World Literature

“If our impulses were confined to hunger, thirst, and desire, we might be nearly free; but now we are moved by every wind that blows and a chance word or scene that that word may convey to us.”

This quote by Mary Shelley brings us deeper into the thinking that’s going on in Victors head. The idea of him saying we might be nearly free if our impulses were confined to hunger, thirst, and desire is his way of saying that we aren’t quite free at all. If we were free we wouldn’t let most things that we hear move us and that’s the interpretation that I have when he says “we are moved by every wind that blows and a chance word or scene that that word may convey to us.”

The question I then begin to ask myself is is Victor free? Is he a slave to being moved from what he hears? The clear answer would then be no because most of his life has been lived being a contrarian going against popular belief and not sticking to the status quo. Victor was very ambitious at doing what he wanted when he wanted and not letting the influences of others effect him.

Possible theses:

Frankenstein explores the the advantages and disadvantages of rationality in relation to freedom.

Frankenstein demonstrates how that which often serves as the basis for freedom, i.e. rationality, can also paradoxically become a prison.

Frankenstein offers contradictory ideas of freedom, demonstrating how rationality, the necessary component for freedom, can lead to one’s imprisonment.

Frankenstein calls into question our conventional ideas of freedom, demonstrating that though we frequently use the term, we don’t truly understand what it means.