30/11/2009
THEMES & TOPICS : WAR IN SCOTT'S NOVELS
Just some reflections on how war and fighting are seen in Sir Walter Scott’s novels.
ivanhoeScott has a Romantic idea of war: he presents it as heroic, shaped by the code of Romances. According to him the battlefield is a place where every man can practise and show his bravery, his loyalty, his desire to sacrifice himself for other human beings or for a cause. War is the field of the Hero and the Rebel dissatisfied with society and its unjust rules. War is considered an idealized moment, men fight for some right reasons and for their ideals. 
Scott doesn’t describe the atrocities of killing, he distances the violence of a conflict transforming war into a source of imaginative pleasure, he undercovers the horrors of war with the idea of  future glory. Connected to this conception of war there is the cult of the individual, typical of the Romantic age: a rebel, a hero who fights to defend people unjustly accused, who fights to restore the just lists, against society .
Scott emphasizes heroic individual actions so a great importance is given to single combats or duels fought according to the rules of chivalry.
 Ivanhoe can be considered the Romantic Hero: he fights on the right side, to save Rebecca , to help Richard I; he doesn’t accept compromise, he is ready to die for his ideals, he is characterized by a disinterested personal virtue. Ivanhoe fights with the Anglo-Saxons against the evil Normans: patriotism is a virtue that implies active resistance to tyranny and oppressio, a heroic self-sacrifice for the public good. But the sacrifice will be rewarded, in fact the heroe is destined to be separated from the stern demands of patriotic duty and to be consigned to the enjoyment of persoonal liberty and prosperity.
In Ivanhoe, the clash between the Anglo-Saxons and the Normans reflects the social struggle between the aristocracy and the lower classes. In Waverley  the battlefield is also the place where the protagonist is subjected to an evolution: the war is the moment of the moral growth of Waverley, he will learn loyalty and bravery. The war consists also in a cultural conflict between the jacobite rebels, who want to restore the Stuart Dynasty on the throne, and the Hanoverians. Waverley is the point of contact between the two opposite sides. Also in Ivanhoe the two cultures in conflict, Anglo-Saxon and Norman, find their meeting point in the protagonist .
postato da: learnonline alle ore 18:38 | Permalink | commenti
categoria:walter scott, novelists of the romantic age, IIILB
27/11/2009
EARLY ROMANTIC POETRY - NOTES
AMP061285028__01_HIIILB 

LESSON 10

In the second half of the 18th century the new  trends in poetry  had bonds to the Augustan tradition but proposed new ideas and feelings which paved the way to the Romantic generations of poets.
1.       PASTORAL POETRY
Cottage-Girl-with-Dog-and-Pitcher-largeMain representative: William Cowper (1731-1800)
Main work: The Task (1785)
·         Reacted to the social changes taking place in the country with a re-evaluation of rural origins and a sense of melancholy and sadness
·         Praised country life for its simplicity, free from the corruption of urban life
·         “God made the country, Man made the town” (famous aphorism by Cowper)
Cowper anticipated Wordsworth’s conception of Nature as friend and moral guide


2.        OSSIANIC POETRY
drmossMain representative: James Macpherson (1736-1796)
Main achievement: Fragments of ancient poetry (1760)

Collected and published some of Ossian’s works; the authenticity of the work was controversial

·         He claimed it was a cycle of poems by a legendary Irish warrior called Ossian who lived in the 3rd century in Scotland
·         The collection got a wide European success
·         Nocturnal setting; wild gloomy nature; melancholy and  suffering resulting from war and unrequited love


3.   THE GRAVEYARD SCHOOL
 
constable4Main representatives:
Thomas Gray (1716 – 1771)   ELEGY WRITTEN ON A COUNTRY CHURCHYARD   (1751)
Edward Young (1683 – 1765)         NIGHT THOUGHTS ON LIFE, DEATH AND IMMORTALITY    
  • ·         Melancholic tone
  •  
  • ·         Cemeteries, ruins, stormy landscapes as the setting of their reflections on life, death and the destiny of Man
 
postato da: learnonline alle ore 22:44 | Permalink | commenti
categoria:18th century, IIILB, Early Romantic Poetry, early romantic poetry
25/11/2009
WAVERLEY & IVANHOE: TWO ROMANTIC HEROES
IIILB

LESSON 9

WAVERLEY (1814)
PLOT
WAVERLEY•       Edward Waverley is educated in an English Jacobite aristocratic family.
•       He is sent to Scotland to join the Hanoverian army of king George II.
•       He visits a Jacobite family friend, whose daughter, Rose, falls in love with him.
•       He , instead, is attracted by Flora Mac Ivor, the sister of the chief of the      rebels, Fergus.
•       Edward betrays his mates and joins the rebels.
•       He is finally forgiven by the king and marries Rose.
•       Fergus is killed and Flora retires into a convent.
 
HISTORICAL CONTEXT
Waverley is set during the period of the Jacobite uprisings: it starts in the late summer of 1744 and ends many months after the battle of Culloden (1746) when the Jacobites were defeated and their cause was virtually destroyed.
French Prince Charles Edward Stuart, Bonnie Prince Charlie, fought against the Hanoverian King of England, George II, to restore the Stuart dynasty on the British throne. He was supported by many Scottish rebels and by numerous English Jacobites. 
The roots of these rits were in the so-called GLORIOUS or BLOODLESS REVOLUTION (1688) when Parliaments replaced Catholic James II Stuart with his daughter, Mary, and her husband William of Orange. (SEE The Stuart Dynasty)
 IVANHOE (1820)

PLOT

IVANHOE 3
— Ivanhoe, an Anglosaxon nobleman, is in love with Rowena, who returns his love.
— His father contrasts their love, disinherits and banishes him.
— Ivanhoe joins King Richard I at the Crusades.
— When he returns he finds the country in a state of oppression due to the Norman invaders and to Richard’s brother, Prince John.
— The Normans are led by the evil Templar knight Bois – Guilbert.
— Bois- Guilbert has fallen in love with Rebecca a Jewish girl, daughter of a money-lender.
— Rebecca is accused of witchcraft and Ivanhoe defends her in a tournament in which Bois-Gilbert dies
— Ivanhoe with the help of Richard I (disguised as the Black Knight) and Locksley (Robin Hood) defeats the Normans.
— The Anglosaxons and the Normans learn to live together; Ivanhoe and Rowena are united; Rebecca leaves England with her father.
 
HISTORICAL CONTEXT
•        12th century England
•       King Richard the Lionheart’s reign
•       The clash between the Anglosaxons and the Normans 

MAIN THEMES
1.       Closeness of the past to the present
 
2.       Social conception of history
History was not just a list of political and religious events but the product of human decisions; allSCOTT 2 human beings were involved in history both aristocracy and low humble people.
Scott introduced a new concept of history based on the lives of the ordinary people rather than on those of kings and noblemen.
 
3.       The convenient compromise
Scott was interested in the moments when an important historical crisis caused personal problems in individuals or in groups. Both Waverley and Ivanhoe stand for the convenient compromise between the two sides at conflict: Waverley embodies the reasons of the Hanoverian Army and claims of the Jacobite rebels; Ivanhoe is an Anglo-Saxon noble but he sympathizes with the Norman King Richard I’s cause.
 
4.       The Journey
Most of Scott’s novels follow the pattern which has been called the “journey”: A “traveller” – for ex. Ivanhoe or Waverley -  moves from one side of the conflict to the other; they usuallly leave a safe situation inside an ethnic group, come into contact with another one and share their life for some time. In the end they will go back with a different experience of life which will enable them to mediate between the two rival group. 
  FROM THE BOOK TO THE MOVIES

 After reading the passage A TRIAL BY COMBAT  from IVANHOE try to compare it to the two adaptations below . Which is the one closer to the original text?
 
 FILM 1982




BBC SERIES 1996

 CRITICISM

Are Waverley and Ivanhoe Romantic heroes? Let's see what critics have said and written.
David Daiches in A CRITICAL HISTORY OF ENGLISH LITERATURE ( 1960 ) admits that Scott's characters lack psychological depth and recognizes them a symbolic function in the pattern of the so-called journey (see above)."They are not ordinary heroes but symbolic observers", he maintains.
Instead, Edgar Johnson in SIR WALTER SCOTT (1970) recognizes Ivanhoe as the hero in every respect. He helps the oppressed, he is devoted to his king, Richard, he fights at the Crusades, he defends Rebecca , he adopts the chivalric code and bridges the gulf between the Saxons and the Normans by marrying Rowena.
Waverley is instead a more pazzling hero since he is rather immature or  impulsive, never very much aware of the consequences of his actions, at times even naive. So can he be considered a Romantic hero? This is what Scott intended, at least. In the novel, the protagonist's virtues are usually underlined and he is shown as a model of generosity ,  bravery and sensitivity : " The voice of distress always found a ready answer in our hero's bosom".

postato da: learnonline alle ore 21:56 | Permalink | commenti
categoria:walter scott, from books to movies, 19th century
23/11/2009
LEARNONLINE TURNS ONE YEAR OLD!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LEARNONLINE!

happy_birthday

Everything started just one year ago, 23rd November 2008,  with 3 different  posts  about Jane Austen and her novels HERE, HERE and HERE.
I started posting on this blog to help my eldest students cope with the study of English literature and to motivate them to do it more and better. It has been visited 25, 541 times so far and I hope it has been useful to many.
Several times a day visitors download my power point presentations from the SHARING BOX on the left and  visits have reached an average of about 100 per day. My students are a minority  among the visitors, it seems!
I'd be glad to know who my other visitors are, how useful they find my materials, what they think or expect from this blog but ... they never leave traces of their dropping by. Comments would be extremely welcome, they could help me to improve LEARNONLINE.
Anyhow, with or without comments, you are all always welcome to my little place to learn  English Language and Literature on line! Thanks for visiting! MGS
postato da: learnonline alle ore 15:38 | Permalink | commenti (4)
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20/11/2009
TRAVELOGUE - DESPITE THE TRAFFIC, DESPITE THE RAIN, DESPITE THE STRIKE ... OR LIBRARIES CAN BE FUN.
IIILB
Last week I went to Rome with a group of my last year students to visit two important libraries in Rome. Everything had been accurately planned before leaving but ... This is  what they wrote in their travelogue.
P.S. Many thanks to Valentina & Simona.

Biblioteca_nazionale_centrale_di_RomaOn Monday morning our class went to Rome to visit two important libraries. We had decided to use public transport because that would be less expensive. We left from Piazza Falcone at 8 to our destination but we only got there after two hours, while usually it only takes one! We were a bit annoyed but tried to change our mood because of our teacher’s passion for her job. She had planned everything with such enthusiasm. The weather was really bad but we didn’t stop – not for a moment - hoping that the sun would shine and we were pretty sure of that, as Gabriele is always sure that Frankenstein is the monster in Mary Shelley’s novel!
After taking three different buses and getting lost in the streets around Stazione Termini, we happened to ask a crazy old lady how to get to the Biblioteca Nazionale: she didn’t help us but she started following us, instead.
We got to our appointment at 12! We were two hours late! Fortunately, our guide in the library was Valentina, a friend of our teacher’s -  she is very kind and patient – and she didn’t seem too bothered for our delay. The tour of the library was really interesting: Rome national library  is very big and full of books. They are kept in a ten-storey building. The best part of the visit was when Valentina showed us very ancient manuscripts and “incunabola” ( the first printed books). We saw Francesco Petrarca’s handwriting on one of them! We also saw a very ancient Chinese manuscript with wonderful drawings and a futuristic tin-book, as well.
At lunch we had something in the library canteen… we were rather disappointed, we had planned to eat all together at Macdonald’s in Piazza di Spagna and because of the traffic, because of the rain, because of the strike our plans had to be changed.
 
esterno-bibliotecaIn the afternoon, Simona, Valentina’s friend,   was waiting for us at the Biblioteca Casanatense, a wonderful ancient library of surprising  beauty! It is near the Church Santa Maria sopra Minerva and was founded by Cardinal Girolamo Casanate. The main hall is 60x15 mt and it contains thousands of ancient books. It is impressive! There were also two very big globes, a big statue of the cardinal and an exhibition of ancient guitars and Paganini’s handwritten scores.
 
Casanatense%20Library%201There, we were shown a manuscript of Julius Caesar’s DE BELLO GALLICO, a very ancient copy of Petrarca’s IL CANZONIERE and a French liturgic manuscript full of real gold, wonderful drawings and … very precious. Marco made us laugh a lot asking all the time how much each of the rare books we were admiring was worth. He was always and patiently answered that it was impossible to give those books a precise value in euros because they were unique and he seemed really, really interested…
The journey back was a second odissey! It was raining and the bus back to Termini Station didn’t arrive for quite a pretty long time.  We, then, took the underground and got to Ponte Mammolo station just in time for the next bus home…but that double-decker was so crowded we couldn’t get on. The bus driverssuggested us to take another one to get half-way then get off and take the right one home.
We did it but we had to stand all the time in another overcrowded double-decker bus. We were so exhausted in the end! But the trip had been fun, we had had time to talk and laugh a lot, we had seen very  precious books and interesting places, we had enjoyed ourselves  and we are now sure libraries can be fun…despite the traffic, despite the rain, despite the strike!

(Marco, Martino, Carola, Cecilia L., Ginevra, Giuditta, Maria Francesca, Martina, Marika, Marta, Natalia, Serena)
postato da: learnonline alle ore 23:54 | Permalink | commenti
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11/11/2009
PRIDE & PREJUDICE - PART II AND CONCLUSIONS
IIILB

LESSON 8

As it often happens in Jane Austen’s novels, a letter will be the turning point in the hero/heroine relationship. Darcy writes to Elizabeth and a journey of self-realization will start for her:



After Darcy's explanation Jane Austen writes that Elizabeth …
“ …grew absolutely ashamed of herself, - of neither Darcy nor Wickham could she think, without feeling that she had been blind, partial,prejudiced , absurd”.
“Till this moment, I never knew myself”,  Elizabeth thinks.
This is why Jane Austen titled this novel “First Impressions” at first. Elizabeth's first impression of Darcy was completely wrong. She has been too proud and to impulsive and this caused her misjudgement.
What else will Elizabeth discover about Darcy which will make her radically change her opinion of him?
  1. She will travel in Derbyshire with Mr Mrs Gardiner and visit Darcy’s  wonderful residence at Pemberley  (she is amazed at its grandeur) and will hear about Mr Darcy ‘s inestimable virtues from Mrs   Reynolds,   his house-keeper
  2. When she receives the news that Lydia, her 15-year-old sister, has eloped with Mr Wickham, Elizabeth is terribly embarassed , especially because she has to tell Darcy what has happened. But she will, instead, discover later that he worked hard behind the scenes to help the Bennet family to avoid scandal: he arranged for Wickham to marry Lydia and paid for all the expenses.
  3. Finally, Elizabeth will see her sister finally happy : Darcy encourages Bingley to return to Longbourn again and to renew his courtship of Jane.
Now apologies and explanations can be given and Darcy can renew his own proposal… Will Elizabeth accept it this time?



Marriage in Pride & Prejudice
In Pride & Prejudice  we can recognize several kinds of marriage:



slide marriage
Irony in Pride & Prejudice
Irony in P&P is employed as a technique in relation to the characters: they are trapped in a double perspective; they do not know that things are not the way they seem, while the reader does.
 
Poll
Who represents PRIDE ? Elizabeth or Darcy?
Who represents PREJUDICE? Elizabeth or Darcy?
Do you think both Darcy and Elizabeth possess these fawls?
TRY THIS POLL
 
postato da: learnonline alle ore 22:10 | Permalink | commenti
categoria:books, pride and prejudice, from books to movies, bbc drama, novelists of the romantic age, jane austen s world, 19th century, costume movies and drama
04/11/2009
THE MAKING OF THE NATION
3scA /3scB

Lesson 1


Early Britain
CLICK ON THE PPT  ICONEarly Britain TO DOWNLOAD THE POWER POINT PRESENTATION WE USED IN OUR CLASSES
postato da: learnonline alle ore 16:35 | Permalink | commenti
categoria:british history
03/11/2009
PRIDE AND PREJUDICE – THE PLOT PART I

IIILB 

LESSON 7
(Before  reading and analysing  the passage  from Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice , here are some notes to understand the story before DARCY’S PROPOSAL - Lit & Lab 2, pp. 341-344)

Pride and Prejudice1995
“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife”.
This is the widely popular sentence opening the widely popular story of the five Bennet sisters  written by Jane Austen between October 1796 and August 1797. Its original title was FIRST IMPRESSIONS but it was published only in 1813 with the title, PRIDE AND PREJUDICE.
The opening scene is set in Hertfordshire, a county that nowadays has practically become part of Greater London, as suburban development stretches even further northwards. In the late 18th century, however, it was still well-wooded countryside.
Elizabeth BennetThe story opens early in September, when Jane Austen takes us straight into Longbourn House to listen to the Bennets’ conversation after dinner. Mrs Bennet is making plans for husband –hunting on her daughters’ behalf. Five daughters and an estate worth £2,000 a year were not an easy situation to cope with, especially if your husband (Mr Bennet) is not very good at saving. The urgent need for husbands is also due to the fact that the estate of Longbourn is “entailed” – a legal arrangement whereby the property could descend only to a male heir.
We follow the events told by an omnicient third-person narrator from Elizabeth’s point of view. She is 20 and the second daughter, after Jane who is 23. Then there are Mary, 18 or 19, Kitty ,17 and Lydia, 15.
We can summarize the first part of the plot in three key moments, that are namely arrivals,  which animate the ordinary dull life in Hertfordshire.
Arrival 1. The Bingleys & Mr Fitzwilliam Darcy
darcyMr Charles Bingley arrives in Hertfordshire with his two elder sisters and his brother in law, Mr Hurst. Especially to Mrs Bennet’s interest, he has his own inheritance of £ 100,000 and an income of between £4,000 and £5,000 a year. He rents Netherfield Park, 3 miles away from Longbourn.
The Bingley family then attends one of the monthly assembly balls at Meryton, bringing with them their friend Mr Fitzwilliam Darcy, who turns out to be an even greater matrimonial prize than Mr Bingley. He comes from Derbyshire, is said to be worth £10,000 a year and live in a luxurious residence, Pemberley. Mr Darcy is 28, rather older than Bingley, who is about 23, and he has inherited his fortune five years before, when his father died. He acts with a snob, chilly hauter, refuses to join the dances and behaves in a rather uncivil manner. When asked to dance with Elizabeth by Bingley, he refuses saying that “she is tolerable but not handsome enough to tempt him!” Unfortunately Elizabeth overhears the conversation and starts disliking Mr Darcy. Things between Mr Bingley and Jane Bennet, the eldest of the sisters seems to work better: they are attracted to each other and dance together very often at the Meryton monthly assembly.
Jane is invited to visit the Bingley sisters but gets a bad cold while going there, so she is invited to stay on until she recovers. Elizabeth visits her and helps nursing her. The visits confirms her dislike of Darcy.
Then the Bingley give a ball at Netherfield and, there, it is clear that Janet and Charles Bingley are attracted to each other. Mr Darcy is appalled by the vulgar behaviour of Mrs Bennet and her younger daughters.
Arrival 2. A Militia regiment & Mr Wickham

wickham
The outwardly charming Lieutenant Wickham soon begins to flirt with Elizabeth and tells her a plausible tale of how Darcy has deprived him of his inheritance due to him for Darcy’s father’s will. The tale enforces Elizabeth dislike of Darcy, who appears to her as proud and selfish.
 Arrival 3. Mr Collins, a distant cousin, the heir of Longbourn Estate
Reverend Mr William Collins, the entailed heir to Longbourn, was 25, his air was grave and stately and his manners were very formal. He wants to introduce himself to the distant relatives and , especially, to find a wife among his cousins. His first choice is beautiful Jane, but since she has already and attachment, he accepts to propose to Elizabeth. There follows the comic scene of his ridiculous proposal which is firmly rejected. He will marry Elizabeth’s best friend, Charlotte Lucas and will live at Rosings Park, Lady Catherine de Bourgh’s residence with her.
Towards the end of the year Miss Bingley and Mr Darcy convince Charles Bingley to return to London and that Jane is not a good choice for a wife. Jane is really disappointed and unhappy. To relieve her from her grief, her aunt and uncle, Mrs and Mr Gardiner invite her to stay in London with them.
Charlotte invites Elizabeth to stay at her new house at Rosings for some time. Elizabeth is not very happy to live in Mr Collin’s house but accepts her friend’s invitation. She is introduced to Lady Catherine de Bourgh and there she will meet Darcy again: he is there with his friend and cousin, colonel Fitzwilliam. Lady Catherine is his aunt and she expects him to marry her daughter.
Here Elizabeth discovers from Colonel Fitzwilliam that Darcy convinced Bingley to leave Meryton and Jane and , of course, she starts hating him. Surprisingly and unexpectedly, instead, Mr Darcy proposes to her! Elizabeth is amazed.

 
MR DARCY'S PROPOSAL

Read the text in your book, pp. 341-343, then watch this clip.



AND NOW THE PROPOSAL FROM 2005 ADAPTATION
WITH MATTHEW MCFADYEN & KEIRA KNIGHTLEY

CLICK HERE TO SEE IT


RELATED POSTS ON LEARNONLINE AND FLY HIGH

PRIDE & PREJUDICE (a.s. 2008-2009)
 MEN AT JANE AUSTEN'S TIME
BEING A WOMAN AT JANE AUSTEN'S TIME
postato da: learnonline alle ore 17:08 | Permalink | commenti
categoria:books, pride and prejudice, from books to movies, bbc drama, novelists of the romantic age, jane austen s world, 18th century, 19th century, costume movies and drama
26/10/2009
NORTHANGER ABBEY - FROM THE GOTHIC NOVEL TO THE NOVEL OF MANNERS
IIILB

LESSON 6

Catherine MorlandGothic novels were extremely popular at the end of the 18th century and that taste or fashion involved all social classes. Most of those novels followed the same pattern with few alterations: great importance given to terror and horror – as two different ingredients, since the first was characterised by obscurity and uncertainty and the latter by evil and atrocity; ancient settings like isolated castles, dungeons, secret rooms, mysterious abbeys or convents; supernatural beings like vampires, ghosts, witches, monsters; a triad of main characters including an oversensitive persecuted heroine, a terrifying/ satanic male villain and a sensitive honourable hero. After Walpole’s “The Castle of Otranto” , very popular Gothic tales were Ann Radcliffe’s “The Mysteries of Udolpho” (1794) and “The Monk” by Matthew Lewis (1796) .
In the same years Miss Jane Austen dreamt of “living on her pen”, writing her first novels “of manners”. Between 1795-96 she had finished Elinore and Marianne, later on published as Sense and Sensibility, as well as First impressions then published as Pride and Prejudice. Was she interested in Gothic novels or did she attempt to write one? Since irony and satire were her favourite literary “weapons”, she preferred writing a parody of such sentimental fashionable genre. In 1798 she wrote Northanger Abbey, never published during her life for reasons left unknown, that is in fact an open mocking of the genre.
Young Catherine Morland’s story develops some of  Jane Austen’s favourite themes, the initiation of a young woman into the complexities of adult social life and the danger of imagnation uncontrolled by reason and common sense. Catherine’s mistake is that she imposes the melodramatic values of the gothic novels she reads (i.e. “The mysteries of Udolpho” by A. Radcliffe) on the reality around her, making the boundaries between the real and the imaginary quite uncertain.
 

CHECK ALSO :

1. A HEROINE, HER ANCESTOR AND HER HEIRESS

2. NORTHANGER ABBEY 

(with listening and watching activities)
postato da: learnonline alle ore 21:46 | Permalink | commenti (2)
categoria:movies, lit and cinema, gothic novels, northanger abbey, novelists of the romantic age, jane austen s world, 18th century, costume movies and drama, listening activities, on flyhigh
15/10/2009
READING MARY SHELLEY'S FRANKENSTEIN
IIILB

LESSON 5

frankensteinAfter reading the first page Mary Shelley wrote for her novel, "The creation of the monster", we discussed and analyzed the main themes in Frankenstein and some narrative features. Here are some notes for you.

1.  THE OVERREACHER
Victor Frankenstein is defined "The Modern Prometheus" in the subtitle of the novel. As Prometheus defied Zeus stealing the fire from him to bring it back to Mankind, the Swiss scientist protagonist of Mary Shelley's 1818 novel defies any natural law and God himself for his great ambition: to create, not to generate, life. To give life to an inanimate body.
Both Prometheus and Dr. Frankenstein are OVERREACHERS, special  types of rebels who

  •  try to go beyond the limits imposed to Mankind by God or Nature
     
  •  are moved by a great ambition
  •  are always punished with death (not Prometheus, since he was a Titan, a semi-god)
2. THE DOUBLE
There are two examples of  this theme in Mary Shelley's novel. Two characters recognize in an "alter ego" their wrong side, the fawls in their personality:
1. Captain Walton recognizes in Dr Frankenstein his own great ambition, which might lead him to self -exhaustion and death,  and decides to stop his exploration of the North Pole, in order to avoid risking his crew's lives and his own. So Dr Frankenstein is an alter ago/ the double to Captain Walton.
2. Victor Frankenstein recognizes in the horrible creature he has created the embodiment of his own "awful" ambition. This is why he is so terrified by the vision of his "living experiment".

MaryShelley3. Rousseau's idea of "the good natural man" and social criticism
Mary Shelley was influenced by J.J. Rousseau's ideas. Rousseau believed a human being was born innocent and uncorrupt , then the injust social system and its prejudices spoilt and corrupted him. This is exactly what happens to Frankenstein's creature who was naturally good when he came to life but was then turned into a monster and an evil murderer by the prejudices of all the human beings he met, starting with his creator. He was rejected and wronged because of his ugly appearance.

4. SCIENCE AND MORALS
Frankenstein is considered the forerunner of the science fiction genre. The authoress, fascinated by physiology, chemistry and physics, reflects on the relationship between science and morals - something we call bioethics nowadays - wondering what the destiny of someone who overcomes the border might be.

NARRATIVE FEATURES

Frankenstein has a complex structure. It is  an epistolary novel with three different levels of narration, three narrators and different points of view. The technique used is usually called "Chinese boxes".


Frankenstein narrators
Unlikely the many Gothic tales written before, the characters in this novel are not flat and there is a certain psychological insight.
postato da: learnonline alle ore 22:58 | Permalink | commenti
categoria:mary shelley, gothic novels, 19th century