Controlled Assessment

Compare the ways in which Frankenstein’s monster and Caliban are presented as victims of circumstance in Frankenstein and the tempest.

In both the texts, Frankenstein and The tempest, Characters are depicted as victims of circumstance. A victim of circumstance is an individual who suffers from consequences that are not the fault of the character I will be analysing how two specific characters are presented as victims of circumstances in both texts.  The texts have similarities in the way characters are shown to be victims of circumstance, I will be analysing how this is displayed through the use of language features, both structural and narrative. Both Mary Shelly and Shakespeare employ social parallels within the text, they include characters that are rejected by society, to fully decide whether a character is a victim of circumstance, I will have to evaluate whether they are victimised partly due to their own acts.

The tempest is a piece of literature developed by William Shakespeare in 1610. The text explores the theme of a victim of circumstance, through the character Caliban. Caliban is a native character to the island Prospero lands on. The book comes at a time where slaves were beginning to be come from foreign countries, and contains a viewpoint that the everyday man would have had on the imported slaves. This is important as it is important to maintain the idea that Caliban is different to other characters such as Prospero. The character Frankenstein’s monster, serves a similar purpose to the character Caliban, in the text. He is created in a time where scientific experiments were carried out, that questioned what she believed should be kept unknown. These tests were trying to find out the secrets to life. Mary Shelly had to show in detail how this is could have negative effects. She does this by incorporating a character that causes destruction from the characters. Both texts explore the characters and depict them in a negative light however the books are biased as they are produced with a view coming from opposing characters as the main views. For example, Frankenstein is written from the view of first Robert Walton, the victor Frankenstein and lastly the monster. This is a structural technique to show the story mostly from a biased point of view. This is also expressed within the tempest as Prospero is the protagonist; we are more likely to side with him rather than Caliban, who plays the antagonist. This also plays a part in the way that they are treated for example, the monster is treated as a victim due to his position in the book, he goes from a creature that Victor says “I had selected his features as beautiful. Beautiful!—Great God! His yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath; his hair was of a lustrous black, and flowing; his teeth of pearly whiteness”, to a character he deems so ugly he abandons it. This is also apparent in the tempest, it is displayed where there is a shift from where Caliban used to be treated as an equal where he states Prospero “woudst give me, water with berries in’t” to a slave because he tried to rape Miranda. It could be argued that Caliban is in the wrong for trying to rape Miranda however it is clear that Caliban is quite animalistic. To conclude on this, they are both shown as victims of circumstance through the use of them being antagonist in the plays, however Frankenstein’s monster is unjustly categorised as he played no part in the process of him being categorised unlike Caliban who actually preformed the act however we can infer it was not completely voluntary.

Both texts employ the language feature, imagery, as a means to depict the antagonists, as victims of circumstance. An example of where imagery is used in the Tempest to create a theme of Caliban being a victim of circumstance, is where Caliban explains the pain he suffers from. He says ‘For every trifle are they set upon me’ and ‘their pricks at my footfall’. This quotation shows the extremes of the hardships Caliban has to endure at every step he makes out of line. This shows that Caliban is powerless in his environment, and has no power. This shows the extent to which Caliban is a victim of circumstance, he is a slave. He is a victim of circumstance as the pain he is experiencing as a result of his master’s control and his near faultless actions. And if someone’s pain and life is not in his control, he is clearly a victim of circumstance. Frankenstein’s monster is also depicted as a victim of circumstance, it again is translated though the use of imagery. During the monsters monologue he states ‘I ought to be Adam but I am rather a fallen angel which drivest me from joy for no misdeed’. He is saying that he should be treated as a son, as Victor is his creator, but he is instead treated a devil. He states an important point depicting him as a victim of circumstance, he states that not even the devil was exiled from heaven for ‘no misdeed’, meaning that even the Devil did something wrong. This means that the creation is treated even worse than the devil. The use of the word fallings important as it shows the extent to which the creation feels alienated. The antagonists are both presented as victims of circumstance, they are both placed in a position that they cannot change. It is shown in this case through the use of imagery. In this example, Frankenstein’s creation is shown to be the larger victim of the two. His circumstance is clearly depicted as more severe due to his expression that he is punished for no reason.

Both Mary Shelly and Shakespeare use the structural feature of foreshadowing to present their antagonists as victims of circumstance. This is shown in Frankenstein where he states ‘the whole village was roused’, the use of the literary feature, the metaphor, shows the extent to which he is rejected by society because of his appearance. The use of the word village is used to represent society and how it was scared to accept differences. This means that he would be alienated and would never be able to gain companionship or love, this shows he is a victim of circumstance. There is also foreshadowing in the tempest. The title in itself is a form of foreshadowing; a tempest means a violent or wild thunderstorm, which usually leaves large amounts of destruction. In this case, as Caliban is the antagonist, he will be left with the largest amount of damage. This shows Caliban as a victim of circumstance as it shows that he will have endure forced hardships and in this specific case continue his life as a slave, this is shown in the tempest where he submits to Prospero towards the end of the text. To conclude both characters are depicted as victims as of circumstance, by using the same structural feature of foreshadowing. This may be a hint to how the victims may continue to be victims, this is important in both texts as we see the victims, as victims throughout the text.

Both texts explore the theme of rejection to portray the antagonists as victims of circumstance through the narrative. In both texts, both characters are rejected by society because of their appearance hence the reason for their roles as antagonists. For this reason we must contemplate whether they are treated unfairly because of their appearance, for example if Caliban was a normal human like Prospero, would he as against his attempt to reproduce with Miranda. His attempt to populate the island resulted in him becoming Prospero’s slave. Caliban being homeless exaggerates the fact that he is a victim of circumstance. During a monologue he expresses that the nature is his only home, he states “Be not afeard. The isle is full of noises, sounds, and sweet airs that give delight and hurt not. Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments will hum about mine ears”. This shows that Caliban is willing to accept the nature as his home, even though it has posed obvious danger to him. This shows the extent to which he has no other substitute for it through his denial. Frankenstein’s monster is also projected as a victim circumstance through the theme of rejection; this is hyperbolised as he is not given even a name. Frankenstein’s monster also spends his time homeless, living in a hovel while closely observing a family. A key quotation in the book is “Everywhere I see bliss, from which I alone am irrevocably excluded”, this portrays him as a victim of circumstance as he is not able to enjoy his life because of his exclusion. During this period, the creation the creation sees a reflection of him and comes to an understanding that his appearance is hideous to behold, this sparks a theme of self-hate within the monster, but despite this he continues to be benevolent. Percy Shelly had an interesting take on the book; he stated “The circumstances if his existence were so monstrous that his original goodness was gradually turned into fuel of an inextinguishable misanthropy and revenge”, hence making him a victim of circumstance.

In both texts, the Tempest and Frankenstein, similar features are employed to connote with similar themes. Shakespeare and Mary Shelly both use language features and the narrative to present their characters as victims of circumstance. I believe that the variances stem from the contextual differences within the time it was produced.  To conclude, Caliban is presented as a victim of circumstance through his appearance, his abandonment, homelessness, hyperbole, metaphors, imagery and foreshadowing, this is similar to Frankenstein as they use the same literary features and similar events to portray the characters as victims of circumstance. This helps me infer that both writes used similar themes to highlight their destiny.