Frankenstein Notes - 1-4

• Chapter 1

• Victor Frankenstein was born in Naples and grew up in Geneva, Switzerland. His father, Alphonse, and his mother, Caroline, first became close when Alphonse's friend and Caroline's father, Beaufort, died. Alphonse became Caroline's protector, and eventually married her

• Victor's childhood is innocent and perfect. His family life is perfect domestic bliss

• When he was five, his mother discovered a beautiful blond orphan girl named Elizabeth in an Italian village and adopted her

• Victor, his parents, and all the Frankensteins adored Elizabeth. She became to him a "more than sister." The two children referred to each other as cousins, rather than brother and sister.

• Chapter 2

• Victor describes his perfect childhood. He and Elizabeth got along very well, though she favoured poetry while he longed to unravel the "physical secrets" of life, including the "hidden laws of nature."

• An early hint at Victor's dangerous ambition, and his innocent belief that man is powerful and wise enough to comprehend nature.

• In addition to Elizabeth, Victor shares a close friendship with Henry Clerval, his well-read schoolmate. Like Victor, Clerval has a "soaring ambition" to leave his mark on human history.

• like Victor, Henry is also too young and innocent not to see the vanity of his ambitions.

• As he grows up, Victor becomes fascinated with "natural philosophy,"

• He reads widely among the thinkers in this field who want to see the "citadel of nature."

• Nature is portrayed as vulnerable to man. This antagonistic relationship between Victor and nature goes badly

• One day, when Victor observes lightning strike a tree, he realises that the laws of science are beyond human understanding and decides to focus on studies based in fact, like mathematics, rather than natural philosophy. Yet he notes that he eventually returned to it, leading to his "utter and terrible destruction."

• Romantic writers viewed Nature as a sublime force beyond the power or understanding of man. Here Victor senses that too. But his final comment indicates that his ambition overcomes his sense, resulting in disaster.

• Chapter 3

• Just before Victor turns seventeen, Elizabeth catches scarlet fever and passes it on to Victor's mother, she dies. Her dying wish is for Victor and Elizabeth to marry. Victor says goodbye to Clerval, Elizabeth, and his father and leaves to study at Ingolstadt, a university in Germany.

• Victor's perfect family suffers its first pain. He continues with his quest for knowledge at University.

• He meets with his professor of natural philosophy, M. Krempe, who tells Victor that his previous studies have all been a waste of time. Yet Victor then attends a class with M. Waldman, a chemistry professor, whose lecture on the power and recent successes of science inspire Victor to dedicate himself to revealing "to the world the deepest mysteries of creation." The next day Victor visits Waldman, who supports him.

• Victor's ambition is both to gain glory and an innocent desire to aid society through his scientific achievements. Victor ignores Krempe just as Walton ignores Victor: both are blinded by ambition. Maybe the death of Victor's mother is the catalyst to his ambition. 

• Chapter 4

• Victor becomes so caught up in natural philosophy that he ignores everything else, including his family. He progresses rapidly, and suddenly after two years of work he discovers the secret to creating life.

• Victor's intense focus allows him to fulfill his ambition and conquer nature, but also cuts him off from society.

• Victor decides to build a race of beings, starting with one creature. He spends months alone in his apartment building a body to reanimate, spurred on by the lure of fame and glory, imagining a "new species" that will obey him as its creator.

• Cut off from society, Victor seeks glory rather than what's best for society. He foolishly believes he can replace Nature (and God) as the creator of a species.

Reading Journal - Macbeth Act 1

• We are introduced to the characters, and their relationships with each other
• The initial plot is outlined
• Macbeth is reported to be a brutal killer, which adds to the gothic element of the play
• Themes such as jealousy, treason, death and romance are explored
• As the first act goes on, the audiences perception on the relationship between Macbeth and Lady can be altered
• Lady Macbeth's relationship with Macbeth, in my opinion, is one filled with romance yet it's disguised by the corruption following them, but the fact that they are working together maybe enforces their initial feelings for each other 
• 'Fair is foul and foul is fair' can be followed through throughout the first act. Where Macbeth is fair is his assumption that he should be king, his act is a foul one.

...

A Gothic Analysis of Macbeth-Act One

Firstly, the first act of Macbeth displays all the stock connotations of the gothic narrative. It has witches (supernatural), Macbeth’s reported killings (death), Macbeth’s morality (anxiety) etc. What’s notable about the gothic nature of act 1 is the sense of never being able to escape death. The whole act is filled with death and it’s a constant theme flowing throughout the act that it is hard to escape. 

There is also a questionable romance between Macbeth and Lady (Macbeth), which is another frequent occurrence in the gothic genre. Whether or not they really do love each other is something to discuss on the book, but also the social phobia on a women’s position in society. Lady Macbeth presents herself to be rather devilish and crude, and this would be seen as abnormal, as a women was to commit to a particular social exterior in Shakespearian times. Lady Macbeth is the bringer of a large amount of the gothic connotations in act one. She is planning a murder plot, she is a women (women commonly feature in the gothic narrative, it can be argued that they are essential to the genre’s imagery and essence), she creates a romance with the protagonist, to cause him (Macbeth) a deal of anxiety. 

Overall, I believe that Act one of Macbeth succeeds in placing imagery into the heads of the audience. The imagery specifically connotes the gothic narrative. For me, Act one has set the plot of the tale (which is essential), introduced the characters (again, essential), but in terms of a gothic analysis, it has ticked many boxes in the gothic genre, with key connotations and specifics which are undeniably gothic. 

Marxist Analysis On Junky

To write a Marxist analysis on William Burroughs’ Junk it would have to be written from a Neo-Marxist perspective. As Junk was set in the 1950s it’s fairly modern from a Marxist perspective. 

Drugs are not something Marx himself wrote a lot on. Some Neo Marxists have written on Deviance from a Marxist perspective and Junk certainly in fueled by deviance and evading the law. Marxists would say that it is the Proletariat that are susceptible to crime and in this case it is apparent. William Lee has little money, but this is because it all goes on Junk, infact if the Novel is taking Burroughs life into account (as it’s said to have been, as Lee is a pseudo of Burroughs and the book is an account of Burroughs past experiences, so it’s reasonable to assume that Lee has the same middle class background) then Lee’s background suggests that his use of Junk is what made him loose his class, therefore it wasn’t his initial class that lead him to crime, it was a personal curiosity. As Marxism is a conflict Macro theory, they don’t really deal with personal interest if it’s not the fault of the class system. The Marxist theorist Katz (Subcultural Theory) says that Crime is Seductive, through the media and your peers, crime is something that can excite a person, and therefore act as the catalyst to committing crimes. 

Also, is Lee actually deviant? Talking from a Marxist perspective it is the Bourgeois state that is controlling what it is to be deviant. Burroughs, or Lee, was also a heavy drinker when trying to come off junk, his replacement was 'the sauce.' Drinking alcohol does not make someone deviant as it's a perfectly legal pastime and a drug for everyone to enjoy (tax included). Because drugs derived from Opium are his particular drug choice, and are against the law to consume, the state has made him a criminal (by taking these drugs; he did commit plenty of other crimes, yet these crimes were committed due to his addiction to junk.). 

To conclude, I will make reference to a Marx quote, altering it for a a very literal meaning. 

The proletariat are exploited by the Bourgeoisie, this is because of money and status, and this is strange to believe as a greater number of society belongs to this lower class. William Lee is amongst many out there who are recreational users of Heroine, Morphine - Junk. The state doesn't want people to be using the substance and have made it illegal, to sell, use or be involved with in away way, it is a class A drug, yet what they are not taking into consideration, is the fact that junk is the 'Opiate of the masses.' 

The Mighty Boosh as Gothic

Noel Fielding and Julian Barratt's dark, sinister and surreal comedy, first began in 1998 from a stage in central London, can be related to the key themes of the Gothic genre today.

The Yeti scene is just an example of some of the creatures, ghouls created in the series. When reflected on some previous Gothic beasts such as Frankenstein's Monster and Dracula, there are some similarities, but ultimately they conjure up fear within the audience.

When the Gothic genre was entering publication, authors wrote on subjects that were considered socially awkward and to an extent inappropriate and grotesque. Back then, religion was a hot topic to begin to question, but The Mighty Boosh talks freely of rape, sorcery and occasional drug use (the Crack Fox).

It's rare that the time the Boosh is set is in the daytime. Nighttime, cold winter mornings are more frequent in the series, this making the entrance of the 'Moon' character more accessible, but also giving the series that creepy atmosphere.

In this clip, Vince and Howard practice some Black Magic from Naboo's forbidden safe of spells to impress some gothic girls. Vince changes his name to Obsidian Blackbird McKnight (which Howard remembers as Obsidian Blackbird Raven McBovril. After the spell is cast, they conjure up an old lady, a Nanna, which causes the world to be under Nanageddon.

A huge topic within the Gothic narrative is madness. The Boosh clearly shows signs of madness in the modern audience, with it's humour, language and most poignantly, in it's character. Mad characters include The Crack Fox, Spider Dijon, Old Gregg, Codiac Jack and most notably, The Hitcher. All of these characters display signs of madness, like Frankenstein or Edgar Allen Poe, but the Hitcher is on another level.    

A2 Comparative Coursework

In A2 English Literature I will be comparing 2 texts. 1 from William S. Burroughs and the other from Jack Kerouac. The two texts are arguably the author's most famous and recognised texts. Junk(y) was first published in 1953 by Ace Books and was hideously censored by the publisher, with a number of minor 'corrections' which Burroughs claimed to be 'unwarranted, to blur or completely obscure the original meaning (Letter from William Burroughs to A.A. Wyn [1959]).)

Jack Kerouac was once accosted, by Truman Capote as being a typewriter rather than an author. This is a reflection on how rapidly Kerouac typed his manuscripts, and On The Road is iconic for it's 120 foot long scroll of 125,000 words, Kerouac telling to Neil Cassady (his On The Road pseudonym Dean Moriarty) "went so fast because the road is fast."

The Beat Generation was a particularly appealing time for a new liberal movement in publication. Howl was hugely censored for it's inclusion of subjects on homosexuality, drug use and general 1950s social phobia's. Burroughs being very open about his sexuality lead him to some complicated censoring issues, even On The Road was censored in it's own way by the alteration of characters names rather than the inclusion of it's original content.

Therefore, I will be comparing On The Road: The Original Scroll & Junky (The Definitive Text of Junk). My question being "To what extent are On The Road and Junk spiritual journeys rather than physical ones?" This is because the theme of journey's is hugely apparent in the Beat books, and On The Road has a reputation for being spiritual and insightful to Kerouac's look on life.