The Monster by Mary Shelley

When one considers the novel The Monster by Mary Shelley, one comes to the conclusion that it is a work based on the study of morality. The morality of the main character, The Monster, is clearly presented and it shows the conflict between the religion and nature. It can be said that despite the fact that Shelley was a well known atheist, who did not believe in the role of God in the lives of mankind, the events that take place in the life of the main protagonist are full of biblical allusions. It is a stark contrast to the beliefs of Shelley, which after reading the text would come into question since she was a believer of the in born morality that can be found in mankind. Shelley’s belief that the God is nonexistent and that man has the ability to choose his own destiny is clearly in contrast with what she writes in the novel. The biblical allusions that can be related to the life of The Monster and his creator are in conflict with what Shelley believed, and because of this, one would come to the conclusion that despite her denying it, Shelley was a believer in the existence of God and His influence in the lives of men. It can further be said that Shelley may have found it difficult to separate the religious beliefs that were current in her time from her own personal convictions, and this is expressed through the confusion through which The Monster undergoes in his attempt to find his place in the world.

Despite Shelley’s atheistic beliefs, one can conclude that she was a keen reader of the bible and this is why The Monster is so full of allusions. When one considers The Monster, one would be tempted to compare it to the story of Cain in the bible. While this may not have been Shelley’s original intention when portraying this character, it can be said that it came about unconsciously, since The Monster is rejected both by the society, when he attempts to become a part of it, and by God, since the latter is not the one who created him. The separation which The Monster feels is like that of Cain since he is forced to wander the earth alone without any support from either his creator or from the society. In addition, it can be said that The Monster experiences the same rejection which was experienced by Cain in the bible. The story is meant to show the atheistic beliefs of the author, but it eventually comes to do the exact opposite as seen when Victor, The Monster’s creator, comes to be disgusted by what he has created. This is a sign that despite Shelley’s belief that human beings are superior in their own right, there are limits to their knowledge. Humans do not have the capacity to bear the knowledge and to become creators the way God in the bible is portrayed. The morality of the ability of human beings to create life comes into question, because they do not have the capacity to accept their creations, instead looking upon them as abominations, the way Victor does towards his creation.

One of the most significant parts of the story is when, after creating the Monster, Victor becomes horrified by what he has done because his creation is a grotesque creature. While this may have been true, the Victor does not act like a creator would, because of the fact that he knew exactly what he was creating and could have designed it in any way he wanted to. This turns out not to be the case and his hatred for his creation leads to the Monster reciprocating the same feelings towards its creator. This leads to the Monster going to the extent of killing the brother of its creator in an attempt to hurt him. Victor, on the other hand, refuses to take responsibility for his creation and as a consequence, he is indirectly the reason for some of the bad actions that are taken by it. The Monster demands that his creator creates a mate for him, because since he is not able to fit into the human society and he is hated by the one who created him. The Monster, because he is unable to enter human society, considers himself to be the first of a new species and this is why he demands a mate from his creator. While Victor initially agrees to these demands, he comes to regret this action and destroys the female companion that he was creating for the Monster.

Mary Shelley’s story has been considered by some to be a substitute expression of the feelings which were troubling here deeply because due to the not often cordial relationship between herself and her husband. It has been said to have been an attempt to express her true feelings of the hurt she was undergoing. One would even go as far as to say that she may have related herself directly with the Monster because of the fact that he was shunned by the man who had created him. The idea is that the Monster was a representation of the rage that was going through Shelley because of the hurt that she felt because of her husband’s treatment of her and their relationship. The events which took place in the novel, especially in those places where the Monster expressed his sense of alienation were a true representation of Shelley’s feelings. The issue of morality comes into question in the novel, since the question being asked is whether Victor Frankenstein was right in creating the Monster then after it came to life, rejected it in disgust. It can be suggested that the Monster is a representation of Mary Shelly while Victor is a representation of her husband. Victor’s rejection of the monster is an expression of how Shelley felt when her husband rejected her and was unfaithful. In essence, one would say that Frankenstein is a novel which represents the feelings of Shelley during her early married life.

In conclusion, it can be said that the novel is a representation of the conflict between nature and the ability of human beings as creators. As has been stated above, the biblical allusions that can be related to the life of The Monster and his creator are in conflict with what Shelley believed, and because of this, one would come to the conclusion that Shelley was a believer in the existence of God and His influence in the lives of men. The novel is a story concerning the Monster’s attempt to search for a purpose and a place to belong in life. All these attempts turn out to be futile and as a result, the Monster comes to become bitter towards the person who created him. The novel shows man as a destroyer, because after creating the Monster, he comes to fear his ugliness and because of this ends up neglecting it. Furthermore, he chooses to destroy the female companion he was making for the Monster because of his belief that it did not have the right to exist and to propagate itself. This shows that while man has the ability to create, he is not able to take responsibility for his creations once he seen that what he has made is faulty. Finally, the personal life of Mary Shelley can be seen to be tightly entwined with the story in Frankenstein and because of this, it can be viewed as a fictional representation of the real life events that she was undergoing.

Candide by Voltaire and Rasselas by Samuel Johnson

The search for happiness is a never ending theme in the lives of all human beings in the world. Happiness is what many people aim for and they have a tendency of working towards its achievement all their lives. Some people have however considered this to be a futile attempt and that the optimism which human beings always have for the achievement of happiness will lead them to bitter disappointment. Others disagree stating that human happiness is achievable if they were to only take every event that happens in their lives positively and the optimism that comes from it will eventually lead them to what they have been aiming for, namely, happiness. One would be very tempted to agree with the latter because its view of happiness is very optimistic and therefore helps people view their lives in a more positive light. However, true and lasting happiness is unachievable for human beings because of our very nature, that is, we can never be satisfied with what we have and instead we always aim to achieve more. It is this nature which truly defines why human beings are completely incapable of achieving lasting happiness. In relation to this, we shall look at and compare two novels with a similar theme, Candide by Voltaire, and Rasselas by Samuel Johnson.

Rasselas is the story of an Ethiopian prince who questions his life of privilege and along with his sister, her maid and an old wise man, Imlac, embarks on a journey of self discovery. He considered the life of a prince to be like a prison where his every wish or desire was fulfilled without his having to do anything about it. His desire in escaping his privileged life was to view how common people lived their lives and to decide for himself the kind of life which best suited him and which he wanted to live. His journey takes him through several adventures and in these, he comes to learn a simple truth, that the perfect life is impossible to achieve and that a search for it must continue indefinitely. When he and his companions arrive in Cairo, Rasselas is at first dazzled by the people of this city but this comes to an abrupt end when he realizes that not a single one of them enjoys a life of happiness. Despite their grand appearance on the outside, the people of Cairo are completely the opposite on the inside, because they are capable of violence, madness, and being lonely. The novel ends with the companions’ decision to abruptly end their journey and return to Abyssinia.

Voltaire’s Candide is also a story about the pursuit of happiness by the main character, Candide. Candide is the bastard child of the sister of a Westphalian baron who is in love with Cunegonde, the baron’s daughter. A time comes when these two are caught kissing and Candide is thrown out of the baron’s castle. Candide, like Rasselas, is a very optimistic person and he also undertakes a journey in pursuit of happiness along with some companions who include Pangloss and Jacques. His journeys take him all over the world, from Portugal to the Americas, to the Far East and finally back to Europe. This journey however does not reveal to Candide the elusive happiness for which he has been seeking. Instead, it reveals to him the true extent of human nature, the brutality, coercion, and pure evil which exists in many people. It is at this point that Candide realizes that lasting happiness among human beings is unachievable no matter for how long they try to seek it.

One will find many similarities between Candide and Rasselas the most paramount of which is the fact that both of them are trying to find lasting happiness in their lives. Both of these characters are from very privileged backgrounds despite the fact that Candide is an illegitimate child. Furthermore, these characters choose o make journeys of self discovery and in this attempt; they come across the worst part of human nature which contributes to the destruction of their very optimistic nature. Not only does this happen, but they both come to realize the futility of their quest and instead decide to settle down and live the lives which they were meant to live. Candide, for a part of his travels, is accompanied by Pangloss, who is ever the optimist and often encourages Candide to remain optimistic about his prospects whenever the latter seems to be losing his optimism. Pangloss’s optimism may be what encourages Candide to make his journey in pursuit of lasting happiness with Cunegonde. In contrast, Rasselas is accompanied by the wise Imlac, who has a very pessimistic view of the world. Imlac does his best to warn his prince that the world is not as perfect as he may think and that he should not put too much faith in human nature. After their time in Cairo, Rasselas comes to realize that Imlac was right and that it is impossible to find any lasting happiness in the world. Eventually, both Rasselas and Candide accept the situations which life has placed upon them.

In conclusion, it can be said that it is indeed impossible for one to achieve lasting happiness due to human nature. As seen in the novels Rasselas and Candide, human beings are so full of cruelty and other vices which hinder them, and those whose lives they affect, to live happily. Furthermore, human beings are never really satisfied with what they have – however great it is – and instead, they set other goals which they have yet to achieve, for themselves. It is this greed for things which they do not have which keeps people from achieving true happiness because it does not allow them to really appreciate what they have and to realize that they can truly be happy with them. The realization that we can indeed be happy with what we have, however little, will ensure that people are more appreciative of their lives and that they do not make futile attempts to achieve the unachievable.

"The Passion" by Jeanette Winterson and "The handmaids Tale" by Margaret Atwood

Jeanette Winterson’s The Passion and Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale can both be considered to be feminist works. They both look at the different aspects of feminism which can be seen in the very different environments in which the stories in these novels are set and these actually give a hint of the authors’ thoughts on the feminism. The Passion is a novel set in the Napoleonic age and it is a story based on two characters, Henri, who is a cook, and Villanelle, a web footed cross dresser who works in a casino. The Handmaid’s Tale on the other hand is a story set in a futuristic New England after the destruction of the United States and it is based on the experiences of Offred, a handmaid. Both of these stories are told according to the view of the main characters and they often display a great sense of the feminist ideology, whether it is done consciously or unconsciously by the authors. One would be tempted to say that these novels are attempts by the authors to advance the feminist agenda by showing us the progress that has been made by women so far and how this progress might be quickly eroded. They attempt to show the weaknesses that plague the feminist movement and the fact that despite all its recent gains, this movement is still very new and if anything catastrophic were to happen; then all these gains would be lost in an instant mainly because of the nature of these gains.

In the state of Gilead where The Handmaid’s Tale is set, women are kept apart from the men and it is expected that they support each other in all the aspects of life. If these women are in the same household, they are expected to work together to fulfill the various duties which have been set for their gender. In this novel, women are presented to be strong and to be able to deal with many of the issues which face them on their own without the help of men. It is said that the women are better suited to handle the problems which face them and it is this more than anything that ensures that they are isolated. The theocratic state of Gilead justifies the isolation of the women in their society by using teachings from the bible. The Passion, on the other hand, is a novel which is based on two characters, one male and one female. Of these, the female character, Villanelle, is portrayed to be the stronger of the two and through her cross dressing displaying those characteristics which one would consider being very masculine. The male character, Henri, is the complete opposite of Villanelle due to the fact that he feels inadequate in his position in society and tends to compensate for this through his dedication to writing enhanced stories about himself in a diary. Furthermore, although he is a soldier in Napoleon’s army, Henri is depicted as a person who is afraid to kill, something which one would not expect from most men. One would say that the women being isolated in Gilead is as a direct result of the feminist movement belief that women can do better on their own without the presence of men. It is Atwood’s means of symbolizing the weaknesses of the feminist movement because no matter what they do, men are still as necessary in their lives as women are in men’s lives and none can do without the other.

On the other hand, the strong independent nature of Villanelle shows a great support for the feminist movement from Winterson. This is also accompanied by a desire to achieve what Villanelle wants through her dressing as a boy which could be interpreted as a symbol of women trying to step into the roles traditionally reserved for men. While Villanelle is depicted as being of a strong personality and fearless, Henri is shown to be weak and incompetent and this might be considered to be Winterson’s attempt to show that women are as good as men and that gender roles are not just limited to one gender and that they may in fact be considered to be universal. Villanelle’s character is in direct contrast to that displayed by Offred in The Handmaid’s Tale because Offred is depicted to be a weak character who willingly submits to the circumstances which have been brought her way. Not only does she submit to these circumstances, however demeaning they are, she also looks down upon the feminist ways of her mother as a way of dealing with them. Despite the dislike for Moira’s feminism, her daughter also displays a tinge of admiration for her mother because Offred cannot help but admire the way her mother always stood up for what she thought were the rights of women. The strength which women are able to display is shown in both novels because while both main female characters may seem to be weak on the outside, they are shown to have a very strong will.

In The Passion, the strength of character of Villanelle is shown when her willingness to tell a story is accepted by the men to whom she tells it to and this is despite the fact that during her times, women were rarely ever assertive or would they openly speak in public. Furthermore, Villanelle is depicted as a woman who knows exactly what she wants and this is seen when she has the strength to leave her abusive husband and go elsewhere, which is something which also rarely happened in the period where the story is set. In The Handmaid’s Tale, Offred is also seen to have a strong will because although she is used sexually by the commander and that she is treated as nothing more than a vessel through which children can be made, she still refuses to let these circumstances bring her down and in fact, she gains her strength from it. She views the sexual intercourse she has with the commander as being nothing more than a business which does not involve any emotional attachment on her part. The strength of character shown by these women can be considered to be a true depiction of a woman according to the feminist movement.

In conclusion, it can be said that it is indeed true that the main female characters in the novels above are both unconsciously being feminists in their actions. This is due to the fact that although they live in times where the female voice is rarely hard, the still find ways to fight back against the male dominated society. Despite their appearance as weak creatures at first, as the novels progress, one discovers that there is more to them because their strength is not shown physically but mentally, and this is where they are actually far much better than their male counterparts.

Abandoned by Guy de Maupassant

‘Abandoned’ is the story of a woman who has an illegitimate child from an affair she has in her youth. However, in order to avoid the public embarrassment which this child would have caused, she and her lover choose to give it away to a peasant couple to raise as their own child. Despite the fact that she gave her child up after birth, the woman does not forget him and continues to wish that she can see him again. The story begins forty years after the woman gives up her child when she brings her husband to the town close to where her son lives. With them is s close friend of the woman who also happens to have been her lover, and father of her child. The husband is oblivious of the reason for his wife bringing him to this town and he complains bitterly about it. When she asks him to take her for a walk, he refuses to do so and instead encourages her to ask her friend to take her. The woman and her former lover leave for the farm in which their son resides. Both of them seem to be anxious to see him again, but while the woman is emotional about the encounter, her friend hides his true feelings, stating that the woman is going to betray them to their son. The main fear of the friend is that their son might find out about them being his parents, and because of their social status, might decide to blackmail them.

The two former lovers continue to walk along the path and after asking for directions arrive at their son’s farm, which at first sight it seems to be a prosperous one. However, on their arrival, there is no one at home except for a young girl who tells them that she does not know where her father is while her mother has gone after the cows. When the girl’s mother returns, it is noted that she looks older than her true age and that she limps on her right leg. At first, she ignores the two visitors completely after looking at them with anger and suspicion. The woman’s friend calls her back and to get her attention, asks her to sell them some milk. The opportunity to make money makes the woman suddenly become extremely courteous and she immediately gets them the milk they want. The former lovers take this opportunity to make enquiries concerning their son, who as they speak of him, comes home. At first sight of him, the couple is extremely shocked at what they see. Their son, despite being only forty years old, is bent over like an old man and has lost the vigor which a man of his age should have. The woman is so shocked and distraught that she asks her former lover that they leave their son’s farm. She blames her former lover of having destroyed their son’s life, while he defends himself by stating that he did what he had to do. When they get back to the place where they are staying, they choose to behave as if nothing had happened that afternoon.

The Performance of Macbeth

The performance of Macbeth by various theatrical groups has, from its beginnings to the present, been based on an attempt to replicate the original situation as was written by Shakespeare. The fact that this attempt has continued to be of immense influence in the performance of this play shows just how the individuals who are involved in it are conscious of the importance of depicting the play in an accurate way. Macbeth is one of the greatest plays and works that were created by Shakespeare for performance on stage and because of this; it has remained exceedingly popular to the present day. When this play is performed in theatres, one will find that most of the scenes remain loyal to the original play since changing any aspect of the script within Macbeth would be detrimental to it on stage. One of the most notable aspects of the play is the fact that some the characters, especially Macbeth, are portrayed in a very negative light, and he ends up doing things that are morally wrong. In the performance of the play, this happens despite these characters having the knowledge that what they are doing is wrong, they tend to do it because of the belief that they are within their rights. For the duration of most of the play, it can be seen that the various actors attempt to remain loyal to the original script often depicting the characters in the play in the most realistic manner as possible. In order to create a situation where there is a contrast of characters that leads the play to its culmination, the performance of the various actors is often crucial in the depiction of the laying bare of the original plot of the play for the audience and this keeps the latter interested in the play.

Just like in the original performance of Macbeth, the actors on the current stage performances often use the characters’ personalities, as depicted in the original script of the play, as well as other events to convince the audience that what they are viewing is the real plot of the film. By doing this, these actors ensure that they maintain the element of revelation that often serves to captivate their audiences at the high point of the play. These stage actors attempt to depict the characters in a way that is almost as exactly as Shakespeare did in his play and by being loyal to the script; the play follows the same course of events as when it is performed on the Shakespearean stage. The performance of Macbeth on stage is highly significant because it is a revelation of the true nature of human beings in the medieval Scotland as told in the sources that Shakespeare used in writing the play. One of the most noteworthy themes in the play, in any of its performances, is that of ambition and this is seen when Macbeth takes steps to take the throne of Scotland despite the fact that he is not in direct line to the said throne. The dark tone which is dominant in the play is also highly significant because it is a revelation of the dark nature of Macbeth and his wife because it shows that they are blinded by their own needs and they cease to care about the needs of those with whom they share their lives.

In the performance of the play, it can be said that the actors put a lot of thought in their characters especially when it comes to the physical appearance of the said characters. In performances, it is seen that the actors seem to be selected from those people who are similar in appearance to the characters that are depicted in the play. This gives the audience the opportunity to appreciate the various characters within the play and to identify with them in a more intimate way than if their appearance were changed. In addition, there is the potential that many of the audience prefer the characters on the stage to remain loyal to the original. It can therefore be said that the performances of the play are highly successful because they ensure that there is a sense of continuity from the original play by Shakespeare. It can be concluded that when the performance of Macbeth is done on stage in the current period, most of the actors tend to remain absolutely loyal not only to the appearance of their characters but also to the original script and this goes a long way in making the play authentic.