Blog Prompt #9- Nature

Throughout the novel Frankenstein, nature is a prominent recurring element that functions as a restoration of the body and mind. This novel was published during the Romantic era, which emphasized the sublime beauty of nature rather than the scientific aspects of nature. These ideas from the Romantic period about the purpose of nature play heavily in this book, especially concerning the major character Victor Frankenstein. Nature is used as a constant source of healing, comfort, and joy. Although Victor is “ill”, or depressed, throughout the majority of his lifetime since he created his monster, he always finds at least some restoration in his natural surroundings. When his depression comes to a peak, he travels to Chamounix and Montanvert (on different occasions) in order to heal his mind of the guilt, remorse, and sorrow that he constantly feels. Victor reflects on nature, “We passed a fortnight in these perambulations: my health and spirits had long been restored, and they gained additional strength from the salubrious air I breathed, the natural incidents of our progress” (Shelley, 43). Nature is compared to heaven in certain passages as it is portrayed as something more beautiful and bigger than anyone or anyone’s problems on Earth. Readers are supposed to understand nature’s power, and that the natural world is crucial to the most simple aspects of life and survival. We see this especially through the creature’s tale of his encounters and understandings of nature, even including the most basic natural forms such as heat, cold, light, and dark. There are many similarities between environmental nature and human nature, as they are both made up of both beautiful and evil components. Nature can be beautiful and restore the depressed soul, but it can also bring freezing storms and trap a boat in a sea of ice (as in Walton’s circumstance). Similarly, human nature has morals and compassion, but we can also be very selfish and inflict harm on society.

Blog Prompt #7- Victim or Villain

Dorian Gray is a character that undergoes enormous changes throughout the novel. Dorian is initially portrayed as a beautiful and innocent young man, but as he becomes influenced by Lord Henry there is a dramatic change in character. I believe Dorian can initially be considered a victim to Lord Henry’s manipulations, but it is ultimately up to Dorian to direct his own thoughts and behaviors. We can see that although Dorian is intrigued by Lord Henry, he also knows that his influence is for the worse: “Lord Henry had the charm of being very dangerous” (Wilde, 111). Because Dorian is cognitively aware of the wrongfulness of Lord Henry’s advice and still decides to base his thoughts and behaviors off of this manipulation, I now consider Dorian to be a villain. His villainous actions are portrayed onto his own painted portrait, which acts as a reflection of his soul. As the story continues, Dorian’s soul becomes more and more marred. The most monstrous part of this is that Dorian is solely concerned with his outward beauty and gives no care to what happens to his soul. He reflects, “What did it matter what happened to the colored image on the canvas? He would be safe. That was everything” (Wilde, 103). Because Dorian now views his outward beauty as the most important and influential thing in his life, his morality and good character have been lost.

Blog Prompt #6- The Spectator

Lord Henry and Basil Hallward are extremely interesting and vastly different characters in the novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray. The introduction to the novel states that, “It is the spectator, and not life, that art really mirrors” (Wilde, 4). This quote helps the reader understand aspects of these characters in their thoughts on the meaning of art. Hallward believes that because he is so dominated with his adoration for Dorian Gray, that the depths of his own soul are displayed in his art. He cries to Lord Henry, “There is too much of myself in the thing Harry- too much of myself!” (Wilde, 14). Because Hallward is terrified of revealing his soul in his art, we can see that he believes art is meant to represent some beauty for the spectator to reflect on personally. As for Lord Henry, he is more difficult to interpret in my opinion. He holds many controversial theories about life, and lives it in pleasure. We can also glimpse the character of these men by analyzing their interactions with Dorian Gray. While they both absolutely adore Dorian, Hallward allows it to dominate him and he becomes jealous and sad. Lord Henry, however, obtains power and manipulation over Dorian, which reveals his strong personality. Our class quote by Junot Diaz states that, “There’s this idea that monsters don’t have reflections in a mirror. And what I’ve always thought isn’t that monsters don’t have reflections in a mirror. It’s that if you want to make a human being into a monster, deny them, at the cultural level, any reflection of themselves.” This quote helps us interpret Lord Henry as somewhat monstrous because he purposefully influences Dorian horribly by manipulating him into thinking and acting as Lord Henry would- therefore denying Dorian a real reflection of himself.