Frankenstein opens with letters written from Robert Walton
to his sister Margaret Seville in England. He tells her of the tremendous journey
that he has embarked on, traveling to the North Pole, and how extremely lonely
he has become. It seems like all the men he has to share his time with on this
trip are all being belittled by him. Robert says that no one is as educated as
he is and therefore he cannot keep a good conversation with them. “You may deem
me romantic, my dear sister, but I bitterly feel the want of a friend. I have
no one near me, gentle yet courageous, possessed of a cultivated as well as of
a capacious mind, whose tastes are, like my own, to approve or amend my plans.”
(pg. 18) Really though if you think about it, he is surrounded by a bunch of
sailors who I can only imagine speak with no filter whatsoever, so I guess I do
feel bad for this Robert fellow.
Mr. Walton’s so far uneventful trip then turns around as he
rescues a man on a sheet of ice as he is sailing his way towards his
destination. This man was in terrible conditions, “His limbs were nearly frozen
and his body dreadfully emaciated by fatigue and suffering. I never saw a man
in so wretched a condition.” (pg.24) This man passes out and Robert intends on
studying him very intently. He labels him as being “wild and mad, yet kind at
the same time”. However, this man has Robert’s utmost attention and the deficit
of having someone to call a friend is no longer an issue, “I said in one of my
letters, dear Margaret, that I should find no friend on the wide ocean; yet I
have found a man who, before his spirit had been broken by misery, I should
have been happy to have possessed as the brother of my heart.” (pg. 26)
Once we venture into the actual book, the narrators change
from Robert Walton to Victor Frankenstein. Victor tells us of his family and
his life growing up. He is always surrounded by his friends and those that love
him. Victor’s life seemed idyllic, other than the fact that his family took in
an orphaned girl named Elizabeth; there wasn’t much for him to complain about.
When growing up, Victor becomes interested in the natural sciences. He studies
the alchemists and later learns that all of that studying was for nothing, how
unfortunate! Victor goes off to college after his mother dies and takes classes
on chemistry and anatomy. His classes don’t seem to satisfy his urge of learning
so he begins constructing a human of his own, completely isolating himself from
his friends and family. In a nut shell, this guy becomes obsessed and that is
never a good thing...
As for now, I am really liking this book because it is
something so different compared to everything I have read so far. Frankenstein
is very interesting and I am excited to keep reading.
Finishing the book Pride and Prejudice is something that I
can say I am really glad I have accomplished. I did not hate the book but I did
not love it either. To me, it seemed like the ending was just thrown together
in order to finfish the book as fast as possible. The major problems of the
book never went into much detail on how they were resolved and even then the
way they were overcome, they seemed to all take the easy road out.
It was obvious that eventually Elizabeth and Darcy/ Jane and
Mr. Bingley would get married. Maybe that was the reason that I did not like
the book, because it was in the end just a typical love story; the characters
had to overcome some obstacles in order to truly be happy. Anyways, when
Elizabeth changes her mind about Darcy it is very interesting because she goes
at first from hating the man to not being able to live without him. Darcy wants
to be her husband very badly but leaves it up to her decision, “You are too
generous to trifle with me. If your feelings are still what they were last
April, tell me so at once. My affections and wishes are unchanged, but one word
from you will silence me on this subject forever.” (pg. 420) It is a good thing
that Elizabeth this time said yes because I think a different answer might have
literally killed Mr. Darcy.
Mrs. Bennet brags about how her daughters have married
themselves into the best lives possible. Her husband still doesn’t really enjoy
her but he has to live with her, “ I wish I could say, for the sake of her
family, that the accomplishment of her earnest desire in the establishment of
so many of her children produced so happy an effect as to make her a sensible,
amiable, well-informed woman for the rest of her life; though perhaps it was
lucky for her husband, who might not have relished domestic felicity in so
unusual a form, that she still was occasionally nervous and invariably silly.”
(pg. 432) All I can really say about the mother is that at the end of the day
all she really strived for was the happiness of her family but her ways of
reaching that were always annoying and made her seem too high strung. Jane
Austen set the mother and the daughters so far apart from each other in the
novel, personality wise, that that is why the book may be interesting to some.
At the end of the novel, no one really changed their social
class or the way they looked at social class other than Mr. Darcy. His love
surpassed the feeling he had of marrying a woman beneath him so I give him a
pat on the back for that one. The character least changed in this way I believe
to be Lady Catherine. She is a wretched woman who doesn’t approve of anything
it seems and I will leave it at that.
To conclude, Pride and Prejudice was yet again just another
typical love story with a typical ending. Jane Austen brought the characters
together despite the massive differences they shared and with that I applaud
her. But I still must say that overall I did not enjoy the book, maybe I will
have better luck with Frankenstein…
In the next section of Pride and Prejudice that I have read,
I believe the most important part would be the fact that Mr. Darcy has proposed
marriage to Elizabeth. The entire novel adds up to this moment because I think
that subconsciously both characters are completely in love with each other but
are either too full of their pride or prejudice (yes Mattie, I did say it again…
acca believe it! Haha) to actually profess their love for one another.
I found it to be very interesting that Mr. Darcy took back
all the things that he said about Elizabeth and admitted to sabotaging the
relationship shared by Mr. Bingley and Jane. It was undoubtedly extremely difficult
for him to confess all these things to Elizabeth as he probably has never been
told what to do in his entire life, and that is just not in his character to do
so. “His sense of her inferiority—of its being a degradation—of the family
obstacles which judgment had always opposed to inclination, were dwelt on with
a warmth which seemed due to the consequence he was wounding, but was very
unlikely to recommend his suit.” But I think in doing so, something clicked in
him that he has never felt before, the want and need for a woman just like
Elizabeth.
Back in those days I am told that marriage was more of a
contract between a man and woman, more political than emotional if you will, and
love was just this “added bonus”. Do you remember Elizabeth was supposed to
marry Mr. Collins because he was in the best position to support her and the
rest of her family. Yet Elizabeth was a rebel of her time and knew that even
though this guy was well off, his creeper status just ruined the entire
package. So with this in mind, I think that a major aspect of this novel would
be the effect of love or even the prospect of love over time. I say this
because nowadays if you love someone you will probably marry them given time
and age etc. But back then it was such a different story, you could love
someone but (this is really harsh to say it this way) if there not wealthy or able
to support you and a family then your love is probably all for nothing.
I can support this idea when later in this section Lydia
Bennet decides to run away with Mr. Wickham. Every member of her family member
freaks out because they think that he is not a suitable match for her and in
running away with him, Lydia has sacrificed the reputation of the family name.
Eventually when Mr. Gardiner and Mr. Bennet leave to London to find her, the
mother decides that it is better Lydia get married to him than to nobody at
all. Which makes no sense to me because who would want to marry a liar? So in
the end Lydia marries Mr. Wickham mostly just because her mother fears that no
one else would come for her.
With everything that has happened so far, I think that the author
Jane Austen wanted to illustrate the way people can change over an extended
period of time. All of the characters are either falling in love or falling
away from it and I’m interested to see what happens now between Mr. Darcy and
Elizabeth after the first offer of engagement.
