THE TEMPEST WITH ALLIE: Act 4, Scene 1 Summary/Analysis

Prospero gives Ferdinand his blessing to marry Miranda, saying that Ferdinand has stood up well to Prospero’s tests of his love.  He threatens harsh consequences, however, if Ferdinand takes Miranda’s virginity before an official wedding ceremony takes place.   Ferdinand pledges to obey Prospero’s wishes. 

Ferdinand wins his freedom and love because he faced his loss of power without bitterness.  Every character who bears loss in this way in The Tempest is ultimately rewarded so far. 

Prospero orders Ariel to gather his band of spirits to put on a celebratory masque, or performance, for the new couple.  The masque begins when Iris, the Greek goddess of the rainbow, calls Ceres, the harvest goddess, to come and join her in celebrating the marriage. Juno, wife of Zeus and queen of the gods, appears next.  Juno bestows her blessing on the couple, wishing them wealth and honor, while Ceres blesses them with wishes of prosperity.  In awe, Ferdinand wishes he could stay on the island forever, with Miranda as his wife and Prospero as his father.  Iris commands nymphs and harvest spirits to perform a country dance.

Prospero has been using his magic to manipulate and control the play’s other characters.  Now he steps into the role of playwright and “writes” the masque.  In the process, he displays his full power, so amazing and humbling Ferdinand that the boy is now in awe of his father-in-law.

Suddenly, Prospero recalls Caliban, Stephano, and Trinculo‘s conspiracy to kill him. He calls an abrupt end to the festivities and the spirits vanish.  Ferdinand is unsettled by Prospero’s change in demeanor.  Prospero reassures him, saying that an end must come to all things: “We are such stuff as dreams are made on; and our little life is rounded with a sleep”.  He instructs the lovers to go and rest in his cave without telling them any more details of what is going on.

At this moment, Prospero almost seems to lose control. It’s as if he got so caught up in his “art” that he lost track of real life (which is also what led to Prospero’s fall in Milan).  Though Prospero’s speech can be seen as a meditation on age and mortality, many critics believe that it refers to the impermanence of Shakespeare’s own craft and legacy.

Prospero summons Ariel, who reports that he has led the drunken conspirators on a torturous walk through briar patches and a stinking swamp. He describes their plot to steal Prospero’s cloak and books before killing him. Prospero curses Caliban, calling him “a born devil, on whose nature nurture can never stick”.

Prospero’s remark about Caliban echoes Miranda’s observation in 1.2 that certain races are naturally indecent and inferior. This rationale was a common justification for colonization and slavery.

THE TEMPEST WITH ALLIE: Act 2 Scene 1 Summary/Analysis

 

Elsewhere on the island, the other courtiers find themselves washed up on the island’s shores. Alonso is despondent because he can’t find Ferdinand, whom he believes to be dead. Gonzalo tries to comfort him by saying that they should be thankful that they survived, but Alonso is to sad to listen to him. Alonso also ignores Gonzalo‘s observation that it is strange how fresh their clothing seems. Meanwhile, off to one side, Antonio and Sebastian look on and mock Gonzalo’s positive attitude.

Alonso reacts to the loss of his son with extreme sadness. The cheerful Gonzalo tries to remain optimistic, while the power-hungry Antonio and Sebastian mock Gonzalo from the sidelines. Though Antonio and Sebastian dismiss him as a fool, only Gonzalo detects the strangeness of the shipwreck and the island. 

Francisco, another lord, also tries to comfort Alonso. Sebastian, on the other hand, lays the blame for Ferdinand’s death on Alonso, saying that it was his own fault for going against his advisors’ counsel and permitting his daughter to marry an African. Gonzalo scolds Sebastian for his harsh words, and Antonio and Sebastian once more mock Gonzalo again.

Sebastian’s condemnation of Alonso shows a surprising lack of brotherly feeling. He also demonstrates blatant racism in his condemnation of Alonso’s decision to allow his daughter to marry an African. 

Gonzalo continues talking and explains how he would govern such an island if he were king. He envisions people dwelling in a completely agrarian society, without leaders or language, where everyone lives in harmony, peace, and plenty. “All things in common nature should produce without sweat or endeavor,” he says. He elaborates this utopian vision while Antonio and Sebastian continue their snide commentary. Alonso remains troubled and disinclined to hear Gonzalo’s talk. Gonzalo then turns on Antonio and Sebastian, scolding them once again, this time for their mockery and cowardice. 

Ariel enters, invisible, and plays music that makes Gonzalo and Alonso fall asleep. As they sleep, Antonio slyly presents a murder plot to Sebastian. Since Ferdinand is almost definitely dead, Antonio says, Alonso‘s death would make Sebastian King of Naples. Sebastian is drawn in, remembering how Antonio overthrew his own brother. He hesitates a bit, though, asking Antonio if his conscience bothers him for what he did to Prospero. Antonio dismisses the question.

Being away from civilization on the island inspired Gonzalo to imagine a perfect society. In contrast, Antonio and Sebastian see being on the lawless island as an opportunity to steal Alonso’s power. Their only constraint is morality, but Antonio ignores morality.

Sebastian is convinced to go ahead with the plot, and Sebastian and Antonio draw their swords. Just then, Ariel enters again, and sings a soft warning. Gonzalo and Alonso awaken. Caught with their swords out, the two conspirators claim somewhat unconvincingly that they heard loud bellowing nearby and sought to protect their comrades from a beast they believed was nearby. Gonzalo and Alonso, unsettled, draw their swords and exit, followed by Ariel, who plans to tell Prospero of the plot he has foiled.

Ariel’s entry is a reminder that despite Antonio and Sebastian’s dreams of taking power, they’re actually under Prospero’s tight control. Acting under Prospero orders, Ariel put Alonso and Gonzalo to sleep in order to create a situation in which Antonio and Sebastian might reveal their true immoral natures.

THE TEMPEST WITH ALLIE: Summary/Analysis of Act 1 Scene 2

Miranda and Prospero watch the tempest from the shore of an island. Miranda pities the seafarers, saying “O, I have suffered with those that I saw suffer!” Suspecting that this is the work of her magician father, she pleads with him to calm the waters. Miranda’s character is gentle, empathetic, and kind. She is aware of her father’s great magical powers and always obeys him.

Prospero reassures her that no harm has been done and says that it’s time to tell Miranda about her past. He takes off his cloak, saying, “Lie there my art”. Prospero then reveals to Miranda that he was once Duke of Milan and that Miranda was a princess.

Prospero’s magic cloak represents his ability to construct illusions. He takes it off when he decides to tell Miranda the truth about her past. 

Prospero explains how, while duke, he became wrapped up in reading his books, allowing his brother Antonio to handle the affairs of the state. Antonio proved a skilled politician and gained a great deal of power through his dealings, until he seemed to believe himself Duke of Milan.

Prospero essentially gave Antonio full power. Yet Antonio wanted more than power: he wanted to be duke, and in turn, to look powerful. 

Antonio persuaded Alonso, the King of Naples and a long-time enemy of Milan, to help him overthrow Prospero. To sway Alonso, Antonio promised that, as duke, he would pay an annual tribute to Naples and accept Alonso as the ultimate ruler of Milan.

To overthrow his brother, Antonio makes himself subservient to Alonso, trading one master for another. He gains no more power, but he does gain the title of duke.

Alonso and Antonio arranged for soldiers to kidnap Prospero and Miranda in the middle of the night. The soldiers hurried them aboard a fine ship, and then, several miles out to sea, cast them into a rickety boat. The pair survived only through the generosity of Gonzalo, an advisor to Alonso, who provided them with necessities like fresh water, clothing, blankets, and food, as well as Prospero’s beloved books.

Though they didn’t use any magic, Alonso and Antonio created the illusion that Prospero and Miranda were sent away in a fine ship, in order to mask their evil intentions. Gonzalo’s generosity shows his goodness.

Miranda says that she would like to meet Gonzalo someday. She then asks Prospero why he created the storm. Prospero replies that circumstances have brought his enemies close to the island’s shores. He feels that if he does not act now, he may never have a chance again. Prospero then puts a spell on Miranda so that she sleeps and asks no more questions.

Miranda’s wish foreshadows the reunion that Prospero has set in motion. His reply to her highlights how quickly fortunes can change, casting one person out of favor while another assumes power.

Prospero summons his servant Ariel, who greets Prospero as his “great master,” then gleefully describes how he created the illusion of the storm. Following Prospero’s instructions, Ariel made sure that no one was injured and dispersed the courtiers throughout the island, leaving Alonso’s son all alone. The sailors are in a deep sleep within the ship, which is in a hidden harbor along the shore. The rest of the fleet sailed on for Naples, believing the king dead.

Ariel when describing his exploits in creating the tempest indicate

He seemed to enjoy it, and is willing to do whatever his master bids him to do. Ariel response to Prospero’s power over him is cheerful... yet Ariel would rather be free.

 Prospero thanks Ariel. Ariel reminds Prospero that he had promised to reduce Ariel’s time in servitude if Ariel performed the tasks that Prospero gave him. Prospero angrily reminds Ariel how he rescued Ariel from imprisonment. Ariel had refused to do the cruel bidding of Sycorax, the witch who ruled the island before Prospero’s arrival. Sycorax then imprisoned Ariel in a tree, and didn’t free him before she died. Ariel might have been stuck in that tree forever if Prospero had not freed him. Ariel begs Prospero’s pardon, and Prospero promises Ariel his freedom in two days’ time. Prospero then instructs Ariel to make himself invisible to all but Prospero. Ariel exits.  Prospero and Ariel have a complex relationship. Prospero freed Ariel from imprisonment but then enslaved him himself. Prospero appears to be a pleasant and kind master to Ariel, until the moment it becomes clear that Ariel would prefer not to have a master at all. Then Prospero wields his power more harshly, and becomes friendly only when Ariel begs his pardon.

 Prospero awakens Miranda and, calling for his “poisonous slave,” summons, Caliban, the malformed son of Sycorax. Caliban and Prospero immediately start trading curses. Caliban asserts his rightful claim to the island as Sycorax’s son, and recalls how, when Prospero first came to the island “Thou strok’st me and made much of me; wouldst give me / Water with berries in’t; and teach me how / To name the bigger light, and how the less ... and then I lov’d thee, / And show’d thee all the qualities o’ th’ isle, / The fresh springs, brine-pits, barren place, and fertile”. But then, Caliban says, Prospero made Caliban, who had been king of the island, his subject and servant.  Like Ariel, Caliban is Prospero’s slave. But where Ariel is cheerful in his servitude, Caliban is bitter. Why? Perhaps because Prospero rescued Ariel from a worse imprisonment, while Caliban previously had been free and powerful. The process Caliban describes, in which Prospero first befriended Caliban, educated him, and then enslaved him is similar to methods of European explorers—they often did the same thing to the natives in the lands they colonized.

 Prospero angrily responds that he treated Caliban with “human care” and even let Caliban live in his own home. Yet, in response, Caliban tried to rape Miranda. Caliban replies, “O ho! Would’t had been done.”  Prospero sees himself as having been nothing but kind to Caliban. Caliban’s anger is so great that he is unrepetant for trying to rape Miranda.

Miranda angrily scolds Caliban, recalling how she tried to lift him out of savagery by teaching him to speak their language “When thou didst not, savage, / Know thine own meaning, but wouldst gabble like / A thing most brutish”.. Yet despite this gift of education, Miranda continues, Caliban remained innately vile and brutal. Caliban retorts, “You taught me language, and my profit on’t is, I know how to curse”.   The viewpoints of colonizer and colonized are on display here. Miranda believes Caliban owes her a debt of gratitude for trying to civilize him. But Caliban sees himself as having been free, and insists he was better off without all the “elevating,” which resulted in him losing his autonomy.

Enraged, Prospero hurls new curses at Caliban and orders him to get to his chores. Caliban grudgingly obeys, knowing that Prospero’s power is greater than his own, and exits.

Like Ariel, Caliban submits to Prospero’s power. Ariel submitted humbly, but Caliban feels bitter and resentful in giving up his power.

 Nearby, the invisible Ariel sings a haunting song to Ferdinand, Alonso’s son, who has awakened to find himself alone on the island. The song’s lyrics deceive Ferdinand into believing that his father drowned in the shipwreck: “Full fathom five thy father lies. / Of his bones are coral made”. Unseen, Prospero and Miranda watch Ferdinand approach. Miranda declares Ferdinand handsome. Ferdinand soon notices Miranda and, struck by her beauty, tells her of his troubles. She expresses pity for him, and they fall in love at first sight. Prospero, in an aside, admits that he is pleased by their attraction.  Ferdinand is another character deeply affected by loss—the death of his father. Alonso isn’t really dead, but Prospero manipulates Ferdinand into thinking that he is. Prospero’s trick reveals one of Miranda’s best qualities—her sympathetic nature to Ferdinand. Prospero’s pleased response to Ferdinand and Miranda’s attraction suggests that he desires reconciliation with his enemies, not revenge. 

 However, to test the depth of Ferdinand’s love for Miranda, Prospero speaks sharply to Ferdinand and takes him into captivity as a servant. Miranda begs her father not to treat Ferdinand too harshly, but Prospero angrily silences her and leads Ferdinand away. For his part, Ferdinand says that the captivity and hard labor Prospero promises will be easy as long as he regularly gets to see Miranda.  Prospero has now enslaved three people. In contrast to Caliban, Ferdinand cheerfully accepts his loss of power. Ferdinand is cheerful because he dreams of Miranda’s love. Caliban, whom Miranda saw as a savage, never had a chance at love with Miranda.

THE TEMPEST WITH ALLIE: Summary/Analysis of Act 1 Scene 1

         

        A terrible storm tosses a ship at sea.  The ship carries Alonso, the King of Naples, and assorted courtiers on the journey home from Alonso’s daughter’s wedding in Tunisia.  The Boatswain of the ship shouts commands at the passengers to keep below deck to ensure their safety and because they are getting in the way of the sailors’ work.  When Gonzalo reminds the Boatswain to remember who is on the ship, the Boatswain insists that nature does not care that the ship holds a king and that, under such circumstances, his own authority must be respected: “What cares these roarers for the name of king?  To cabin! silence! Trouble us not.” 
       The play begins with a scene of upheaval.  The courtiers are bound for a place where nothing is as it seems, and big changes await them.  In this scene, they get their first taste of powerlessness.  The wildness of nature (in reality a spell worked by Prospero) has turned the tables on them, so that someone who would normally be their subject, the Boatswain, now gives them orders.
       Gonzalo, a counselor to the king, jokes that he’s no longer afraid of drowning, because it seems to him that the Boatswain is destined to die by hanging rather than drowning.
       Gonzalo’s response to his powerlessness is to make a joke... 
      Antonio and Sebastian are furious at the Boatswain for his audacity in ordering them around. They hurl insults at him, calling the Boatswain, among other things a “dog,” “cur,” “whoreson,” and an “insolent noisemaker” (1.1.35-38). 
       In contrast, the more power-hungry Antonio and Sebastian are infuriated by the Boatswain’s lack of regard for their authority. 
      The ship cracks. Sailors pray for their lives. Antonio and Sebastian run to be with King Alonso as the ship goes down, while Gonzalo prays for land, any land, to save him from drowning.
      Antonio and Sebastian want seek out the king (and his power) in times of trouble. The storm has humbled the menso that—survival is more important now than anything else.


                                       

FRANKENSTEIN TIME WITH ALLIE: "Walton, in continuation" Summary and Analysis

 


 The novel returns to the frame of Walton’s letters to his sister, Margaret Saville.  In a letter on August 26, Walton says that he believes Victor’s story and recalls how Victor described himself as the victim of “lofty ambition,” which brought him to despair.  Walton laments that he did not know Victor when they could have been friends.  As Walton writes, “I have sought one who would sympathize with and love me.”  Yet while Victor responded kindly to his offers of friendship, he remained fixated on his only remaining destiny: to destroy the monster.   Walton and Victor are after the same thing: love, acceptance, and glory.  And in both cases, their ambition worked against their hope for love and acceptance.  Both men end up trapped and isolated, Walton by nature and Victor by the need for vengeance. 

 In a letter on September 2, Walton tells Margaret that his ship and crew are in grave danger: the ship is now surrounded entirely by ice.  He blames himself for their fate and says they may all die as a result of his “mad schemes.”  He fears a mutiny.   Just as Victor lost his innocence and realized the dangers of his ambition, so too does Walton.  Walton also fears vengeance from the “monster” of his crew.  

 In a letter on September 5, Walton says that his crew have demanded that he turn the ship around and head for home as soon as the ice frees them.  Victor speaks up in his defense, telling the rebellious crew members they should “be men” for they had set out to be the “benefactors of [their] species.”  The speech changes the crew’s mind, but Walton fears only temporarily. He says he’d rather die than return in shame with his “purpose unfulfilled.”   Walton maintains the innocent ideal notion that he can somehow enlighten all of humankind by seeing the North Pole. The same mix of arrogance, benevolence, and lust for fame fuels both his and Victor’s ambitions.  Victor’s speech implies that he has not, in fact, changed much at all.  

 In a letter on September 7, Walton says he has agreed to the crew’s demand to turn back.  He considers what has happened an injustice.   Like Victor, Walton blames his failure not on his ambition or his fallibility, but on others. 

 In his final letter on September 12th, Walton says that he has turned back, his hopes of “glory” and “utility” crushed. In addition, Victor, has died.  Victor had objected to Walton’s decision to turn back his ship and said that his own “purpose” remained firm.  Victor then tried to rise and return to the ice, but could not.  He reaffirmed his certainty that he acted well in trying to defend his fellow man against the monster, his creation.  He then died quietly, eager to rejoin the relatives he had lost in life.  Like Victor, Walton’s ambition destroys everything around him until he’s left alone.  Victor, quick to judge everything but himself, expects Walton to stick to his convictions, but his own conviction is a need for revenge.  If he had truly acted in “good faith,” he would have confronted his prejudice, or, failing that, told his secret earlier.   

Walton interrupts his letter upon hearing a disturbance in the cabin where Victor’s body lies.  He returns to tell Margaret that he has just seen the monster crying over Victor’s corpse. To Walton’s shock, the monster says he suffered remorse and pity for Victor all along. Walton calls the monster a “wretch.”  The monster is unsurprised, having been rejected by people from the start. It says that it abhorred itself even as it was doing evil, and describes itself as a “fallen angel,” yet it also wonders why only it, and not Felix, or the man who shot it, or Frankenstein, is considered a “criminal.” The monster then promises to end its own life, springs from the cabin back onto the ice, and disappears.  The last person the monster encounters before killing itself treats it unfairly, with the same prejudice and bitterness the monster faced throughout its life. The monster’s use of religious language to describe its plight suggests the connection between Frankenstein and Paradise Lost, and between the monster, Adam, and Satan.  With a final condemnation of the prejudice it has always faced and the weakness of men, the monster reveals its final loss of innocence: it’s own self-hatred, and wish to die.

FRANKENSTEIN TIME WITH ALLIE: Chapter 23 and 24 Summary and Analysis

The monster killing Elizabeth

CHAPTER 23

A storm rolls in after they arrive at the cottage.  Victor, armed with a pistol and terrified that the monster will attack at any moment, sends Elizabeth to bed for her own safety.  But as he searches the house, he hears a scream.  Elizabeth has been murdered.  While huddled over her lifeless body, Victor sees the monster at the window.  He fires at it, but misses.  Victor assumed the monster would attack him, not realizing that the monster wanted revenge by subjecting him to the same horror to which he subjected it: isolation.  This mistake resulted in Elizabeth’s death.  Victor rushes back to Geneva.  The news of Elizabeth’s death overwhelms his father, who dies a few days later.  Now the monster’s revenge is complete: Victor is alone (besides Ernest).  Victor goes mad for several months and is kept in a cell.  When he regains his senses he tells his entire story to a local magistrate, hoping to enact justice on the monster.  The magistrate listens but doesn’t entirely believe Victor and, anyway, considers tracking down the monster impossible.  Victor resolves to seek his revenge on his own.  Finally, Victor tells his secret.  But it’s too late.  Now he faces the same predicament as the monster: rejected by humankind, he must seek revenge on his own.  He curses the magistrate and all of humanity.  “Man,” he cries, “how ignorant art thou in thy pride of wisdom!”  Victor’s curse is similar to the monster’s curse of him.  They are now essentially the same.

Victor trekking the monster in the icy North

 CHAPTER 24

Victor decides to leave Geneva forever.  While visiting the graves of his family he swears revenge, and hears the monster’s voice calling him a “miserable wretch.”  The monster’s revenge is successful; now Victor suffers isolation as it does.  For months, Victor tracks the monster northward into the frigid Arctic regions, led by clues and taunting notes the monster leaves behind. Victor chases the monster onto the frozen ocean with sleds and dogs, and comes within a mile of the monster’s own sled, but then the ice breaks up beneath Victor’s sled.  The barren arctic is a perfect symbol of isolation and the power of nature. A man in this tundra is utterly alone and entirely at the mercy of nature.  This is the point at which Walton’s ship rescued him.  The narrative comes to the present.  Victor, knowing he’s dying, begs Walton to take vengeance on the monster if he should happen to see it.  Victor has finally told his story and secret to a sympathetic audience.  But is there any difference between Victor and the monster but appearance?  

FRANKENSTEIN TIME WITH ALLIE: Chapter 21 and 22 Summary and Analysis

    


CHAPTER 21:

          At Mr. Kirwin’s office, Victor learns that a man in his mid-twenties was found dead on the shore with black marks on his neck.  And various witnesses testify that a boat much like Victor’s was seen at sea.  Victor is taken to see the body.  It is Clerval.  Victor falls into convulsions, and remains bedridden and delusional for two months.  The monster’s revenge and Victor’s ambition cost another innocent life.  The monster intentionally targets Victor’s closest family and friends, making Victor’s isolation as enforced as its own.  When Victor regains awareness he is still in prison.  Mr. Kirwin treats him kindly, advising him that he’ll likely be freed. He also tells Victor that his father has come to see him.  Yet unlike the monster, Victor still does have connections to other men and a family.  Two weeks later Victor is released because the court has nothing but circumstantial evidence against him. Despairing and determined to protect his family from the monster, Victor returns with his father to Geneva.  Victor’s release stands in contrast to Justine’s conviction. But Victor has his father helping him, while Victor stayed silent and did not help Justine.  

CHAPTER 22:

           En route to Geneva, they stop in Paris so Victor can regain his strength.  His father tries to help by getting him to engage with society, but Victor feels he has no right to.  Victor even tells his father he murdered Justine, William, and Clerval.  His father considers him deranged, and Victor says no more.  As Victor’s father seeks to draw him into society, Victor increasingly resembles the monster in his sense that he’s an outcast.  As part of his isolation, Victor continues to keep his deadly secrets.  While in Paris, Victor receives a letter from Elizabeth. She expresses her desire to marry Victor, but worries he may have taken another lover during his long absence.  Victor remembers the monster’s vow to be with him on his wedding night, and decides that whether he kills it or it kills him, at least he will be free.  He writes back that he wants to marry immediately, but adds that he has a terrible secret he will tell her the day after they are married.  Victor’s cutting himself off from society makes Elizabeth doubt his love for him.  But won’t waiting until a day after his wedding to tell his secret be too late?  A selfish half-confession by Victor, who thinks more about himself than Elizabeth.  A week later Victor and his father arrive in Geneva.  The wedding takes place ten days later.  Yet as Victor and Elizabeth sail to a cottage by Lake Como in Italy for their honeymoon, Victor’s fear of facing the monster dissolves his happiness.  Elizabeth tries to cheer him by pointing out the beauty in nature.  It doesn’t work.  By now a painfully familiar scene: Victor depends on the temporary relief of Nature and the support of his companion, now Elizabeth instead of Clerval or Alphonse, in order to ease his anxiety.  

 MAJOR THEME OF CHAPTER 21: 

Lost Innocence:

Frankenstein presents many examples of the corruption of youthful innocence. The most obvious case of lost innocence involves Victor.  A young man on the cusp of adulthood, Victor leaves for university with high hopes and lofty ambitions.  He aims to explore “unknown powers” and enlighten all of humanity to the deepest “mysteries of creation,” but his success and his pride brings an end to his innocence.  He creates a monster that reflects back to him the many flaws inherent in his own species (an unquenchable thirst for love, a tendency toward violence, and a bloodthirsty need for justice and revenge) and in himself (prejudice based on appearance).  And, in turn, Victor’s cruel “un-innocent” behavior also destroys the monster’s innocence.

 

FRANKENSTEIN TIME WITH ALLIE: Chapter 19 and 20 Analysis

SUMMARY/ANALYSIS:

Victor and Clerval arrive in London in October. Victor continues to despair, avoiding people unless they have information that can help him create a second monster.  Clerval, in contrast, is how Victor used to be: excited by learning and wanting to meet and talk to everyone.  Clerval’s innocence contrasts with Victor and shows the joy and delight Victor’s ambition cost him. 

Victor and Clerval travel to Scotland.  There, Victor leaves Clerval with a friend and travels on alone.  He goes to a remote island in the Orkney’s, sets up a lab, and works in solitude on his secret project.  Once again Victor isolates himself from society. Whenever he does this, he makes bad, reckless decisions that cause disaster.  One night in his lab, Victor worries that the new creature he’s creating might refuse to live away from humans, or that the two monsters might produce a “race of devils.” Just then he looks up and sees the monster “grinning” at the window. Overwhelmed by loathing, Victor destroys his work. Outside, the monster howls in agony, and disappears.  The monster might have been grinning in joy at the sight of its companion. But Victor’s superficial prejudice is too powerful. He once again betrays the monster’s trust and sentences it to permanent isolation.  Hours later, the monster returns to Victor’s lab. It now refers to Victor only as “Man” and vows revenge. It promises: “I shall be with you on your wedding night.” Victor thinks the monster means to kill him on that night, and fears for Elizabeth left alone as a widow.  The monster now sees Victor as its enemy, as “Man,” and vows revenge. Victor’s fear for his own life shows he doesn’t understand the monster’s true misery: isolation.  A letter soon arrives from Clerval suggesting they resume their travels. Victor gathers up his laboratory materials and rows out into the ocean to dump them. Victor is so happy he takes a nap in his boat. But he wakes into rough weather and can’t get back to shore. Just as he begins to panic, the winds ease.  Victor panics in the boat because he fears being cut off from land, from human society. It is the same fear as the monster’s, but Victor’s prejudice doesn’t let him recognize it.  When Victor lands a group of angry townspeople gathers around his boat. He’s a suspect in a murder that occurred the previous night, and sent to meet with Mr. Kirwin, a local magistrate.  A cliffhanger ending; it seems likely the monster has already taken some revenge, but how?

MAJOR THEM ALERT!

REVENGE!!!!!!!

In taking revenge, two things happen to the monster. First, it ensures that it will never be accepted in human society. Second, because by taking revenge the monster eliminates any hope of ever joining human society, which is what it really wants, revenge becomes the only thing it has. As the monster puts it, revenge became “dearer than light or food.”

FRANKENSTEIN TIME WITH ALLIE: Chapter 16 Analysis

           After reading chapter 16, I discovered many important themes and ideas that are important to the further development of the monster's social, emotional, and academic being.  Here is a brief summary/analysis with some basic themes that occur in this chapter as well as many others: 

Summary/Analysis 

In this chapter, The family’s rejection plunges the monster into a fit of rage. But the beauty of the next day calms him. He decides to approach De Lacey again to try to make amends.  The monster’s faith in old De Lacey shows its last gasp of innocence, saving it from the rage born of rejection.  But by the time the monster reaches the cottage, the De Lacey’s have moved out. He sees Felix terminating his lease with the landlord, and never sees any of them again. His last link with society destroyed, the monster gives in to rage and a desire for revenge. He burns down the cottage and heads for Geneva and Victor.  Its innocence and hopes of inclusion in society dashed, the monster is left with only pain, and naturally wants to hurt those who hurt it. That includes human society (symbolized in the house he burns) and its creator, Victor.  At one point along the way the monster saves a beautiful little girl from drowning in a stream, only to be shot by her guardian. His suffering only feeds his desire for revenge.  Another example of humanity’s tendency toward prejudice, which only increases the monster’s desire for revenge.  After a few weeks, the monster makes it to Geneva. There he encounters a young boy. Thinking the boy would be too young to be horrified by his appearance, the monster approaches him. But the boy is terrified, and shouts that his father, Frankenstein, will kill the monster. The monster silences the boy by strangling him. The boy dies.  Again the monster shows an innocent belief in man, this time that the young will be less prejudiced than the old. His hopes again dashed, coupled with the boy’s connection to Victor, spur the monster to uncontrollable revenge.

MAJOR THEME ALERT!

The true evil in Frankenstein is not Victor or the monster, but isolation. When Victor becomes lost in his studies he removes himself from human society, and therefore loses sight of his responsibilities and the consequences of his actions. The monster turns vengeful not because it’s evil, but because its isolation fills it with overwhelming hate and anger. And what is the monster’s vengeance? To make Victor as isolated as it. Add it all up, and it becomes clear that Frankenstein sees isolation from family and society as the worst imaginable fate, and the cause of hatred, violence, and revenge.

POEM TIME WITH ALLIE: Spring Pools by Robert Frost

                Along with my favorite poem, Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening, I also enjoy many of Robert Frost's other poems, such as Spring Pools.  I grew up reading and hearing Robert Frost poems from parents, who both have many poetry books filled with Frost's poems.  Here is the poem, Spring Pools, another one of my favorites:


Spring Pools

 These pools that, though in forests, still reflect
The total sky almost without defect,
And like the flowers beside them, chill and shiver,
Will like the flowers beside them soon be gone,
And yet not out by any brook or river,
But up by roots to bring dark foliage on.
The trees that have it in their pent-up buds
To darken nature and be summer woods---
Let them think twice before they use their powers,
To blot out and drink up and sweep away,
These flowery waters and these watery flowers,
From snow that melted only yesterday. 



My Analysis:

Humans are romantic, and tend to identify themselves with nature.  In poetry, nature and seasons are good ways to express one’s emotions.
"Spring Pools" by Robert Frost talks about the poet’s feelings for the spring season, which tends to pass way too quickly (line 12). Frost relates springtime with happiness and opportunity for new beginnings.  For example, the pools of water formed by melted snow from the passing winter and all the flowers around it indicate it is springtime (lines 11& 12).  The snow that melted recently is considered as the better aspect of life, leaving behind the end of a cold, gloomy winter and entering the beginning of a bright, beautiful spring. We can relate this to life itself, because humans always want to leave the bad behind and start fresh and new.  When Frost writes to let the "summer woods think twice before they use their powers" (line 8 & 9), he is advising the woods to think twice about absorbing the water, because this is a sign that the summer will end.  Frost knows nature cannot stop; he just wants it to slow its course.  This is obviously personification, which appears more than once throughout the poem, since woods cannot think nor stop it’s course.  This is clearly a situation in which humanity clings to emotions and opportunity.  He wishes to be happy as long as he can.

FRANKENSTEIN TIME WITH ALLIE: Victor Frankenstein: The Romantic Hero

"Thus my prophetic soul, as, torn by remorse, horror, and despair, I beheld those I loved spend vain sorrow upon the graves of William and Justine, the first hapless victims to my unhallowed arts." 

As expressed in this line by Victor Frankenstein in chapter 8, Frankenstein is at the height of a "man versus self" problem.  
Being absolutely convinced that the monster he created was the one to kill William, Frankenstein feels "agony" and guilt over ever creating the monster.  But then, Frankenstein learns that Elizabeth's sister, Christine, is the one being accused of the murder.  Frankenstein, though, isn't capable of revealing the true murderer of his brother.  After all, he knew that most people would think of him as either a crazy madman or would name him the ultimate cause of the murder, and Frankenstein obviously didn't want that reputation or punishment for himself or for others who he knew would be overwhelmingly disappointed in his actions. 
 Frankenstein's guilt irks him so strongly that at one point he says, 

 "I gnashed my teeth, and ground them together, uttering a groan that came from my inmost soul."   

 Frankenstein is completely aware that he has made a disastrous mistake from his "inner madness", which makes him fit the character of "the Romantic hero".

Characteristics of "the Romantic hero" that fit Victor Frankenstein:

• ~introspection
• ~self-criticism
• ~regret for actions

These three key traits of "the Romantic hero" are somewhat easy to see in Victor Frankenstein in this particular part in the novel.

POEM TIME WITH ALLIE: My Favorite Poem: Robert Frost's "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening"

One of my all-time favorite poems is "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" by Robert Frost.  Growing up, my mother would read it to me often (she has a beautifully illustrated book version of it with paintings by Thomas Kinkade), so I grew to like it very much.   
Now that I am older and take much more appreciation and understanding for the art of poetry, I sometimes enjoy reading the poem during moments of self-reflection or in my down time.  
And, it has just been in these recent days that I have actually invested time in analyzing some basic but important themes and aspects of the poem to increase my understanding of it.  
For those of you who are reading this and have not read or heard the poem, here it is:

    Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep. 

The Rhyming Pattern:

In each stanza the final words of each line rhyme, with the exception of the third line.  The third line sets up the rhyme for the next stanza, “know,” “though,” “here,” and “snow” end the lines of the first stanza while “queer,” “near,” “lake,” and “year” end the second stanza.  Robert Frost followed a closed structure when composing this poem by writing each stanza in quatrains adhering to a static rhyming scheme.

Important Themes I Interpret from the Poem:

 A theme in this poem is a journey, and not simply a journey through the woods but perhaps through life itself.  There is an expectant tone throughout the poem.  The author stops for a brief time to meditate and realizes he needs to continue on his journey through the woods and his journey through life.  Frost’s famous phrase “And miles to go before I sleep” not only refers to the physical distance of the trip but also that he still has a long life ahead of him.  Sleep often symbolizes death, and the author seems to suggest that his life journey is far from over.  “I have promises to keep” indicates that the traveler still has tasks to complete before his death.

My Outlook:

One of the most important things this poem has taught me is that though this life we live is short and sometimes full of bad experiences, we need to make the most of each day and enjoy the good things that present themselves to us in our lives.