Josh+H

OLD: Hamlet CA, Archive 1, Archive 2, Pantheren, Paul Lazzaro's List (Mature), Harvey and Matt Hamlet Summary
 * Hello. This is Josh.**

NEW:

Beginning Passage
But here were books, and here were men who had penetrated deeper and knew more. I took their word for all that they averred, and I became their disciple. It may appear strange that such should arise in the eighteenth century; but while I followed the routine of education in the schools of Geneva, I was, to a great degree, self-taught with regard to my favourite studies. My father was not scientific, and I was left to struggle with a child's blindness, added to a student's thirst for knowledge. Under the guidance of my new preceptors I entered with the greatest diligence into the search of the philosopher's stone and the elixir of life; but the latter soon obtained my undivided attention. Wealth was an inferior object, but what glory would attend the discovery if I could banish disease from the human frame and render man invulnerable to any but a violent death!

Nor were these my only visions. The raising of ghosts or devils was a promise liberally accorded by my favourite authors, the fulfillment of which I most eagerly sought; and if my incantations were always unsuccessful, I attributed the failure rather to my own inexperience and mistake than to want of skill or fidelity in my instructors. And thus for a time I was occupied by exploded systems, mingling, like an unadept, a thousand contradictory theories and floundering desperately in a very slough of multifarious knowledge, guided by an ardent imagination and childish reasoning, till an accident again changed the current of my ideas.

1- This is the development of Victor's ideas of reincarnation, endless life and ultimate health. The passage says how he first came up with the ideas of creating the monster, in his attempts to create an immortal. The theme of death is also apparent, it is what he is trying to prevent. 2- The context is shown by the simple phrases "into the search of the philosopher's stone and the elixir of life" and the "raising of ghosts". 3- The term 'incantations' shows that it isn't something anyone can do, and it appears like magic. (Thats all I can find, I'm not good at language..) 4- This doesn't show a climax or conclusion. This is the first revealing of his ideas for the rest of the book and in that way it can be counted as a change though it is more the beginning of the greater story. 5- The images of "ghosts or devils", "invulnerable to any but a violent death!", "thirst for knowledge" and many others are all important in the final view. These are all the things that influence him to create the monster. 6- The tone is one of discovery. He is telling his thoughts on his new discoveries of these books. (I don't really know the tone here..)

Middle Passage
"One night during my accustomed visit to the neighbouring wood where I collected my own food and brought home firing for my protectors, I found on the ground a leathern portmanteau containing several articles of dress and some books. I eagerly seized the prize and returned with it to my hovel. Fortunately the books were written in the language, the elements of which I had acquired at the cottage; they, consisted of Paradise Lost, a volume of Plutarch's Lives, and the Sorrows of Werter. The possession of these treasures gave me extreme delight; I now continually studied and exercised my mind upon these histories, whilst my friends were employed in their ordinary occupations.

"I can hardly describe to you the effect of these books. They produced in me an infinity of new images and feelings, that sometimes raised me to ecstasy, but more frequently sunk me into the lowest dejection. In the Sorrows of Werter, besides the interest of its simple and affecting story, so many opinions are canvassed and so many lights thrown upon what had hitherto been to me obscure subjects that I found in it a never-ending source of speculation and astonishment. The gentle and domestic manners it described, combined with lofty sentiments and feelings, which had for their object something out of self, accorded well with my experience among my protectors and with the wants which were forever alive in my own bosom. But I thought Werter himself a more divine being than I had ever beheld or imagined; his character contained no pretension, but it sank deep. The disquisitions upon death and suicide were calculated to fill me with wonder. I did not pretend to enter into the merits of the case, yet I inclined towards the opinions of the hero, whose extinction I wept, without precisely understanding it.

1- The theme of death is shown when he is talking about the "disquisitions upon death and suicide". 2- The passages at in the middle part of the book are from a different perspective as those at any other part of the book. They usually have the same themes though they are shown in a more 'discovery' style. 3- The text has developed to be about the monster's feelings rather than just Victor's. Victor had a discovery attitude at the start of the book and now the monster has this attitude.

End Passage
As my sickness quitted me, I was absorbed by a gloomy and black melancholy that nothing could dissipate. The image of Clerval was forever before me, ghastly and murdered. More than once the agitation into which these reflections threw me made my friends dread a dangerous relapse. Alas! Why did they preserve so miserable and detested a life? It was surely that I might fulfil my destiny, which is now drawing to a close. Soon, oh, very soon, will death extinguish these throbbings and relieve me from the mighty weight of anguish that bears me to the dust; and, in executing the award of justice, I shall also sink to rest. Then the appearance of death was distant, although the wish was ever present to my thoughts; and I often sat for hours motionless and speechless, wishing for some mighty revolution that might bury me and my destroyer in its ruins.

The season of the assizes approached. I had already been three months in prison, and although I was still weak and in continual danger of a relapse, I was obliged to travel nearly a hundred miles to the country town where the court was held. Mr. Kirwin charged himself with every care of collecting witnesses and arranging my defence. I was spared the disgrace of appearing publicly as a criminal, as the case was not brought before the court that decides on life and death. The grand jury rejected the bill, on its being proved that I was on the Orkney Islands at the hour the body of my friend was found; and a fortnight after my removal I was liberated from prison.

1- These developments are of the issues with death and the feelings after death. It is a much more gloomy passage than the others, showing that the mood has changed to a sadness after the events in the middle of the book. 2- This passage is again from Victor's perspective and it is sad, unlike the other passages. It is almost completely different from the other passages as it shows what went wrong with his ideas explained earlier, the consequences of his actions. 3- These three passages show the different moods which can be apparent in the book while still thinking of the same theme. Victor was once happy, the monster was happy though now Victor is sad.