Narrative technique in Frankenstein

Jankiba Rana’s  Assignment

Assignment :Narrative technique in Frankenstein

      

                                      Roll No  : 9

                                      M.A.Sem – II

                                      Batch : 2014 – ‘15

                                      Submitted to – Department of English

                                      Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar                                                       university.

                                      Bhavnagar.

 “ I busied myself to

think of a story, -- a

story to rival those

which had excited us to

this task. One which

would speak to the

mysterious fears of our

nature and awaken

thrilling horror. . .”

• Mary Shelley

Mary Shelley had many narrative conventions hitherto followed by earlier writers. Jane Austen had written many novels, but the area, she covered was restricted to one or two families. Her realistic mode did not suit Mary Shelley .

Since the novel is said to have originated in the so-called ‘ghost-story’ context, she fell back on the Gothic tradition, but altered it drastically. So much so that the novel as it was published could hardly be called Gothic, for, with a few exceptions, there are no supernatural trappings. As a literary heiress to two great and eminent intellectuals, Mary seems to have examined and tested all existing conventions, but she found none which could suit her: she invented her own – a hybrid of ‘Chinese box’, ‘point of view’, ‘indirections’ and Framed or Embedded Narrative, which is a also known as framed narratives or Chinese box structure of stories within stories, meta fiction. The first narrative was taken by Walton Who writes to his sister Mrs. Saville .

Basic narrative

Largely, the novel consists of a single story which takes Frankenstein from childhood in Geneva to his death in the Arctic aboard Captain Walton's ship. All the action of the novel arises from:

• Frankenstein's childhood and education
• His creation of the monster and its consequences.

When other stories are told – such as that of the de Laceys, Justine or Elizabeth – they are subordinate to this central action.

Comparison with Walton

The closest the novel comes to what might be an alternative, or sub, plot is the story of Captain Walton. But this plot, with its emphasis on aspiration, exploration and the obsessive search for new discoveries is in reality a kind of echo of Frankenstein's story, and the main reason why Walton welcomes Victor so warmly is that he finds him a kindred spirit. However, the stories do diverge, in that:

• Walton, unlike Victor, is forced to acknowledge and accede to the wishes of other people
• whereas Frankenstein can pursue his studies in isolation, Walton is dependent on his crew
• when  his crew demand to return to England, upon their ship becoming ice-bound, Walton has to submit to their demands.

·          

·                           The novel opens with four letters written by Walton to his sister, Mrs. Saville. The letters are written in first person . At the end of Letter IV, Walton agrees to hear the stranger's tale. The stranger declares that his destiny is determined, nothing can change it. Understanding the importance of the stranger's tale, Walton decides to take notes on the story.

·         I have resolved every night, when I am not imperatively occupied by my duties, to record, as nearly as possible in his own words.

·         Therefore, this sets the narrative voice--Walton's telling of Victor's story.

 Third Person (i.e. he, his, him /she, her /it /they, their /[name]) 

Second Person (addressed to: you, your, thee*, thou* or thine ) 

First Person (singular: I, me, my, mine; plural: we, us, our)

Frankenstein --- First-person Narration

        The whole story is narrated through first-person narration with two different viewpoints. First is from the viewpoint of Frankenstein; and the other, Walton. In this article, I am going to discuss the use of first-person narration to show the reliability of the story.

      There are Three different narratives in frankenstein :

                  Shelley the author, uses, something calling a “framing device “ and “ epistolary “ narration .

                   A framing Device is used when a someone’s story is told through someone who reads it or hears it. Epistolary narration is when a story it’s told through letters.

The reader is introduced to Robert Walton , a failed writer turned explorer as Robert is writing to his sister about his adventures in searching for the North Pole , the Robert and the audience meet victor.

          Victor then tell Robert his story about he ended up in the North Pole. The reader learns of his creature , victor’s past...essentially the story of Frankenstein. 

           At the beginning of the last chapter, Shelly makes use of the first-person narration to tell the story. Frankenstein continued to tell his story. He wanted to take revenge on his creature Daemon as it killed his friends and family. He was desperate to  destroy the monster. He pursued it no matter how hard his life was and how difficult the processes were. The story of capturing the monster was told by Frankenstein himself and used “I” to indicate creditability. That is the first-person narration.

            After Frankenstein had finished his story, the book turned back to Walton’s letter. Walton saved Frankenstein from the iced Ocean and became his friend. The narration turned to Walton’s story. From his letter to his sister Margaret, we know that Frankenstein was dead finally and the monster came to take his body away. Through Walton’s narration, we can find that Daemon has still got its conscience. He was borne away by waves and lost in darkness at last. The second part of the last chapter was narrated by Walton, as mentioned before. In this part, “I” was used to indicate Walton, not Frankenstein.

            All in all, this novel used first-person narration in two different ways, one for Frankenstein and one for Walton. Using this method to narrate story can create a more reliable atmosphere for readers and lead them inside the story easily and deeply. Walton states that he is the witness of Frankenstein’s story. Like this novel, we can understand what Frankenstein or Walton felt directly and can easily catch the passion of the characters. Frankenstein is a great story and gives an excellent description of characters’ feelings!

Frankenstein has an odd structure. Most is written in first person, from several different characters' points of view. We hear the explorer's thoughts on Frankenstein, the monster's thoughts as well as those of Victor Frankenstein himself as in the famous passage:

It was on a dreary night of November that I beheld the accomplishment of my toils.

Other sections of the story are second person - told in 'letters' (olden-times 'email'). A letter is also called an 'epistle' - hence 'epistolary' novel. Elizabeth writes to Victor Frankenstein to tell him about events at home. She narrates events to Victor using 'you'. As with most 'second person', the writer also uses first and third person.

Third Person and First Person are by far the most common point of view styles in novels. In poetry, it's first person, then second.

Omniscient third person is a fairly distanced viewpoint where the narrator hovers above the action, shifting from one character and place to another. Literally, omniscient means 'all knowing'. Sometimes this includes the author's opinion (in first person). Charles Dickens uses this style a lot - hovering over various characters. We hear the voice of the author (in the first person) at the start of A Tale of Two Cities:

We had everything before us, we had nothing before us; we were all going direct to Heaven; we were all going the other way.

      Mary Shelley uses a multiple narrative in Frankenstein. A multiple narrative (sometimes referred to as an epistolary narrative) uses the voices of multiple characters within the text. Epistolary narratives can also use letters (such as Walton's four letters at the opening of the novel and the letters between the Frankenstein family) to detail parts of the plot and storyline. Some readers may forget, as they move through the novel, that Walton is responsible for telling the story of Victor and his creation.

Third person limited Narration or Limited 

Omimiscience :   Focusing a third person narration Though the eyes of a single character. Even when an author chooses to tell a narrative through omniscient narrations/he will sometimes ( or even for the entire tale ) limite the perspective of the narrative to that of a single character , choosing for example only to narrate the inner thoughts of that character. The narrative is still told in third person ( unlike first-person narration );however, it clear that it is ,nonetheless, being told through the eyes of a single character. A famous example of this from of narration is James Joyce’s   “ The Dead “( in dubiners).  A narrative can also shift among various third person limited narrations.(see also focalize.) Third-Person

Third-Person Omniscient Narration   :                  This is a common form of third-person narration in which the teller of the tale , who often appears to speak with the voice of the author himself , assumes an omniscient (all knowing) perspective on the story being told : diving into private thoughts, narrating secret or hidden events , jumping between spaces and times. Of course, the ominiscience narrator does not therefore tell the reader viewer everything, at least not until the moment of greatest effect. In other words , the hermeneutic code is still very much in play throughout such narration. Such a narrator will also discursively re-order the chronological events of the story.

Frame narrative :

A frame narrative is a literary technique used to contain an embedded narrative, a story within a story, to provide the reader with context about the main narrative. A frame narrative, also known as a framing narrative or a frame story, might be found in the beginning, middle or end of the story. It can also act like a link that connects many stories together.

The Frame Narrative in Frankenstein  :

Frankenstein uses a double frame structure, with Walton telling the story of his encounter with Frankenstein, who, in turn, tells the story of his disastrous experiment, and within that includes a re-telling of the Creature's own story.

This use of the frame narrative achieves a number of effects, influencing how we read and understand the text, and also influencing our emotional response to the characters and narrators.

Firstly, the fact that the stories of all three narrators seem to concur adds credibility to the narrative. This is, however, deceptive, as each narrator is able to give his own view of events without danger of contradiction - all three are together only after the death of Frankenstein. In addition to this, both Frankenstein and Walton are able to edit not only their own stories but those of the 'framed' narrator(s). We have, really, only Walton's version of events - he gives his version of Frankenstein's version of the Creature's version of his story - and we are under no obligation to believe Walton.

Cynicism aside, it seems reasonable to accept the majority of Walton's account - we are given no reason to do otherwise. Caution must be exercised, however, when it comes to Walton's descriptions of Frankenstein; Walton is clearly heavily under the influence of Frankenstein's exceptional charm and charisma, and lavishes upon him a praise which many readers would find difficult to understand.

The second effect of the frame narrative is that it provides us with a number of perspectives, giving more than one version of the truth. Remembering that we remember that the narratives of the Creature and Frankenstein are coloured by the re-telling of their tales, we are presented with three different personal views on the story.

Whilst we are encouraged by each narrator to believe his narrative, and sympathise with him and his concerns, this is quite obvious, and so the reader is empowered to select a viewpoint, either from the three given, or by constructing a new, personal opinion on the story and characters. This then leads the reader to become engaged, and perhaps even immersed in the story, helping Shelley to achieve her purposes: to horrify and to generate thought on a number of social, moral, religious and political issues. The empowerment of the reader, giving the freedom to choose what to accept and find sympathetic, carries with it the responsibility to develop a personal view on these issues.

This use of the frame narrative to provide different viewpoints gives its third effect: to bring the use of foil characters to the attention of the reader. Frankenstein uses a number of foils, all of whom are used to demonstrate Frankenstein's inadequacies and failings as a human being:

·         The Creature himself, especially if he is Frankenstein's double, serves to show that Frankenstein had good innate within him, but (willfully or accidentally) turned from it. The Creature and Frankenstein seem to have only one measure of humanity between them, and as the Creature becomes increasingly human (even with all the attendant vices that implies), Frankenstein becomes increasingly monstrous. The Creature uses reason to get what he wants (initially at least); Frankenstein uses hysterical threatening. The Creature performs altruistic actions; Frankenstein is the epitome of egocentrism.

·         Walton serves to show what Frankenstein was before he was perverted by his blind attachment to science. The novel begins as Walton is treading a knife-edge between sane, rational normality and wild, driven ambition - Frankenstein's warning to him seems to succeed, and he is prevented from taking a similarly destructive path.

·         Henry Clerval is the exact opposite of Frankenstein in almost every way. Whilst he also wishes to study and to acquire knowledge, his motives seem to be less selfish than Frankenstein's - it is difficult to see how a desire to master foreign languages could lead to an all-consuming and destructive ambition. Clerval is calm; Frankenstein raves madly. Clerval is caring; Frankenstein seems unable to sympathise with others, much less to empathise. Clerval is chivalrous and well-mannered; Frankenstein's selfishness prevents him from behaving in anything other than a callous and rude fashion. Clerval is interested in poetry; Frankenstein is interested in nothing but science. Clerval is a dedicated Romantic; Frankenstein is still lost in the worldliness of the Enlightenment.

·         Elizabeth, too, is a foil for Frankenstein - she demonstrates true loyalty to family and friends, and an appreciation of the beauty of nature which makes Frankenstein's use of the horrific and unnatural look extremely bad. Elizabeth also seems to welcome her forthcoming marriage, showing the strangeness of Frankenstein's reluctance. Elizabeth, as a mother-figure and 'love interest' represents procreation and sexuality, which serves to highlight the wrong Frankenstein has done in creating life without the involvement of a woman, and also shows his odd rejection of mature sexuality.

Multiple Perspectives :

                                                             One thing a frame narrative does is change the point of view from which the story is presented. In other words, a frame narrative offers the reader multiple points of view within the same story. For example, in Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein,” the narrator, who is also a character within the story, tells the story that makes up the novel. The effect is that the reader is presented with multiple perspectives of the story within one text, and these multiple perspectives provide the reader with more information about the characters including their motivations, thoughts and feelings.

Multiple Stories :

                                                  A frame narrative also allows the writer to incorporate a set of smaller narratives into one overall story. In general, a story within a main story is used to sum up some aspect of the framing story. For example, in “The Book of the One Thousand and One Nights,” the narrator, who is also a character in the story, relates a number of fairy tales to another character. The overall effect of this type of frame narration is to tie all of the stories together to present the reader with one collection of related tales.

Multiple Levels of Meaning :

                                                                                  Overall, frame narratives are used to provide the reader with multiple levels of meaning. Whether a narrative contains one embedded narrative or a series of related stories, the framing of a narrative creates opportunities for multiple levels of interpretation. For instance, a frame may expand or shrink the distance between the reader and the story, change the reader’s sense of what is and what is not important, or imply certain sociological, political or ethical consequences that reach beyond the text into the outside world. All of these effects of frame narratives give stories different levels of meaning .

               Finally, the frame narrative reinforces the message of the text - anyone behaving like Frankenstein will come to no good - by having the entire story told in the barren wastes of the Arctic. There is no life, and therefore symbolically no hope for Frankenstein, at the beginning, and we are reminded of this when Walton's narrative resumes at the end. Frankenstein had failed and was at death's door as the narrative began - we were presented with this 'warning' at the beginning of the text, as well as its being shown to us more directly and in greater detail at the end.