Mary Shelley s `` Golden `` - 1339 Words

Mary Shelley’s â€Å"Golden† Trio Many deem multi-narrative stories a novelty, and difficult to pull off without sounding kitschy or clichà ©. This is not so in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. The book includes both a framing device (a story within a story) and epistolary narration (a story told through someone reading or hearing it.) Yet, the effect that comes with these strategies of narration is quite different from the boy/girl chapter switch we see so often in modern literature. Each of the three narrators in Frankenstein holds a key role in the telling of this classic tale. The reader would not face the inner turmoil Shelley intended for her readers if even one was excluded. Now, we have Victor Frankenstein, a melancholy fellow who tells†¦show more content†¦I have been the author of unalterable evils, and I lived in daily fear† (76). This is the reason why many readers end up disliking him though it would seem that he is the most logical chara cter to like; he is the protagonist, is he not? This hatred of Victor is partially due to the cultural idea that he spends too much time feeling sorry for himself. We as a culture especially do not like people who don’t pick themselves up. Much of the Western World has a hard time understanding depression. It’s not believed to be logical. This modern day leprosy is looked down on by many, and is seen as the melodramatic musing of emotional beings. We do not understand why someone would not want to better themselves. The story from Victor Frankenstein’s perspective could have been Shelley’s own cry out for understanding as she spent much of her life in grief of her stillborn daughter. Victor’s narrative is most of the novel, and without it we would most likely consider him mad, and his actions insane. We would look at his love of Elizabeth as incestuous and would be much more likely to take the monster’s side. Instead we see his perspective a nd self-deprecation and are frustrated about who to support. This is a story that goes beyond the framework of the good guy-bad guy trope and the multiple narratives only reiterate this. Victor’s story is interrupted by the monster who tells his tale with the eloquence and vocabulary of one who has spent years studying. He tells of his pathetic