Playing God in Mary Shelleys Frankenstein Essay -- Frankenstein 2014

In his Poetics, Aristotle defines the tragic wizard as a man of high social status who invites the matinee idols to penalise him through overbearing pride and/or presumption hubris. It would be ingenuous to assign the label of hubristic tragic hero to Victor Frankenstein, but much(prenominal) assignment of a label would be an oversimplification. The gods in Greek frolic punish, albeit harshly, in an outright manner. The tragic figure is aware that the gods have forsaken him, and he resigns to live his life under the demands of retribution. Victor Frankensteins fate is non so simple fate is crueler to Victor and more spiteful than he could ever be to the heavens. The question that precedes all others, however, is who is or what acts as god in Frankenstein. It is safe to assume that Victor Frankensteins god is that of the Christian tradition, although interestingly, he never truly mentions it as such. Instead, he invokes the spirits of personality and swears by the sacred eart h on which he kneels that he will take a leak his revenge (Shelley 173) so it is only fitting that it is temper or the laws of temper that feel offended by Victors transgression and his everlasting(a) presumption that he can emulate its force. What drives Victor to do so is a complicated issue, but what is rather clear is that the setting of the fiction is ideal for such a crime. The distinction between natures powers and godly powers is a relatively new concept. For many ancient cultures, nature was inexorably tied to the ultimate spirit and although men could speak to the spirits, they were in no way like the spirits. Before altering any quarry in nature, one needed permission from these spirits. This changed with the growth of Christianity Christian... ...Ecocriticism Reader Landmarks in literary Ecology. Ed. Cheryll Glotfelty and Harold Fromm. Athens University of Georgia Press, 1996. 15-29. Mounce, H.O. Humes Naturalism. New York Routledge, 1999. Reich, Lou. Humes spiri tual Naturalism. Lanham University Press of America, Inc., 1998. Shelley, Mary. Case Studies in Contemporary Criticism Frankenstein. Ed. Johanna Smith. Boston Bedford/St. Martins, 2000. 28-189. Sherwin, Paul. Relativism and Literary Criticism The Case of Frankenstein. Aspects of Relativism Moral, Cognitive, and Literary. Ed. James E. Bayley. Lanham University Press of America, Inc., 1992. 25-39. White, Lynn. The Historical Roots of our ecologic Crisis. The Ecocriticism Reader Landmarks in Literary Ecology. Ed. Cheryll Glotfelty and Harold Fromm. Athens University of Georgia Press, 1996. 3-14. .