Since the ancient times, monsters have populated the human mind. That has changed all the way through the centuries. This type of change was defined at the end of the 19th century when beasts and monsters were given a psychological depth to fulfill their purpose of bearing human fears. In essay 1, I tackled “ways in which Frankenstein and Dracula use monstrosity to present social and political critiques. According to Ortiz Trueba (2017), Frankenstein and Dracula are the not only the creature that followed trends of humanization but provided excellent examples of 19th-century gothic monstrosity. They portrayed both rational, irrational in a civilized world and chaotic human fantasy. The essay offers a profound explanation on how Frankenstein and Dracula use monstrosity to criticize political and social sides. The article elaborates on the similarities and differences of their monstrous nature
Essay 1 starts the first paragraph by explaining how Frankenstein and Dracula use their monstrous nature. The piece has a shallow introduction. An introduction is the first paragraph that a writer writes (Griffith, 2010). It contains almost five percent of the total essay word count. The introduction determines whether a reader is disoriented or instead captures the reader’s attention. In clearly written sentences, writers give some background of the main topic, explain what the topic is about and what the reader should expect on the rest of the essay. In some essays or articles, the writer ends an introductory paragraph with a thesis statement. A thesis statement shows the main argument of the entire essay. The essay should have a heading indicating the introductory paragraph which explains with a broad generalization, drilling down to more specific information. This will entice the reader to want to read more. An introductory paragraph is important especially to individuals who know nothing about gothic beings, monstrosity and have not yet read ancient literature.
The essay first acknowledges that both Dracula and Frankenstein represent ills done in our society. The essay then gives the different symbols they represent in various characters. The writer gives one trait at a time for both Frankenstein and Dracula separately. Nevertheless, Ashley in her article “From Frankenstein's Monster to Lester Ballard: The Evolving Gothic Monster” the difference is always considered a decisive factor when defining monsters. Ortiz Trueba (2017) notes that within the Gothic literature, Frankenstein, Dracula, and Mr.Hyde have played a significant role in our present society. These creatures have managed to preserve a certain degree of status many centuries later. This clearly shows the influence these creatures have had on human culture as forerunners of horror works of fiction.
Shelley (2018) claims that Frankenstein was humane until the point where the reader can relate with him. Nevertheless, the humanization was contaminated when its discovered that he killed after realizing his status in the human world. Ortiz Trueba (2017) further states that the monster in Frankenstein is shown, after Rousseau, as a naturally good man who is corrupted by society. The essay fails to mention that Frankenstein seeks company after feeling pain and being lonely. Due to his external nature, society does not accept him. The innocent mind of the creature is made into the perfect antagonistic for all rational beings. The essay also does not mention how Frankenstein finally became what society expected him to be when he decided to torture the one person who created him.
I agree with the writer that Frankenstein was a symbol of sexual oppression. Mary Shelley blatantly expresses the theme of gender roles on both males and females. According to the writer, gender issues come about when the monster is created. The monster depicts a female who has a nurturing attitude in the British culture in the 19th century. The writer leaves out the capacity in which Frankenstein represents the male gender. According to Shelley (2018), Frankenstein depicts strong similarities with traditional male archetypes. In Frankenstein, almost in every level in the character tree where there was a dominant male character which played a significant role in the play.
In contrast, there were also some women who were the main characters and played roles which were docile and supportive. In Frankenstein films, women have their main purpose as their deaths while Modern Prometheus acts as tools for the men to interact with each other. The essay does not clearly explain the statements” Frankenstein is a symbol of sexual oppression.”
The writer does not explain that Frankenstein market the importance of women as guiding maternal figures of the family. One of the major question on the features of the novel was whether the monster was created under natural circumstances or subsequent abandonment. According to Shelley (2018), feminine care is ensured to be socially stable. Creation of Frankenstein underscores the nature of false dichotomy. The essay only mentions that gender issues are examined by the creation of the monster which again adds to the critical matters of the social makeup of the society.
According to the writer, Frankenstein uses its monstrous nature to show political critique. According to the writer, the monster gets to understand that human political and social establishments are governed by too much cruelty. Skalosova (2016) supports the claim by the writer by saying that Frankenstein’s monster had no mechanical characteristics thus had a full human creature. The monster used its brain and could speak. The monster was forced to stay alone and in very poor conditions deep in the mountains. The monster got energy in his hate for how people lived on prejudice which according to the monster deserved to be punished. The part that the writer fails to mention is that the monster came to the world with a pure mind, no knowledge of good and bad. Hitchcock (2007) confiders the novel an experiment examining the psychological traits of an abandoned newborn giant as well as borrows some concepts from Locke’s theory. Skalosova (2016) compares the monster's mind to that of a human baby who is given a chance to live right and who is tasked to obeying his parents and living as per the set laws.
Skalosova (2016) argues out that Shelley uses the monster to criticize human behavior. According to Skalosova (2016), Frankenstein abandons his monster without any help or companionship or love. The writer only fails to include how the monster’s character evolves from having a brain as a child to becoming an orphan, losing its model for honesty and losing any other chance of becoming a responsible man. The writer needs to show how the changes occurred to where the monster criticizes human behavior. Shelley (2012) states that the most crucial part of the monster is its ability to critically think and be critical of human behavior. The writer gives a clear explanation as to why the monster lost its identity. The writer indicates that there were no rights which safeguarded the monster. I agree with the writer that the monster depicted how human beings were. The writer notes that “From this viewpoint, the monster represents the dangerous, unappeasable and uncontrollable force a discriminatory society would encounter in the face of untamed human rights violations.”
The essay also denotes that Dracula is a representation of both social and political critiques. According to the essay, Dracula depicts gender roles and excessive use of sexuality. I agree with the writer that Lucy is over-sexualized and even described in more sexualized terms. Instead of having a monogamous relationship, Lucy has three suitors and cannot be able to decide between them. She goes ahead to kiss all three and is thus shown as being a sexual excess. In the story, Lucy attempts to seduce Arthur to kill him and escape her death. When she becomes a vampire, she becomes overly sexualized. According to Ortiz Trueba (2017), Lucy’s character depicts that of a new woman. She was a woman who wanted to break free from any intellectual and social constraints in a male-dominated society. I also agree with the essay that the books evoke discussions on homosexuality. Dracula makes advances to male individuals, especially Jonathan, and at some point takes them to bed with him. (Stoker " Mowat, 2008). According to Bauer (2017) after Wilde’s trial in 1895, anxieties increased over gender issues, and Stoker had to own up to his anxieties and homosexuality.
The essay evaluates how Dracula depicts issues on economic exploitation, political oppression, racism and racial degeneration in the Victorian age in England. Stoker and Mowat (2008) complicate Mayhew’s social order by suggesting that at the end of the century the modern citizen one who preys on innocent citizens. Mckee (2002) indicates that Dracula has been comprehended to respond to fears that existed of the late Victorian. Mckee (2002) further depicts that the vampires are created by racial enervation and the decline of the empire. The novel also exploits fears of both genetic and social deterioration as perceived in the late Victorian era.
Overall, the essay has a good flow of ideas, elaborating first how Frankenstein depicts political critiques followed by social and political critiques on Dracula. The writer uses good grammar and makes good transitions in between paragraphs and ideas. The essay is both intense and informational. The writer connects real-life scenarios with two major gothic novel characters, Frankenstein and Dracula. The essay presents facts and can be deeply felt, probably because the writer connects with issues experienced in today’s world. The writer is also confident that has a good flow of ideas each well explained.
References
Bauer, H. (2017). Dracula and Sexology.
Griffith, K. (2010). Writing essays about literature. Nelson Education.
Hitchcock, T. S. (2007). Frankenstein: A Cultural History. New York: WW Norton.
Mckee, P. (2002). Racialization, capitalism, and aesthetics in Stoker's Dracula. NOVEL: A Forum on Fiction, 36 (1), 42-60
Ortiz Trueba, R. (2017). The Monsters Within: Gothic Monstrosity in Dracula, Frankenstein, and Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and its Role in Nineteenth Century English Society.
Shelley, M. (2018). Frankenstein: The 1818 Text. Penguin.
Skalošová, Ž. (2016). Monster and Monstrosity in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (Doctoral dissertation, Masarykova univerzita, Pedagogická fakulta).
Stoker, B., " Mowat, D. (2008). Dracula. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
