The Importance of Names in Frankenstein and the Handmaid's Tale
Names are a very important thing that most people are given shortly after birth. A name is “the word or words that a person, thing or place is known by” (Cambridge Online Dictionary (2011), Retrieved November 6th 2012). Names are given to identify an individual in replace of calling someone “it”, a term used to refer to something inanimate or without a name. A name shows that someone loves us enough to name us; to think about it with care and affection. Names surrounding the author have a great influence also and the main character in Frankenstein shares the penname of Percy Bysshe Shelley, Mary Shelley’s husband. In The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood uses the influence of feminism to create the names of the majority of the female characters. This relates to the way women are portrayed in Frankenstein and how their names represent their personalities.
The names of the male characters in both novels represent the Victorian and Modern Eras respectively. The main character of Frankenstein is Victor. Victor comes from the word ‘victory’, which means “an engagement ending in such triumph” (Online Dictionary (2012), Retrieved November 6th 2012). In the novel, Victor lives up to his name by being hubristic, especially when he starts creating the monster: “…I was thus engaged, heart and soul, in one pursuit.” The verb “engaged” has connotations of marriage and a life-long tie to a person or object, but we know that Victor disowns the creature. The nouns “heart and soul” link to being human and suggest that Victor expects the creature to be human, like himself. It is also possible that Victor is trying to prove to Walton that, at this point, he is still completely human, and not a mad person obsessed with trying to “bestow animation upon lifeless matter”. Hubris is when a person has excessive pride or self-confidence. They can also be seen as arrogant; and hubris is always followed by punishment, which is Victor’s death and the many deaths his family encounter.
The names of the male characters in both novels represent the Victorian and Modern Eras respectively. The main character of Frankenstein is Victor. Victor comes from the word ‘victory’, which means “an engagement ending in such triumph” (Online Dictionary (2012), Retrieved November 6th 2012). In the novel, Victor lives up to his name by being hubristic, especially when he starts creating the monster: “…I was thus engaged, heart and soul, in one pursuit.” The verb “engaged” has connotations of marriage and a life-long tie to a person or object, but we know that Victor disowns the creature. The nouns “heart and soul” link to being human and suggest that Victor expects the creature to be human, like himself. It is also possible that Victor is trying to prove to Walton that, at this point, he is still completely human, and not a mad person obsessed with trying to “bestow animation upon lifeless matter”. Hubris is when a person has excessive pride or self-confidence. They can also be seen as arrogant; and hubris is always followed by punishment, which is Victor’s death and the many deaths his family encounter.