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Kristin McOlvin

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Kristin McOlvin

April 12th, 1999

Mr. Loeffler

English 12

        Lack Of Verisimilitude in Frankenstein

In Mary Shelly's gothic novel Frankenstein, the reader must

suspend disbelief during many crucial points in the plot. There are

also many inconsistencies in the minor details of the story. This lack

of verisimilitude may be noticed by readers today, but in the ninteenth

century, when this novel was written, readers were too terrified with

the story line to notice the unlikelihood of many of the happenings.

    For example, the moment that Frankenstein gave life to the

previously inanimate form of the being he made, he remains fixed to

the spot while the gigantic monster walks away. Than Frankenstein

never hears any more from him for nearly two years. The author

supposed that Frankenstein has the power to communicate life to

dead matter, but how do we suppose this creature learns habits? If

Frankenstein could have endowed his creature with the vital principle

of a hundred beings, it would have not have been able to walk without

previously having done so, just as it would not be able to talk, reason,

or judge. Victor does not pretend that he could endow it with faculties

as well as life, and yet when it is about a year old we find it reading

Werter, and Plutarch and Volney. The whole detail of the

development of the creature's mind and faculties is full of these

inconsistencies...

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Submitted by: 123student
Date Submitted: 05-03-09 11:43am
Category: English
Words: 379
Pages: 1.52