What message might Victor be missing when he dreams that his kiss turns Elizabeth into a corpse?
In Chapter 5, Victor creates a creature that comes to life, but he becomes terrified of his creation. He was unable to sleep that night, but when he does, he begins to have nightmares. In the dream of his, he kisses Elizabeth while he watches her turn into his mother's corpse. I believe that the message that Victor is missing is the his dream of Elizabeth turning into a corpse may symbolize her near death. Before Elizabeth turns into a corpse, he says that her lips became “livid with the hue of death” (59), and this foreshadows her near death by connecting the word “death” with Elizabeth.He also says that he see’s a “shroud envelope her form, and I saw grave worms crawling in the folds of the flannel”, and this immediately emphasizes the concept of death by telling that he see’s a cloth used for dead bodies around her. He not only see’s her turn into his dead mother, but see’s her wrapped in a cloth used to wrap dead bodies with. Victor is missing this message because of how he is so caught up with the romance in his dream about Elizabeth. I have also noticed that he tends to romanticize everything and this plays a large role on his perspective on situations like this one. The kiss may also foreshadow romance between Victor and Elizabeth where they might eventually begin a romantic relationship with each in the future, but be interrupted by Elizabeth's death. The message that Victor missed that Elizabeth’s death is near is incredibly important because it shows his blindness to negative situation because how he romanticizes everything. If Victor had noticed the symbolism of death, Elizabeth may have been saved and they may have been able to pursue a romantic relationship without the interruption of death that would cause more harm to Victor’s mental state.
2 Comments
Courtney Kascoutas
3/12/2017 03:52:58 pm
Victor could be missing the message that going and seeing his family will be a huge mistake because no good came of his dream. Since he clearly had not seen his fmaily in so long, Victor’s mind was clouded over the fact that going and seeing his family could actually lead them to grave danger. Ironically, that does happen as Victor will later go home, find out about William’s murder, anf carry the burden of his creation over his head. Obviously, Victor’s dream is a sign that he should not go and see his family because of all of the darkness that later follows, however, he clearly misses that sign as he creates something with “yellow skin [that] scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath” (58). Victor had done it, he successfully created life that he would soon extremely regret, but was so caught up in the moment with everything going around him that Victor did not take his dream about Elizabeth perishing as a bad sign, just a good thing that he saw a beam of light in all of the craziness. Her presence alone, regardless to what was happening to her, could not affect Victor’s deep emotions and horror of the life he created that he just wanted to cover up with something, and thus missed the message to not return home.
Reply
Victor has this dream immediately after bringing the creature to life. This represents that what occurred in the dream may show the effects brought upon by Victor's creation. The effects are obvious-- Elizabeth is shown dead, with her death representing the soon passing of Victor's entire family, one by one, each death caused by Victor's creation. When Victor created the creature, he did not foreshadow the effect that creature would have not only on his life but on the people he is close to. Therefore, he does not assume responsibility on the creature or try to care for it because he does not expect the devastating impact that the creature would have on his family and friends. If Victor had caught on to the message of his dream and Elizabeth's portrayed death, he may have taken a better responsibility of the creature, knowing what it was capable of and preventing the disastrous outcomes by controlling the creature's emotions and human contact.
Reply
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorNicolette LaMarr Archives
May 2017
Categories |