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Essay on 'Frankenstein is a warning about the dangers of isolation'
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Essay on 'Frankenstein is a warning about the dangers of isolation'
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Frankenstein is a warning about the dangers of isolationMary Shelley’s ‘Frankenstein’ is filled with questions that transfixes the mind of the
modern man. One such issue that was prominent during the Age of Enlightenment is
the issue of isolation and its effects on the human mind and body. Due to this many
ask is isolation dangerous and in the case of ‘Frankenstein’ it is certainly depicted as
such, but it also can have benefits too as with the case of Victor. Shelley herself
faced many cases of isolation in her own life: an aloof father, surrounded by the
patriarchal paradigm and the loss of her own children.
Firstly, Shelley illuminates the novel as a warning about the dangers of isolation in
the character of Robert Walton; “I have one want which I have never yet been able to
satisfy…I have no friend.” Shelley uses Walton’s first-person narration to display the
void isolation creates within a human soul. Shelley portrays Walton as a man of
wealth and adventure and yet he remains unhappy and unfulfilled as he has no
companion. The structuring of the novel indicates the importance of this theme as it
appears time and time again. Shelley’s effective use of epistolary form adds a hollow
echo to Walton’s account in the opening letters of the novel. The unidirectional
syntax adds and parallels the loneliness that Robert Walton. We clearly see that
Walton is lonely and that is sympathy provoking but what danger looms as a result of
isolation in Walton’s case is made explicitly clear. Many see Walton as careless with
human life, the reason for which many put down to his ego and extreme ambition.
However, I believe it is due to his isolation. We see his lack of care when we read,
“success shall crown my head…What can stop the determined heart and resolved
will of man?” Walton’s verbose lexis and direct tone is very explicit in it depicting
Walton as driven beyond care. Despite his many assurances to his sister Walton
makes no recognition of the consequences that might befall the people in his employ
that trek this dangerous arena of nature that many in the Age of Enlightenment have
attempted to explore. At a time of great discovery Walton is following the waves of
real-world artic explorers, such as Henry Stephenson, that made the perilous
journey. Many of these explorers met their deaths at the hands of the elements and
this fact demonstrates the gravity of duty Walton has to his fellow sailors. Isolation
has made him lose the skill of empathy and so ambition festers in his mind and
controls every action endangering his crew and his own life clearly showing that
Frankenstein is a warning about isolation.
Furthermore, the character that is synonymous with the theme of dangers of
isolation, Victor Frankenstein, exhibits many reasons why the novel is a warning
about these dangers. One reason is how Victor’s human relationships diminish as a
result of his isolation; “Two years passed in this manner, during which I paid no visit
to Geneva.” This quote reminds the reader of the retrospective narrative that is used
in this novel. It is used in this quote to demonstrate how isolation begets isolation
and that is the warning this part of the text tries to cry out. This first period of isolation
made evident in Shelley’s use of a timescale leads to further periods of self-imposed
isolation for Victor, perhaps in pursuit of solace but instead usually results in misery.
These periods of isolation become longer and longer in varying locations and leading
Victor farther and farther from his friends and family. It takes the murder of Victor’s
brother for him to return to his kindred that he loves so dearly and love him too. This
pitfall of isolation is further seen in where Victor, “fixed himself on one of the
remotest of the Orkneys...” Hence abandoning his best friend and travelling
companion Clerval on the Scottish mainland. Shelley uses the doppelganger
throughout her novel and a clear double can be drawn between Victor and Walton in
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