The novel Frankenstein written in 1831 by Mary Shelley

The fresh Frankenstein written in 1831 by bloody shame Shelley is a tale that send offms to expound on legion(predicate) of the root words set forth in John Keats Ode on Melancholy. The thematic elements concur in their references to the unkn ingest and to the unwanted and sad vector sums of knowledge that lies beyond a accepted threshold of purport. Both works invite on a very tenebrious tvirtuoso and even hint at a certain inevitability in the coming of indicate and the destruction of beauty. They efficiency even be considered works that watch the sadder circumstances in deportmentwhich is in direct teleph hotshot circuit to the unbridled optimism of many amative poets of the era. The ogre created by original Frankenstein, as well as Frankenstein himself, venture the dreamlike and unkn let territory of Lethe warned against by Keats, and in harvest-tide find issue root contact the inner works of livings grief.The very first line of Keats numbers warns a gainst entrance into the unkn possess, as therein lies even more than(prenominal) differentiate of the grief that sustenance stinker hold. He writes, No, no, go not to Lethe (line 1). Lethe refers to a river build in the Greek mythologies that flowed through the infernal region of Hades. This river is peerless that causes forgetfulness and in that way casts a shroud over reality that is convertible to the misty and dreamlike sense created in the figment Frankenstein. Shelley does this using several devices, such(prenominal) as through the setting she creates. The romance begins while the first narrator and Dr. Frankenstein broom together on a vas in the dark and expansive amnionic fluid of the Arctic. The atmosphere speaks volumes of the lack of clarity that is shown to know on the earth. It also prefigures the idea of Dr. Frankensteins forgetting (as on Lethes waters) lessons learned from Faust just ab add together in reckonking as well as oft that which lies be yond closing.It mint also be seen from the very first letter written by Walton that manners is itself shown to be un unclutter and tippy in its ability to mete step up despair and regret no subject argona which actions are performed by the persons involved. Walton writes to Margaret And when sh totally I return? Ah, dear sister, how can I dish this question? If I succeed, many, many months, perhaps years, go out pass before you and I may meet. If I fail, you will see me again soon, or never (Shelley, 4). It is clear that life is like a sail into the Arctic or on the river Lethe. What lies leading is unknown and what happiness has past may easily be forgotten, as quick as gloom may come.Yet Keats kernel is much more specific than the mere pointing out of the dreamlike nature of life. It goes push to deter men from seeking out the underside of life. He specifically warns against the turn seeking of things that are associated with last and the underworld. He speaks of the foolhardiness of twisting Wolfs-bane or allowing Proserpine (the goddess of the underworld) to snog ones forehead (lines 1-4). This is portentous in the novel Frankenstein as the actions performed by that doctor may be compared straight to what Keats warns against.The doctor himself admits The moon gazed on my midnight labours, while, with tense and breathless eagerness, I pursued nature to her hidingplaces (Shelley, 45). Frankenstein reveals that he deliberately seeks out the halls of death in his quest to hold life to a cadaverous ashes. He goes beyond the call of the living man and ventures uninvited into the underworld to have his brow osculationed by Proserpine. The warning Keats gives seems to be merited as the consequences of his actions serve completely to illuminate the more ruthfulness aspects of life.A portentous smudge on Dr. Frankensteins eagerness to infuse the of a sudden body with his new concoction of life symbolizes the doom that is foretold by K eats for those who meddle with the things of death. Frankenstein describes his allege during the times leading up to the induction of his monster, and he reveals, I pursued my labor with unremitting ardour.My cheek had grown ill with study, and my person had sour emaciated with proletariat (Shelley, 44). This ushers the toll that his illicit actions were taking on his body. It is as though Proserpines kiss of death were spreading through his body while he attempted to give life to the dead one delusion on his table. The unfavorable circumstances that are yet to come are prefigured in this episode where Frankenstein seems to be transferring his own life to the cadaver on which he operates.Keats goes on to speak of the fall of melancholic when fit, and this demonstrates that melancholy itself will lie in brooding during periods that seem happy. He writes, But when melancholy fit shall fall sudden from promised land like a weeping dapple (lines 11-12). This demonstrates how in the fullness of time, melancholy itself will burst forth upon the heads of those who have performed the actions to deserve it. This is also true of the events of the novel Frankenstein. erst the scientific endeavor has been achieved, the lusus naturae becomes a herald of fear and doom.He also becomes the hand of premature death to several of the characters, all of whom were loved by Victor. Furthermore, Keats comparison of melancholys fall to the weeping of a cloud makes it known that such sadness is a part of the cycle of lifeand therefore gives the delineation that there is no real occupy to seek it out, since it comes of its own accord anyway. Death would have come to Elizabeth, William, Justine and Frankensteins father without the help of the monster that was created. There was no real need for the Dr. Frankenstein to create that artificial taker of life, since life itself has its own built-in machinery of death.Yet Keats resolve to the fall of melancholy holds a crypti c message that appears toilsome to interpret. It is necessary to dig deeply into its means before it can be reconcile with the events portrayed in bloody shame Shelleys novel. He indicates that when melancholy falls, one should scarf out thy grieve on a forenoon rose or on the rainbow of the saltiness sand-wave or on the wreath of globed peonies (lines 15-17). When one gluts or oversupplies something, this leads to a drop in the price of the thing.Sorrow glutted upon these things of beauty causes itself to become cheap, and therefore easily acquired. It is difficult to see how this can be a solution to sorrow at all, since it merely proliferates it. However, it does gestate the thesis that sorrow is easily achieved in life and it can also be seen to fit well with the ideas of the novel Frankenstein, in which the Monster goes on a move and gluts sorrow upon the happiness that at one time existed in Victors world.Yet, the glut of sorrow that Keats indicates exists in life is even more visible when one considers the condition of the Monster himself. The life into which he is brought is even more desolate and melancholy than that experienced by real humans. He is the only one of his kind and is marginalized by his very divergence to man. His hatred and wickedness is spawned directly from this positionwhich is a direct result of Frankensteins twisting Wolfs-bane for its poisonous wine (Keats, lines 1-2).When the Monster speaks to Frankenstein, it is to video display the condition to which he has been brought in life. He says, I am malicious because I am miserable. Am I not shunned and hated by all homo? (Shelley, 147) It is this immense sorrow that the Monsters life has brought him that overflows in its surplus and gluts itself on the morning rose of everything that is legal in Frankensteins life. It affects the promise of his friend and brothers lives, and causes the shedding of his wifes bloom and beauty.The ideas concerning the melancholy of life , which are reflected in this poem and novel, demonstrate several notions that are usually considered Romantic. The idea of somethings existence Romantic gives the impression that it affects more gaiety than it really does possess. This can be shown to be true of the novel Frankenstein as the contentment that the doctor proposes to collar from fulfilling his plan is in direct contrast to what actually results from his work. Yet further ideas concerning love affair can also be extracted from these ii works.The moral and Romantic belief in the apocalyptic events (as those portrayed in the Bible) followed by an era of peace and serenity can be shown to be reflected to some consummation in the texts of the Keats poem and Shelleys novel. Shelleys protagonist is hit upon by doom and destruction as a result of the actions he performed during his life. This is also demonstrated in the melancholy that falls in Keats poem as a result of the actions of one who deliberately seeks out the u nderside of the life. Similarly, Romantic (biblical) destruction of the earth is also purported to be a direct result of the actions of mankind. However, once the destruction is complete, peace returns to the earth.This is seen to occur at the end of the novel Frankenstein when the monster destroys his ecclesiastic and then wanders off to seek his own destruction. This appears to restore residue to the world. Yet, this equilibrium cannot be said to be of the same plausive quality as the peace and repose that is supposed to follow the apocalypse. In fact, this equilibrium keeps itself closer to the theme of melancholy being present naturally within life, as it is a balance between ripe(p) and evil that defines this equilibrium.The novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley and the poem Ode on Melancholy by John Keats bear many similarities to apiece other. They contain the idea that seeking too much the things that lie beyond life will unleash a evaluate of death and sorrow that is no t only unnecessary, but that will disrupt the soft equilibrium that exists on earth. Life, in equilibrium, contains both(prenominal) joy and sorrowso melancholy will come in good time without being sought.The actions of Dr. Frankenstein prove Keats hypothesis to be correct in that he pushes to see beyond life and finds the death and sorrow in greater abundance than that which he sought. The optimism typical of the romantics is challenged in the ideas of these writers, as even the return of lifes equilibrium means that death and sorrow will have as much freedom to harm humans as life and happiness to comfort them.Works CitedKeats, John. 1819. Ode on Melancholy. The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Vol. I. M. H. Abrams, et al. New York W.W. Norton, 1993.Shelley, Mary. 1831. Frankenstein. Bowser, BC aerie Publishing, 1988.