Do you think Frankenstein is a story that is relevant today?
I think that the story of Frankenstein Is relevant today as it involves the theme of prejudice and judgment from society. While Frankenstein was written and set in the early 1800’s, its themes and ideas still apply now, and I expect them to still apply in the future. Judgment is something everyone experiences, and something people fear. As a person, you are either a part of society or feel excluded and judged by society. The Creature in Frankenstein was excluded by society. Mary Shelley highlights the consequences and damage that the effects of exclusion and judgment has on an individual, through the progression of the actions of the Creature. This theme of judgment is also relevant today through the idea of technology and judgment through social media. On social media there are hidden, secret rules that you must conform to to fit in and not be judged. This judgment is felt through peoples reactions to your posts and photos through likes and comments. People who do not experience as many likes and comments may feel left out and excluded, and feel the need to change themselves to fit the status quo. While this is not as extreme as the Creature’s situation, it is still an example of feeling judgment through society.
Another theme that is relevant in today’s society is scientific exploration and the limits of it. In Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein arguably went too far with his scientific experiments, disrupting the natural order of nature by creating the Creature. While he had good, moral intentions, things went badly quickly, and caused a lot of pain and death. This theme is relevant today when we have advanced genetic technology such as CRISPR which allows for the editing of genes. If used appropriately, this technology could save and improve many lives, however if used inappropriately, could cause a lot of damage and disruption to nature. The story Frankenstein gives a warning to those wanting to make new scientific discoveries and progress as to check ambition and be wary of consequences, which is very important today when we have these technologies which could potentially cause a lot of good but also potentially cause a lot of bad.
Summarise the following psychological theories and explain their connection to Frankenstein
First 1000 days
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
Malsow’s hierarchy of needs is a theory developed by Abraham Maslow, who proposes that an individual’s motivation can be measured by a 5-tier pyramid, and that all people have different levels of motivation on this pyramid. Your motivation will change and improve depending on the fulfilment of your ‘pyramid’. At the bottom of the pyramid is the first basic motivation. These are our physiological needs; air, water, food, shelter, sleep, clothing and reproduction. If these needs are not fulfilled, you will not survive. Once these needs are met, the second tier is safety needs. These include personal security, employment, resources, health and property. The third tier is love and belonging, which is having fulfilment with strong relationships.
Nature vs Nurture
Define the following words and give an example of each word from a text we have studied this year:
- Idea
- Protagonist
- Antagonist
- Theme
- Setting
- Language Feature
- Symbol
- Method
The Significance of Changing Narration in Frankenstein
There are three narrators in Frankenstein, Robert Walton, Victor Frankenstein, and the Creature.
Differing perspectives gives us a readers a wider judgment of the story and therefore can decide who is ‘good’ and ‘bad’. The changes in narrator expand the theme of judgment and prejudice, where the readers make judgments on characters before reading their perspectives. For example, when readers are first introduced to the character Victor, through the perspective of Walton, they believe Victor to be crazy or insane. This perception of Victor changes when we learn Victor’s perception, however readers are also lead to make judgments on the creature under the narration of Victor. We are lead to believe that the Creature is a violent, barbaric monster, but when we learn his perspective we realise how intelligent and kind-hearted he can be.
By forcing a change in narration, readers are forced to change their perspective, and realise that they were wrong about their perceptions of characters. We become ‘society’, by having the same judgments on characters such as the Creature without understanding them and judging based on appearance. Shelley changes our perspective to show us how we can be wrong about or perceptions and how they can have detrimental effects on (the Creature). By forcing us to change our perspectives, we reflect on how we judge others in real life, and how we likely will have pre-conceived ideas or versions of others that are not true to who they really are.
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