Reflection_1.3: Reflection On Chap.24 - End

I think that the ending of the book makes us wonder if Frankenstein was ever truly redeemed. After committing great acts of hubris, he was punished severely and sought redemption in order to be saved from his punishments. Hmm... that sounds a lot like- (see picture)

THE RIME OF THE ANCIENT MARINER!

Okay, so let's look at Frankenstein from a "Rime of The Ancient Mariner" perspective. The creation of the monster resembles the sailor shooting the albatross. Frankenstein committed this act of hubris more knowingly, and thus, it was destined to have grave consequences. The monster eventually began punishing Frankenstein for his actions and Victor ultimately was left alone without any family or friends. Here is where "Frankenstein" and "Rime of The Ancient Mariner" split paths. The mariner eventually is redeemed for his actions as he is brought to his knees begging for it to end and shows true remorse for his past actions. However, in "Frankenstein", Victor is never truly redeemed, at least in my opinion. He never really shows remorse for some of his actions like embarking on a quest for scientific knowledge in the name of self-glory. Even as he is about to lie on his own deathbed in Walton's ship, he still exhibits some of the qualities that led him into the mess that he got into to begin with.

What is it that separates Victor's fate from the mariner's fate? Tragedy! The ancient mariner's ordeal is very tragic as he watches his own crew die before his own eyes, in a manner that put the blame on him. However, the tragedy ends as soon as the gods help him out and he is able to live life with his family (We assume). However, Victor's tragedy is persistent until the day he finally dies. Because of this, I think it is safe to say that "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" is not a tragedy because the main character eventually finds redemption. "Frankenstein" is a tragedy because Victor dies unredeemed with the loss of all of his family and friends.

I think the main reason why Victor wasn't redeemed was because his thoughts betrayed his actions. He told a great tale about how science should not be pursued with motivations induced by hubris, yet he said to Walton later that "Hey man, if you're going to do this quest for glory and honor, I think it's worth it." This emphasizes the fact that Victor hasn't changed much at all and that he doesn't truly deserve redemption. Redemption comes to those who deserve it because they have shown a change of heart. At the end of the book, we still see that Victor hasn't really changed his heart 100%. Therefore, he is left unredeemed as he dies at the end of the book. He never truly dropped the albatross into the redeeming sea.

College Admission Essay

            A basketball covered with teen sweat lands into my hands. It is the last minute of the middle-school basketball championship game and I am the kid that has the opportunity for the last shot of this game. I quickly assess my situation and see my options: play it safe and pass the ball to another teammate or take a risk to make a basket.

            I have not made a single basket in any of my games because I was never an athletic person and I don't like sports as much as my peers do. When I started playing basketball at the beginning of the season, I could barely dribble and the rules of the game were brand new. My parents didn't play or watch sports at all and I had nobody to teach me how to practice but myself. Even my body was not athletic by any sport's standards and my arms were fit more for playing piano than they were for dribbling the ball.

            The odds were against me but I did not let that stop me. I told myself that with enough practice and sheer will I could accomplish more than I ever thought possible at the beginning of the championship. So every night afterschool I practiced my shots in my neighbor's yard.

            Now, at the championship game, I finally have my chance. I focus on the basketball hoop and throw the ball towards it with every bit of strength in me. Then, as the ball is in midflight, the referee blows his whistle and shouts "Travel!" I take my eyes off the ball to look at him and incredulously exclaim, "What?"

            As I complain to the referee, I hear a tremendous sound of applause and cheers coming from the bleachers. I look over there to see my family, friends, and people who knew that I couldn't play well dancing up and down with joy. Some are hugging each other and some are twirling their shirts in the air round and round. At that moment I realize that the ball went through the basket. It was my first basket in the whole season and it doesn't matter that the referee didn't count it. What matters is that the boy who never made a basket showed that with determination he could conquer anything in life.  

            I have determination in everything I do in my life. In my music, there were also things that I had to overcome. For example, I was classically trained on piano since I was five, and knew nothing about playing guitar or drums. But I set out to learn them on my own, and today, I can play both with great skill. In college, I am confident that my determination will stay with me as I embark on a quest for knowledge and improvement.

Reflection_1.1: Reflection on Chap.21-23 + Anagnorisis & Catastrophe

Thinking in retrospect, this painting makes a lot more sense, having read the chapter more thoroughly. Now I finally know what that horse means! However, the goblin and the woman are much more closely related to Frankenstein than the horse.
 

Wow. I would have never guessed that this poem was likely a projection of the painter's unrequited sexual feelings towards a woman that he liked.

 Catastrophe and anagnorisis plague these chapter as Elizabeth and Henry have their lives taken away by the monster. When Victor discovers that the monster has robbed Henry of his life, he becomes overwhelmed by the emotions of grief and despair. These feelings quickly transform into hate as soon as he realizes that the monster did this only to make him feel his suffering. This shows us that the monster most likely did this in order to bring Victor down to his level. The monster felt like he was a creation born to be aborted and shunned. Living like a pariah, he could never achieve the same happiness that Victor appeared to experience. To the monster, Henry seemed to infuse Victor with hope and happiness. So, the monster thought that if he brought Victor to face the same despair that he was living in, then he would begin to truly know what he was feeling. However, this is still not enough for the monster. He wants to bring something worse than this catastrophe to Victor.

With a looming threat from the monster that he will visit Victor on wedding night, Victor is extremely nervous. The monster's threat suggests that the monster wanted Victor to feel like this so that he could torture his emotions. It's simply more pleasure for the monster as he watches all of the events unfold. Part of our desires when we are experiencing grief is that we wish that someone else could feel what we're going through. Some people can be so sadistic and cruel that they will go so far as to bring harm to them in order to make them feel their suffering first-hand. The monster shows us that he is one of these sadistic and cruel beings by treatening Victor (and ultimately carrying out the threat).

Upon wedding night, Victor is with his wife in their honeymoon cabin. Victor is so consumed with dread and fear that he asks Elizabeth to leave the cabin for a little bit so that he can face the monster alone. Then a moment of great anagnorisis occurs and Victor realizes that it was his wife that the monster was going to confront. He realizes that the monster didn't want to kill him because (in the words of Bane) his punishment must be more severe. Thus, Victor is completely stunned and shocked at the horror that he witnesses when he sees his wife dead. Mary Shelley slyly referenced Fuseli's Nightmare when she was describing how Elizabeth laid on the bed. "She was there, lifeless and inanimate, thrown across the bed, her head hanging down, and her pale and distorted features half covered by her hair." (Chap.23) Another inference about the painting's relationship to Frankenstein is that the goblin resembles the monster in that it carries an expression on its face that seems to tell me that it killed the woman and subsequently felt no remorse. Upon discovering the death of his only beloved, Victor is overtaken by emotions of grief, despair, and anger. Even yet, his tragedy goes even further as his father dies of shock when he hears of this grave news. Victor's pain is so severe because he is unable to tell anyone, so he finally decides to reveal to the world of the monster's existence. Adding to his angst, nobody believes him and they scoff at him. This is the salt in the wound. It truly makes us sorry that nobody will believe in the monster's existence besides Victor, the monster, and the readers. When someone denies the existence of your own problems, it brings you an emotion that is reserved for those in the most extreme anguish. What could be more agonizing than the fact that no one will believe in you, and therefore cannot even sympathize with you?