Umaba B
Roll
No: 15
Topic: Narrative technique in Frankenstein
Narrativetechnique in
Frankenstein
Frankenstein
is a novel with a complex narrativestructure. the gothic novel Frankenstein , or the modern Prometheus
is the result of MaryShelly’s travels to Geneva , Switzerland with her future
husband P.B.Shelly ,Dr.john polidori and lord Byron , themselves famous authors
, and an entertaining contest between those friends about who could write the
best horror story ,convinced of a nightmare after reading German ghost stories
by the fire and conversing about Darwinism , occult ideas ,galvanism and
science , the only nineteen year old Mary shelly put this piece of art
down on paper and published it
anonymously.
In the core of the novel the creature‘sstory
ispresented to us framed victor Frankenstein’s story which itself isunframed by
Robert Walton’s epistolary narrative. The overall structure of the novel is
symmetrical it begins with the letters of Walton, shifts to victor’s tale, then
to the creature’s narration, so as to switch to victor again end with the
records of Walton. In this manner reader gets different versions of the same story
from different perspectives. Mary Shelley’s rather atypical approach not to
stick to only one narrator and one defined narrative situation throughout the
book creates various impressions on the reader of the novel. The narrative
situation of a text describes the structure of how the content,plot, characters
and events are being mediated to the reader and is often referred to as the
point of view. The narrative situation is one of the main categories in literary
analysis.
The
novel opens with an epistolary form and in a sense, this continues for the
entire novel. It is easy to forget that everything in the novel is told through
Walton’sletters to his sister. Victor tells him of his own misery and also
relates the creature’s tale to Walton. This shows shelly makes use of embedded narratives
in the novel- both victors story are embedded within Walton’s letters.so this
sets Walton up as our main narrator and source of information thought the
novel. He’s an interesting character, and arguably very similar to victor.
Furthermore as we get deeper and deeper into the embedded narratives, we
distance ourselves from the original word of Walton, even though he is still
guiding the entire novel. By the time we are at the heart of the novel, and the
creature is giving us itstale, we are right in the middle of all the embedded
narratives. This narrative distancing May be reflective of other ‘distances’ in
the novel ‘it may reflect the geographical distance and how all three
characters are isolated in their own ways, it may reflect the moral distance
between victor and his fellow men or it may reflect Shelley’s desire to be
distance from any sort of female voice in the novel- perhaps in fear that a
female voice would be seen to reflect her own views and beliefs, which would
arguably be frowned upon at the time of writing. By escaping into the multi-
layered narratives of three male characters.
It
is also interesting to note that creature’s narrative is heart of the novel. It
is at very centre. This could be suggestive of many things. Perhaps by having
the creatures tale at the heart of the story, shelly is suggesting that the
creature is an integral part of all of us .perhaps shelly is suggesting that
the creature reflects the other two characters and serves as a ’mirror’ being slotted in between victor and Walton’s
narratives .
The
three narratives are also very similar they all warn of certain dangers such as
overreachingambition, andthey all appear to highlight male dominance and quests
where as women are pushed to the side . Walton uses the women in his
story-sister- as his audience .similarly, victor relegates Elizabeth to be a
correspondent rather than a companion. And the creatures yearns for a female
companion that he is never given. Considering that Shelly’s mother,MaryWollstonecraft,
was an advocated of feminist philosophy, it seems odd that Shelley has mistreated
women in such a way in her novel. A theme that is echoed throughout all three narratives.
But the absence of the women is one of the males have tragic stories – perhaps
men are too hung up on their own ambitions and desires for power. Furthermore,
victors tale is strangely feminist it subverts the female role and presents victor
as a warped mother figure.
The
narrative structure of Frankenstein also arguably suspends the reader’s
disbelief at the seriously unlikely
events of the novel . by using embedded narratives and employing these
narrative so carefully and delicately , shelly is able to bridge asignificance gap betwwen what is believable
and what is not . if this story was a told from one long narrative perspective,
it wouldn’t be long before we start to think ‘ this is just ridiculous’.but by
putting unbelievable character of
creature against victor and putting victor’s unbelievable situation against the
believable character of Walton, each narrative seems to ease the reader into
appreciating what is essentially a hard to believe a story.
Frankenstein
presents us with a chinese box style
narrative – this means that there are
narrations within nararration. This style of narrator creats a lot of meaning and Also helps to
foresahadow the events within the
novel.one of the main effect this style of narration has on the narrative , is
it makes it unreliable . we are told different versions of the same story and what we are told by
Walton is third person. Before meeting the delacey’s he was inarticulate and
childlike.similarly it is difficult for the reader to fully accept victors
version of events. Victor throughout the novel .,brought the label of mad upon
himself . he secluded himself and obessed over unconventional things . the
people around him picked up on these things and thought he was psychotic. From
erratic mood wrings to depression, there
was a sense of insanity that was
associated with victor throughout the novel. As an omniscient reader, we
understand that he has reason for his depression and crazy mood swing; but there
is still an underlying sense of madness that made him fixated with such
unconventional interests. Shelly chose to use this style of the narration.
There
are a lot of ideas about why shelly chose to use this style of narrators. Victor
says he wants to ‘penetrate the secrets of nature’-clarifying that science is
all about trying to find out how the worldworks. In this sense, it could be
said that victor is trying to adopt the roll of god …all knowing, and all seeing.
by having multiple narrators , it is the reader that becomes all-knowing and
all seeing , highlighting how victor is fighting a losing battle against science. Another idea,
in keeping with the theme of science, is the idea offoreshadowing. The
narrative is put together from a collection ofvoices, not of which would hold
any real significance on their own. When victor is creating his monster he uses
stolen body parts and stitches them together .one missing body part and
creature would be incomplete. The same goes for the narratives. If one voice is
missing. Thestory wouldn’t make any sense. Science is about finding out how the
world works; the idea of knowing everything .because of multiple narration s ,
the narration becomes restricted for everyone expect the reader. In doing this,
shelly is allowing the reader to play the role of the scientist forcing us to
piece the narrations together to find out the truth.
Victor
and creature have separate narration, just as they have separate narrations
just as they have separate lives. Victor created the creature, and so therefore
had the responsibility to take in the roes of the mother; the protector instead
of facing up to what he had done, he ran away from his responsibilities and
left the creature to fend for himself. Victor and
creature going their separate ways reflect their separate narrative. The only narrators
we have are victor. The creature and Walton. We do not receive the narrative
voice of the female we shows the objectification of women, trues to that of the
time period –long before the feminist movement.
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