On Monday and Tuesday in class we focused on the question of power in Frankenstein and tried to see who held the most power in the book. By looking to see who has power, and what kind of power they have, we can start to analyze literature on another level. When we look at Frankenstein we can see that all of the action and most of the power is in the male characters (even Elizabeth's power is most evident in her ability to persuade and influence Victor, which makes her a pretty passive character). This type of analysis is known as Feminist Literary Theory (which is when you pay particular attention to the female characters in a novel and see how their roles within the novel are dictated by their status in society). We also spoke briefly about Marxist Literary Theory, which is when you pay particular attention to the role of money and privilege and how that affects the characters in the novel (for example, would Victor even have had the opportunity to create the Monster if he had been a peasant? How have the privileges of his upper class status affected his decisions and relationships with others?).
I really enjoyed our discussion today because both classes raised excellent questions and offered some pretty advanced critiques on Frankenstein after taking a look at the novel in this way.
REMINDERS:
HONORS ESSAY DUE FRIDAY, MAY 28!!! There will be no revisions on this one.
IN-CLASS FINAL EXAMS: JUNE 7 & 8
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