CR Post #2
Although Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley predominantly displays the values of science and knowledge to mankind, there is also hints of religion influencing the titular protagonist. The validity of Elizabeth Lavenza’s statement in her letter to her cousin is questionable: “The republican institutions of our country have produced simpler and happier manners than those which prevail in great monarchies that surround it” (46). Geneva, Switzerland during the eighteenth century was separated from its European neighbors in terms of religion. The great monarchies refer to France, England, and Germany where Calvinism did not have as much success as it did with Switzerland. However, according to American History Through Literature, the main idea of Calvinism is to emphasize “the sovereignty of a deliberate God and denied the innately depraved individual all agency.” In doing so, there is already a predestined future for each individual selected by God, as well as their fate in going to Heaven or being denied.
Prior to creating the monster, Victor stresses the fact that he was set on a path already made out for him, and his destiny was sealed with his introduction to Cornelius Agrippa, and entering the University of Ingolstadt, “thus ended a day memorable to me;it decided my future destiny” (32). He could not change his fate, and his sense of agency was taken from him while he creates the monster. Because of the politics of his country, there’s a sense of being trapped in two different ways. The first is psychological, involving his course of actions at all times – he is overcome by his ambition which deprives him of sensibility, and later on is overcome by guilt of what he has done. Geneva becomes a motif in him being trapped in a second, more literal way. The familiarity and his sheltered childhood stunts him of his growth and causes him to become the man he was, and he has not gone far from its borders.
Source:
Kaschig, Merit. “Calvinism.” American History Through Literature 1820-1870. Ed. Janet Gabler-Hover and Robert Sattelmeyer. Vol. 1. Detroit: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 2006. 175-181. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 21 Feb. 2016.
I love that you bring up the issue of religion. I also like t hat you call our attention to the historical realities of place and Geneva’s religious affiliations in contrast to its neighbors. I am wondering though what close reading method you are using. I see that you start with the letter, and that becomes a jump off point, but then you seem to go broad into the text. I would have liked to have seen you grapple more with the language of the text, the decisions Shelley made, and what their affects are on our understanding of the text.