Victor became held in prison and then set free and sent back home with his father and he then wanted to be prepared to crush down this killing being/ monster of creation. Once he returned closer on his journey home with his father, he began to have horrible dreams of his creation trying to strangle him. Then the monster actually appeared to him warning him that the next time he will see him is on the night of the wedding to Elizabeth. And then it happened, on the night of his wedding, Elizabeth was murdered right in front of Victor bu the horrible monster. And the motive was clear that all these killings were because he felt pain and he wanted Victor to feel the same way. Then after sharing this story to all of the people in the ship he was on, Victor couldn't take it and the book ends with the death of Victor.
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PlotPlot is defined as being the series of events and all happenings that lead to telling what is going on in a story that is primarily demonstrated in a pattern that is intended or unintended that puts the whole plot together. Throughout the whole story of Frankenstein, it begins with foreshadowing of events from Robert Walton finding out what Victor is doing up north from Europe and his whole story. Then begins the events of Victors life that lead up to Victor Frankensteins interest in the field of natural science even without full support but he had full enthusiasm. Then he made the move to leave home to study in college and was able to learn new techniques that made him think that maybe he can make something that was once dead come back to life with other pieces of dead bodies that were their best parts. Once that happens he was able to make this creature come to life and then Victor went into a shock and illness. That then lead to a horrible event in his family which was a murder of his little brother and his somewhat fostered family member, accused of the crime. Victor then became extremely guilty. With this news he headed home and became so stressed that he goes on a long hike one night and sees something he only imagined in a dream could have been near his home of Geneva. Victor then saw his creation on his hike and was so angered because he knew at that moment that his monstrous creation had done this crime of murder but didn't know the true meaning. From that point on came a story of what the creation has been going through discovering food, traveling for safety and warmth, and then actually achieving an act of revenge on his creator. The monster by then knows how to speak and knows exactly what he had done was very bad and that was murdering William by choking him to death. Then he found a locket in this young boys pocket and saw a very pretty woman in it and realized it would be nice if he had a woman in his life. So on his way toward civilization where he finds a barn and sees a young girl who is asleep and basically frames her for the crime without knowing by putting the locket in her pocket. After that moment, the monster then realizes he wants a bride. Then once he sees his creator once again, he asks for a new creation of a woman and at first Victor doesn't want to make it but later on he decides that with the assistance of Henry Clerval, his closet friend, at his side he begins his endeavor into creating this new being. Yet the monster then came back and tried to make sure the promise would not be broken of that making him a bride and Frankenstein declines the promise and breaks it.Then Dr. Frankenstein was reminded that he will be married soon.
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