How do the writers Mary Shelley and Robert Louise Stevenson present the notion of the “monster”, in Frankenstein and Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde?
The authors Mary Shelley and Robert Louise Stevenson have both written their novels “Frankenstein” and “Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde” using the gothic genre. Their novels show in similar and in different ways how monsters can act and behave. Both novels have differences but they are both similar when presenting their main characters; Frankenstein and Dr Jekyll.
Mary Shelley and Robert Louis Stevenson both use “gothic” literature to present their stories. gothic genre is based on horror and the supernatural, the gothic genre centres itself on death and killings. At this time people had a fear of science and wanted to believe in God. People believed that God was the only person who could create life and no one else should try and do God’s job. Darwin at this time had just presented his ideas about evolution and so people were beginning to question whether God truly existed.
Chapter Five of “Frankenstein” is set on a rainy, autumn night. The chapter shows how Frankenstein brought his creation to life; it also shows Frankenstein’s horror towards the creature he had created. The chapter is in first person so you can understand the story from Frankenstein’s point of view. Frankenstein speaks of his hard work to create his monster “I had deprived myself of rest and health”. This shows how desperate Frankenstein was to create new life. Frankenstein talks about the monsters terrifying appearance with “hideous, black lips”.
The Essay on Frankenstein Playing God Victor Nature Monster
The theme of Mary Shelleys Frankenstein is when you play God it will always come back to plague you. Frankenstein is a creature created from dead flesh sewn together like a jigsaw puzzle of human parts. Victor Frankenstein is the mastermind behind the creation and becomes haunted with the unthinkable of what nature can produce. Nature proved to be more powerful than man. Playing God left Victor ...
Also in chapter 10 of “Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde” is also in first person which shows how the two novels are similar. This chapter is “Henry Jekyll’s full statement of the case” which means you can learn the true events of the novel. In the chapter Jekyll’s downfall is revealed from his own view in a letter to Utterson. Jekyll talks about being from a wealthy family and becoming a doctor it also shows he had desires of an evil nature which he could not keep hidden. Dr Jekyll shows how he lived a double life, switching from one person to another.
In these two chapters of the novels you can see strong comparisons between the two and you can see how Stevenson and Shelley wanted to present their monsters in the same way. Throughout the two chapters their appearances are continually mentioned. Frankenstein describes his monster as having a “dull, yellow eye” and that his “luxuriances only formed a more horrid contrast”. Shelley uses oxymorons to show the contrast between ugly and beautiful. Frankenstein chose these features as beautiful but now the monster is alive, he is seeing these features in a different way. Jekyll also describes Hyde’s hand as “lean, corded, knuckly, of a dusky pallor, and thickly shaded with a swart of hair”. These similarities show how Shelley and Stevenson presented ugliness as being evil. Both Hyde and Frankenstein’s monster were judged their looks and it shows how people judge people on how they look.
Mary Shelley and Robert Louise Stevenson both use juxtapositions to present the notion of their monsters. Frankenstein describes his creature as having “pearly white teeth, yellow skin” and Jekyll says “His wonderful selfishness”. Shelley and Stevenson use juxtapositions to show the contrast between good and evil.
are presented to the audience these are “Mr Hyde” and Frankenstein’s creation. These two monsters are seen as monstrous because they have killed a lot of people and also because of the way they look and behave. But through the two chapters you can also begin to see how Shelley and Stevenson show how Dr Jekyll and Frankenstein have monstrous qualities. Dr Jekyll created Mr Hyde purely so he could express his evil pleasures without getting caught. Frankenstein created his creature in order to play God and to be powerful. I think that Dr Jekyll is monstrous as he continuously had evil thoughts about killing people and anyone prepared to kill someone has monstrous qualities, also because he in a way gets Hyde do it for him, this shows how he is more of a monster. Throughout the story of Frankenstein everyone assumes that the monster is Frankenstein’s creation. But sometimes a monster cannot be seen but heard. Frankenstein continually shows his irresponsibility when he refuses to accept full responsibility for his creation. Mary Shelley and Robert Louis Stevenson want to show that a monster can be in all different forms and wanted to secretly show how monsters can sometimes be hidden underneath people.
The Essay on Character Analysis – The Monster In Frankenstein
The monster’s physical grostequeness, as well as murderous deeds – his strangling of William, Clerval, Elizabeth and framing of Justine – tempts the unthinking reader to believe that the monster is the embodiment of evil. However, on analysis, the reader realizes that this is not entirely true. Mary Shelley has gone to great lengths to portray the monster as less of a ‘daemoniacal corpse’ and more ...
