Dreams in Frankenstein
The Importance to the Novel:
- Dreams evoke strong emotions within a person
that represent emotional attachments
- Used to personify events that prove detrimental
to a character's state of mind
- Mary Shelley fully uses the abstract nature of
dreams to visual represent the character’s state
of mind
, Dream 1: Victor Frankenstein
Quotation: Context (Foreshadow)
“I slept indeed, but I was disturbed by the wildest dreams.
Before:
I thought I saw Elizabeth, in the bloom of health, walking
- Mother dies from scarlet fever (nursing Elizabeth)
in the streets of Ingolstadt. Delighted and surprised, I
- He creates the monster
embraced her, but as I imprinted the first kiss on her lips, After:
they became livid with the hue of death; her features - Elizabeth is killed by his creation
appeared to change, and I thought that I held the corpse
of my dead mother in my arms; a shroud enveloped her
form, and I saw the grave-worms crawling in the folds of
the flannel. I started from my sleep with horror;”
The Importance to the Novel:
- Dreams evoke strong emotions within a person
that represent emotional attachments
- Used to personify events that prove detrimental
to a character's state of mind
- Mary Shelley fully uses the abstract nature of
dreams to visual represent the character’s state
of mind
, Dream 1: Victor Frankenstein
Quotation: Context (Foreshadow)
“I slept indeed, but I was disturbed by the wildest dreams.
Before:
I thought I saw Elizabeth, in the bloom of health, walking
- Mother dies from scarlet fever (nursing Elizabeth)
in the streets of Ingolstadt. Delighted and surprised, I
- He creates the monster
embraced her, but as I imprinted the first kiss on her lips, After:
they became livid with the hue of death; her features - Elizabeth is killed by his creation
appeared to change, and I thought that I held the corpse
of my dead mother in my arms; a shroud enveloped her
form, and I saw the grave-worms crawling in the folds of
the flannel. I started from my sleep with horror;”
