Narrative Voices in Shelleys Frankenstein and Fathers...

Narrative Voices in Shelleys Frankenstein and Fathers and Sons by Ivan Turgenev I have chosen to compare the narrative voices of Frankenstein and Fathers and Sons, as the perspectives in these two novels differ from one another. Frankenstein’s narrative voice contains tales of three characters within one narrative, none belonging directly to the author, whereas the narrative voice of Fathers and Sons, is that of the author alone. Examples I will be using are taken from ‘The Realist Novel’ (TRN), and from the novels of Frankenstein (F) and Fathers and Sons (FS). Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein is an example of first- person narrative, with Walton describing his encounters in letters to his sister Margaret, in†¦show more content†¦(P53 F). This novel also includes narrative perspectives that shape the fictional world in the realist novel genre. Instances of this come from Victors childhood, which seemed idyllic, with his mother and father devoted to him, ‘the innocent and helpless creature bestowed on them by heaven’ and ‘I was so guided by a silken cord that all seemed but one train of enjoyment to me’ (P.33 F). And when the monster is relating his tale to Victor, of how he learnt the basic principles of survival, stating ‘when I was oppressed by cold, I found fire’ and ‘searching in vain for a few acorns to assuage the pangs of hunger’ and of his hideout ‘I found it an agreeable asylum from the snow and rain’. (P.99 F). This perspective is plausible, giving a romantic feel to the novel, when ‘Frankenstein’s physical attempt to reconstruct the human frame serves as an image for the goal of Romantic artists: the spiritual regeneration of man’ (p.65 TRN). The pathos generated by his tale is intensified by the monster being inspired and consoled by nature, as he describes to Victor ‘my senses were gratified and refreshed by a thousand scents of delight and a thousand sights of beauty’ with the onset of spring, (p.111 F). Also, ‘thankfulness towards the blessed sun, which bestowed such joy upon me’ (p.134 F). When the narrative perspective changes, we have a contrast to these joys as he is rejected as an ‘ugly detestable monster’, at a