Extract from Frankenstein and in Cold Blood Essay

This essay will be analysing the way in which the theme of wasted lives is portrayed throughout my chosen extracts. My chosen extracts are, an extract from chapter 16 of Frankenstein (FS) by Mary Shelly a gothic novel with features of the Romantic Movement. And an extract from chapter 3 of In Cold Blood (ICB) by Truman Capote, a faction novel (a novel written based on facts). In the F.S extract we are seeing the creature’s view of his killing of William and also his framing of Justine for the murder. Much the same in the ICB extract where it is Perry’s point of view of the murder of the Clutter family. In this extract we also see Capote input thoughts from Dewey, the police officer covering the case. Although both the extracts were written in different time periods, the focus is the same showing how the lack of parental figures, can lead to the destruction of life for something petty. Throughout the chosen extract for FS the portrayal of the set theme wasted lives is portrayed in great detail. Firstly by having three characters who are seen to have wasted lives and also the murder of one of these characters. The first wasted life we see is that of the creature when we are seeing, the depths that he will sink to, to get his revenge on Frankenstein. ‘Frankenstein! you belong then to my enemy – to him towards whom I have sworn eternal revenge; you shall be my first victim.’ He thinks that because Frankenstein disowned him that he now has to get his own revenge, cause pain to Frankenstein in a worse way he caused the creature pain. But in many ways this can be seen as the creature being as bad as Frankenstein himself, not caring about the consequences of his actions and the onslaught of pain and terror they will cause. The life of William is also seen to be wasted. The creature believes that when he first see William that he will be innocent ’unprejudiced’ allowing the creature to have a companion. But we see that this is not so. William seems to be brought up in a world where prejudice is acceptable, but by him judging the creature in this way has lead to his untimely death. The extract also shows the framing of Justine of the murder of William, the creature sees the beauty of Justine but this is not enough to stop him in passing on the blame of his action on to another. He can also be seen to be framing Justine as he realises that he will never have her love, ‘I am forever robbed of all that she could give me, she shall atone.’ Leaving him angry and bitter, towards Justine. The extract chosen for ICB, the theme of wasted lives is portrayed throughout the thoughts and point of view of Perry Smith. This extract, much like the FS extract, is showing the reader more than one wasted life. Not only are the murders of each member of the Clutter family seen as wasted lives, but also those of Perry and Dick. The police officer Dewey helps the reader to realise this. ‘-for Perry Smith’s life had been no bed of roses but pitiful, an ugly and lonely progress towards one mirage†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ Capote is here referring to a previous section where Perry and the section where his father was speaking about Perry’s life were being told to Dick. Capote refers to this extract as it reminds the reader of the lives that they have been both brought up in. To give a sympathetic view of their lives and to also give the reader something to think about as reasoning for them to commit this lowly crime. Within FS we see the firm idea of The Noble Savage played throughout, but within this extract we see a large amount fixed on this idea. The Noble Savage is the idea that mad is ‘noble and good’ but becomes ‘evil and corrupted’ by civilisation. A quote form Jean Jacques Rousseau, a Geneva philosopher states ‘Man is inherently good and corrupted by society. Primitive man was a Noble Savage’. William’s perception of the creature is a key point in this extract when this idea is shown. The creature later states ‘I remembered that I was forever deprived of the delights that such beautiful creatures could bestow;’ We see the creature become angry once again that he cannot be accepted that that he cannot have what he wants, like any other human could have. This way of rejecting the creature makes us see him become more and more evil as his story progresses. A sense of terror is shown throughout the ICB extract, the tone and terror is portrayed through the way in which Capote has shown parts of the murder from the thoughts of an outsider. In this case Dewey. ‘But the voice plunges on, ejecting a fusillade of sounds and  ¬Ã‚ ¬Ã‚ ¬Ã‚ ¬Ã‚ ¬Ã‚ ¬Ã‚ ¬Ã‚ ¬Ã‚ ¬Ã‚ ¬Ã‚ ¬Ã‚ ¬images ¬Ã‚ ¬Ã‚ ¬Ã‚ ¬Ã‚ ¬Ã‚ ¬Ã‚ ¬Ã‚ ¬Ã‚ ¬Ã‚ ¬Ã‚ ¬.’ Within this quote Capote uses a strong metaphor with the word fusillade. The meaning of this word is a simultaneous or continuous discharge of fire arms. But in this instance, the metaphor is there to bring the reader in to the room and experience the noises that are continuously there, appealing to their senses. The word fusillade can also be there to help the reader imagine the gun fire happening there, hitting each person. The heavy use of onomatopoeic words also is helping to appeal to the readers senses along with strong description, placing the reader there watching the action unfold in real time. This related to the theme of wasted lives in the way in which it describes the deaths of a family who were innocent in the whole ordeal. In FS we see reference to Paradise Lost, an epic poem by 17th Century poet John Milton, which focuses on the allusion of Adam and Eve. This has been referenced many times throughout FS, first when we see the creature reading this, but he seems to be unaware that it is a work of the imagination, and reads as factual history. In this extract we see what seems to be the creature echoing the words of Satan, ‘Awake, fairest, thy lover is near – he who would give his life but to obtain one look of affection from thine eyes: my beloved, awake’ This quotation is also showing a tender side to the creature, trying to get the affection of a sleeping Justine, maybe realising that tenderness is greater than affection in this circumstance. We also see him halting himself a seduction, for his fear of rejection once again. Linked to the theme of wasted lives by showing the reader the reasoning for a life lost to unfair judgement. Within the confession by Perry of the murders, we see that there has been a temporal tense shift into the present; Capote has done this to try and show the significance and importance of the confession. This can also be seen as the climax of the novel, because the reader had known who the murders were all along and of their guilt, but this is now solving the mystery of the motives and how the murder took place. Overall Mary Shelly has a very complex writing style; this can be seen is the narrative method in which she has chosen to write the novel in. Shelly uses an embedded narrative which is not only allowing the reader to hear the voices of all the characters, but it is providing the reader the multiple views on the central events of the novel. This format also brings the attention to the story being told rather than this being just a novel. We also see the complex writing style by the use of rich vocabulary used being highly descriptive, particular when Shelly is describing landscapes, or the feelings of a character. ‘But presently my rage returned: I remembered that I was forever deprived of the delights that such a beautiful creature could bestow: [†¦] have changed that air of divine benignity to one of expressive disgust and affright.’ This quotation shows the reader words that are not commonly used in everyday English now or in the writing style of Capote. These words include: ‘Bestow’, ‘Affright’, ‘Benignity’. Compared with the writing style of Capote, who although descriptive uses a less complex way. This can be because of the fact that this novel is bringing to the attention of the public the views of the crime of the century. The narrative method Capote uses is writing the story in the third person although there are times throughout where Capote brings the story into the first person allowing the reader to feel more sympathy for the characters. Capote does not involve himself in the novel in first person as he believes that you should not make an appearance in your own novel. But another reason as to why he may be doing this is hide his close relationship with Perry and Dick, and avoid the public of getting the wrong idea. In Psychoanalytic Literary Criticism, the creature is seen Frankenstein’s replacement for his mother. But this creation comprises of all the unacceptable traits of humans, those which we usually suppress. This comes from the theory of Jacques Lacan, about the ‘child’ competing with the parent of the opposite sex for the others affection. But as the creature has no other parent to compete with, we see him possibly taking his unsuppressed traits out on the loved ones of Frankenstein. In this extract William and Justine. We also see that Shelly has not made the creature monstrous but society has made him this way. This yet again refers to the extract with the previous point on The Noble Savage. In conclusion, the theme of wasted lives is portrayed as a thing that is causing murder, murderous thoughts and death seen in both extracts. Both are confessions of murder of innocent people, just to get something very little back from it. But both extract show underlying issues that arise to the murders eventually being committed. As in FS there is the underlying issue of having no father and upbringing. And in ICB we see the underlying issues of poor upbringing once again. In both extracts the use contextual information surrounding the novel helps to bring the theme across stronger.