Essay Comparing Frankenstein And Rime Of The Ancient Mariner
That Shelley's Frankenstein was inspired by the images created by Coleridge in his poem Rime of the Ancient Mariner is an open secret literary critics and historians are aware of. As early as the introduction part of the novel, Shelley is already built up clear and noticeable similarities in these two works, an observation shared by Lau (2009), who wrote: "Describing the vision that originated the novel, Shelley says, "I saw the hideous phantasm of a man stretched out, and then, on the working of some powerful engine, show signs of life and stir with an uneasy, half vital motion...This passage reflects of Ancient Mariner where the ship "'gan stir, With a short uneasy motion - Backwards and forwards half her length, With a short uneasy motion."
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It celebrates life and survival just as much as it deals with the subject of death and mortality – the example case for this point is the remarkable similarity of Captain Robert Walton pulling the body of Victor Frankenstein, which they thought was already dead, aboard. This act is similar to the mariner being pulled from the water by a hermit who thought the mariner was also dead. This gothic feeling could be embedded deeply in Shelley's mind and thoughts, something that could have aroused a literary inspiration inside her, and something she would convey through her own writing piece, which is Frankenstein - a story that carries the same thematic features. This is not surprising since writers and artists tend to take a part of what inspired them and embed them into a work of their own. Frankenstein was proof of "how intimately the images and language of Coleridge's poem had entered her imagination" (Lau, p.72). Coleridge told a tale of voyage, and Shelley tried to do the same, which actually turned out successfully. And, even though the generally plot line and summary are dissimilar from one another, the thematic and symbolic qualities found in these two works clearly share distinct similarities, like how the mariner at the end of the poem lectures about his experience and what he has learned which is similar to Victor warning Robert as the scientist rambles on about his personal miseries in life and how
It celebrates life and survival just as much as it deals with the subject of death and mortality – the example case for this point is the remarkable similarity of Captain Robert Walton pulling the body of Victor Frankenstein, which they thought was already dead, aboard. This act is similar to the mariner being pulled from the water by a hermit who thought the mariner was also dead. This gothic feeling could be embedded deeply in Shelley's mind and thoughts, something that could have aroused a literary inspiration inside her, and something she would convey through her own writing piece, which is Frankenstein - a story that carries the same thematic features. This is not surprising since writers and artists tend to take a part of what inspired them and embed them into a work of their own. Frankenstein was proof of "how intimately the images and language of Coleridge's poem had entered her imagination" (Lau, p.72). Coleridge told a tale of voyage, and Shelley tried to do the same, which actually turned out successfully. And, even though the generally plot line and summary are dissimilar from one another, the thematic and symbolic qualities found in these two works clearly share distinct similarities, like how the mariner at the end of the poem lectures about his experience and what he has learned which is similar to Victor warning Robert as the scientist rambles on about his personal miseries in life and how