In the book, Frankenstein, Victor and the creature (or arguably "the monster") share many commonalities and differences in language that encourages the readers to reflect on who the monster truly is in the story. Although the creature and Victor initially appear blatantly different, Mary Shelley utilizes their language to show they have more in common than appears initially, especially in relation to their use of language to gain power.
Foremost, Victor often uses language to empower himself more through education. As seen in the story, Victor uses language (verbal and written) to learn more about science, especially with "forbidden" sciences. With this, Victor eventually becomes a social hermit who spends much time alone, studying books for the power in language and as a result, he creates the creature.
On the other hand, the creature also uses the power of language, but his original purpose is for a different intention. When the creature finally finds a small French family that he wants to connect with and relate to. He learns language to empower himself to fulfill this goal. However, his plans of utilizing language's power are not successful (although he does acquire the language).
As a result, both the creature and Victor utilize language for power. For Victor, he desires language's power to become more knowledgeable and even to create life. On the other hand, the creature desires to use language's power to connect with others. Unfortunately, although both were successful in utilizing language, language became a double-edged sword that facilitated much damage and left both characters with regret.
No comments:
Post a Comment