StudentShare
Contact Us
Sign In / Sign Up for FREE
Search
Go to advanced search...

The Role of Suspense and Foreshadowing in the Novel Frankenstein - Essay Example

Cite this document
Summary
Mary Shelley grew up with a self-righteous and repressive father, no mother, and a nasty stepmother. Not coincidentally, her novel is void of mothers, but full of sentiments about the nature of parenting. Her protagonist, who is both mother and father to the monster he has created, fails miserably at both, abandoning his "child," despite the fact that in his own family, he has wonderful examples of caretaking and commitment.
Download full paper File format: .doc, available for editing
GRAB THE BEST PAPER96.4% of users find it useful
The Role of Suspense and Foreshadowing in the Novel Frankenstein
Read Text Preview

Extract of sample "The Role of Suspense and Foreshadowing in the Novel Frankenstein"

Download file to see previous pages

The typical gothic plot tends to delay narrative development through digressions, interruptions, infolded tales, interpolated poems, etc. which move the narrative backwards as well as forwards and Frankenstein is no exception to this. The novel's structure of framed and embedded narratives (for example, Walton narrative and that of the De Lacey family) act as diversions from the main narrative told by Frankenstein, a delay that serves to increase suspense and tension. Marry Shelly's use of Foreshadowing in Frankenstein creates a literary taste in the novel.

"But I forget I am moralizing in the most interesting part of my tale; and your looks remind me to proceed" (Baldick, 1997, pp. 45-59). Foreshadowing is an important part of Frankenstein. It is used to increase suspense because as a readers go through novel the foreshadowing is revealing them that something bad is about to happen and it is their job to go after the clues and try to guess what it is. Throughout the novel, as we observe that the three main narrators (Victor, the Monster, and Walter) use foreshadowing.

Each of the narrators uses foreshadowing in a diverse and different way. Some of the narrators like victor are more obvious in their hints as to what is going to happen than others."If the Study to which you apply yourself had a tendency to weaken your affections , and to destroy your taste for those simple pleasures in which no alloy can possibly mix, then that study is certainly unlawful," (Baldick, 1997, pp. 45-59). In this quote Victor is speaking about how if something you are doing takes up all your free time and makes you neglect the other aspects of your life it certainly cannot be good.

In this quote Victor is also foreshadowing the completion of his monster and the effect it will have on his life. This is an example of the most blatant foreshadowing in the novel; this book was written as if Victor was relating it out loud to William. As a result of this most of the foreshadowing victor does is extremely blatant because when a person is telling a story it is hard for them to keep from foreshadowing the ending through there body language, tone, or the way they tell the story.

Because Shelly could not convey tone or body language through written words she had to make the foreshadowing victor does much more blatant to keep the suspense of the story."One day, when I was oppressed by cold, I found a fire which had been left by some wandering beggars, and was overcome with delight at the warmth I experienced from it. In my joy I thrust my hand into the live embers, but quickly drew it out again with a cry of pain. How strange, I thought, that the same cause could produce such opposite effects!

" (Literary Cavalcade, 2002, pp. 34-37). In this quote by the monster, shows the style in which he foreshadows in this story. This was one of the monster's earliest experiences where he finds that some things can cause both pleasure and pain. This is

...Download file to see next pages Read More
Cite this document
  • APA
  • MLA
  • CHICAGO
(“The Role of Suspense and Foreshadowing in the Novel Frankenstein Essay”, n.d.)
Retrieved from https://studentshare.org/miscellaneous/1514663-the-role-of-suspense-and-foreshadowing-in-the-novel-frankenstein
(The Role of Suspense and Foreshadowing in the Novel Frankenstein Essay)
https://studentshare.org/miscellaneous/1514663-the-role-of-suspense-and-foreshadowing-in-the-novel-frankenstein.
“The Role of Suspense and Foreshadowing in the Novel Frankenstein Essay”, n.d. https://studentshare.org/miscellaneous/1514663-the-role-of-suspense-and-foreshadowing-in-the-novel-frankenstein.
  • Cited: 1 times

CHECK THESE SAMPLES OF The Role of Suspense and Foreshadowing in the Novel Frankenstein

Looking Back at Frankenstein 200 Years Ago

However, I have not, since very recently, actually read Shelley's novel and the experience opened my eyes not only to who Frankenstein actually was in that novel, but also to the ways of the European world in the 1800s, the beauty of the places depicted in the novel as vividly described by the author, and to Shelley herself for having produced such a very well conceptualized and written piece, moving and entertaining even after 200 years. Shelley's novel opens with several letters written by the storyteller, Robert Walton to his sister, Margaret Saville, in England as Walton himself is on a grand voyage to the end of the earth....
4 Pages (1000 words) Essay

Role of the scientist in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

One of these debates was the question of the proper role of the scientist in the contemporary age, addressed in the novel frankenstein written by Mary Shelley.... In this novel, Victor frankenstein, the main protagonist, stretches the bounds of technology to its limit takes the concept of new technology to its ultimate limit trying to overcome death by re-animating dead tissue, trying to create life on his own terms.... “The ancient teachers of this science,' said he [frankenstein's first professor], ‘promised impossibilities, and performed nothing....
4 Pages (1000 words) Essay

The Role of Violence and Suffering in the Novel Frankenstein

The essay "The Role of Violence and Suffering in the novel "Frankenstein" concerns the analysis of the above-mentioned novel.... Admittedly, the role of the violence and suffering in the novel is just an external manifestation of how a man will be driven towards violence when he feels desolate.... Shelley's novel frankenstein also reveals the flaws of human character as depicted in the character of Victor Frankenstein.... Victor frankenstein attempted to create life but instead made a monster both in his creation and of himself....
5 Pages (1250 words) Essay

Gothic Novel: Frankenstein

In the given paper we will consider the gothic novel, its main categories and prove that Mary Shelley's novel frankenstein can be accurately categorized as a Gothic novel because it includes many of the components.... However, the novel still is full of the elements of gothic style novel: “but more recent studies of Frankenstein have led critics to rethink Romanticism in light of Mary Shelleys contribution” (Fisch and Mellor, 1993, p.... In literature the most frankenstein by Mary Shelly is the bright example: The style of novel has always been controversial: “Critics originally tried to assimilate Mary Shelleys novel topatterns already familiar from Romantic poetry” (Fisch and Mellor, 1993, p....
7 Pages (1750 words) Research Paper

Questions on Frankenstein

In addition this distance between characters can be small or big and it acts as a link between stories in a narrative. Victor as a youth becomes… Agrippa was a self-reported magician who argued the problems faced by science were due to the influence of magic.... That by understanding how magic The description is vague simply because Victor does not want to people to know the where about of the creature due to fear of humanitarian principals that's why he fears the destructive nature of the creature even though he feels sympathy for the creature....
5 Pages (1250 words) Essay

Elements of Romanticism within Frankenstein

Victor frankenstein in his laboratory experiments.... Elements of Romanticism within frankenstein Introduction frankenstein was a given to a creature that was created byDr.... Victor frankenstein in his laboratory experiments.... In her story about the frankenstein the monster, Mary Shelley uses the aforementioned style to embrace and simultaneously contest this romantic idea.... The moment in which she describes the frankenstein is not a moment recalled from her personal experience....
1 Pages (250 words) Essay

The Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelley

At the end of the novel, through Frankenstein, the author completes that the moral and spiritual development is possible to attain best through the shading of dogmatic belief structures, which results to the elimination of God upon the attainment of self-realization.... The allegory of creation becomes clear to the reader right from the beginning of the novel.... frankenstein, also known as The Modern Prometheus is Mary Shelly's novel in regards to a young student of science by the name of Victor frankenstein, who is engages in creating a grotesque but the sentient creature through an unorthodox scientific experiment....
4 Pages (1000 words) Essay

Critical analysis essay on the Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein sorrow

The main theme of sorrow in the novel “Frankenstein” was due to the obsession for knowledge.... Therefore, the sorrows prevalent in the novel were due to knowledge.... The author expresses the terrible experiences of the major characters: frankenstein, monster, and Watson.... It compares his life to frankenstein and as well he had little communications with people.... In conclusion, Mary Shelley expresses the theme of sorrow throughout her novel “frankenstein”....
5 Pages (1250 words) Essay
sponsored ads
We use cookies to create the best experience for you. Keep on browsing if you are OK with that, or find out how to manage cookies.
Contact Us