Skip to main content

How does structure affect the reader in Chapter 8 of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein?

In Chapter 8 of Frankenstein, Victor experiences extreme emotional lows. His mood changes from despair to suffering to weeping throughout the chapter, consistently descending deeper and deeper into sadness. The reader is allowed to experience these emotional changes with Victor, because Shelley uses descriptive language that involves the reader in the story. 


For example, in the first paragraph of the chapter, Victor laments the loss of Justine, and says that "a weight of despair and remorse pressed on [his] heart" (page 61). Several paragraphs later, Victor says he is now "free" and that a change of scenery was agreeable to him (62). But constantly reminded of the deaths he caused by his creation of the monster, Victor's sadness remains incurable. He says that he frequently "wept bitterly" and that the "wonderful and sublime" views did nothing to cheer him (62, 64). At one point Victor throws himself to the ground with "horror and despair" (65). Victor's intense emotional state affects the structure of the chapter as it is devoted almost in entirety to description of Victor's feelings. Readers are therefore allowed to suffer with Victor. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Is there a word/phrase for "unperformant"?

As a software engineer, I need to sometimes describe a piece of code as something that lacks performance or was not written with performance in mind. Example: This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. Based on my Google searches, this isn't a real word. What is the correct way to describe this? EDIT My usage of "performance" here is in regard to speed and efficiency. For example, the better the performance of code the faster the application runs. My question and example target the negative definition, which is in reference to preventing inefficient coding practices. Answer This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. In my opinion, reads more easily as: This coding style leads to unmaintainable and poorly performing code. The key to well-written documentation and reports lies in ease of understanding. Adding poorly understood words such as performant decreases that ease. In addressing the use of such a poorly ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Is 'efficate' a word in English?

I routinely hear the word "efficate" being used. For example, "The most powerful way to efficate a change in the system is to participate." I do not find entries for this word in common English dictionaries, but I do not have an unabridged dictionary. I have checked the OED (I'm not sure if it is considered unabridged), and it has no entry for "efficate". It does have an entry for "efficiate", which is used in the same way. Wordnik has an entry for "efficate" with over 1800 hits, thus providing some evidence for the frequency of use. I personally like the word and find the meaning very clear and obvious when others use it. If it's not currently an "officially documented" word, perhaps its continued use will result in it being better documented.
Post a Comment
Read more