ENGL 393 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Elizabeth Lavenza, Literal And Figurative Language, Villa Diodati
20 Sep 2016
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Analysis of the frontispiece to the 1831 edition. The skeleton is a little shocking, and the two people there seemed to be shocked by it as well. Skeleton is on the bottom, then the creature, then victor: sort of a chain of being idea. Most complex at the top, least complex at the bottom: the text will challenge this hierarchy as the creature seems to move up and victor gets closer to death. The skulls watching over the scene, and their proximity to books: three skulls. Note the relationship between death and knowledge in this text. Victor is depicted kind of sinister and the creature seems to have a vulnerability and an innocence about him. Victor seems to be up to something shady and doesn"t appear as a hero here. Open book in the bottom corner, looks like the monster opened it and was shocked by it.
