The Harbinger Of A Category Crisis - 1157 Words

Victor Frankenstein: The Harbinger of a Category Crisis Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein or The Modern Prometheus partially follows the narrative of Victor Frankenstein in his journey of mental and moral deterioration. Victor’s attempt to unnaturally create life through unorthodox methods is his metaphorical attempt to play with fire; he explores a realm beyond human capability by using a power only known to God. This novel leaves readers with a dilemma that makes them question who in fact is really the monster of this story, the creature he created or Victor himself. According to Jeffrey Jerome Cohen’s â€Å"Seven Monster Theses†, Frankenstein may actually be the embodiment of the monster of his third thesis in this story. The reasons Victor may conform to being the â€Å"Harbinger of a Category Crisis† is because of his seclusion from his family and the rest of society and his unethical inquiry and exploration into the laws of nature beyond what is thought to be possible. In the initial stages of the book, Victor spends a large amount of time away from his home and family in Geneva to heavily indulge in his studies. His academics consisted of natural philosophy and sciences, especially in the creation of life and its death and decay. Even after he was done studying, he locked himself away in his apartment in preparation for his experiment of artificially creating life. Victor even acknowledges that the pursuit of his work has caused him to â€Å"forget those friends who were so many milesShow MoreRelatedThe Understanding of the Monster Essay1143 Words   |  5 Pagesalso can provide us with possible solutions to gaps and uncertainties in our mind that Sigmund Freud would label as â€Å"The Uncanny†. I can only but agree with Cohen’s proclamations that the monster’s body is a cultural body, a monster is the harbinger of category crisis, and a monster stands at the threshold of becoming. These theses attempt to explain the diversity of the term monster when it com es to different cultures and the human imagination of what has been, is, and can be. The first of the sevenRead MoreFrom The Beginning Of Time, Humans Have Struggled To Make1030 Words   |  5 Pagesclosely with a couple of Jeffrey Jerome Cohen’s theses about monster culture. Two of the theses that Dr. Jekyll relates to are â€Å"Thesis VI: Fear of the Monster Is Really a Kind of Desire† (Course Pack 67) and â€Å"Thesis III: The Monster Is the Harbinger of Category Crisis† (60). Jekyll desired and longed for his potion. After much thought, he came to the conclusion that he needed it. He wasn’t forced. It was â€Å"with a strong glow of courage† (Stevenson 44) he drank his potion. At the time, he was unaware ofRead MoreButler ´s Characterization Shori1105 Words   |  5 Pagessociety’s homophobia and conservative beliefs about sex. A final way that Shori exemplifies Cohen’s idea of monster culture is that she is the result of a genetic experiment, a crossbreed. Shori is both human and vampire, the ultimate â€Å"harbinger of category crisis† (Cohen). Additionally, she is both black and white. However, instead of this hybridization being a handicap it is advantageous and essential to her survival. This is a new idea since in the past both miscegenation and cross breeding haveRead MoreRichard Matheson s I Am Legend 1154 Words   |  5 Pagesboogey-man for he genuinely terrified them. He witnessed their fear as he looked out from his bars and heard the startled cries. A startling ironic revelation for him. To them, he was possibly far worse than the plague. He s considered as a â€Å"harbinger of category crisis†Ã¢â‚¬â€utilizing Cohen s words—as he posed a threat to the new society being established by the infected-vampiric humans. A fact he comes to term with during his final moment s. â€Å"Normalcy was a majority concept, the standard of many and not theRead MoreAnalysis Of The Book Cold Mountain 1296 Words   |  6 Pagesstruggle which an individual must face in order to survive in a natural environment. From Frazier’s standpoint, the usage of this particular quotation could be a confirmation of Darwin’s influence on his literature. The term naturalism describes a category of literature that applies scientific principles of detachment and objectivity to its reading of human beings. The literary movement of naturalism got its foundation from Darwin’s theory of evolution. In his novel, Frazier makes use of real historicalRead MoreLiterary Analysis Of Cold Mountain 1298 Words   |  6 Pagesstruggle which an individual must face in order to survive in a natural environment. From Frazier’s standpoint, the usage of this particular quotation could be a confirmation of Darwin’s influence on his literature. The term naturalism describes a category of literature that applies scientific principles of detachment and objectivity to its reading of human beings. The literary movement of naturalism got its foundation from Darwin’s theory of evolution. In his novel, Frazier makes use of real historicalRead MoreMore than 95% of U.S. Homes use Arm and Hammer Products1329 Words   |  5 Pagestechnology. This was quite helpful for the company at the beginning but as the time passed by, the growth of 15% annually started to become static which raised concern at the higher management devising a new strategy to steer company out of the looming crisis. To give an overview of whole situation, sales became stagnant as company’s strategy was to sell products which are extensions to baking soda i.e. sodium carbonate. To bring in a change, for the first time in 156 years, management affairs were transferredRead MoreHuman Security and National Security2199 Words   |  9 Pagesto the human security and provides a holistic concept in this regard. There have been mentioned around seven categories of threats which have been faced by human beings on the earth. The security and its conditions are to be realized in the domain of economic security, food security, political security, personal security, health security and environmental security. Hence from these categories of security, one can comprehend that conceptualization and realization of human security entails into its foldRead MoreCompare Leadership Styles Between Jack Welch and Jeff Immelt4058 Words   |  17 PagesWelch was a ruthless taskmaster at GE. Immelt works with long term perspective rather with a short term one. Immelt proved that he is a very effective leader by helping GE overcome the hardship in 2001 when terrorist attacks on September 11 were a harbinger of bad times to come for GE. (see Appendix B, Story 2) It’s really difficult to say this leader is better than another one. To compare and contrast them, in the range of this paper, in terms of leadership, we would just use leadership styles, traitsRead MoreThe Politics Of Political Parties3081 Words   |  13 Pagesprivate colleges, charities, and cultural institutions. Many were pietistic Protestant who called for public schools to instill moral values and suggested prohibition to end the liquor problem. The Whigs attracted voters from every socio-economic category but proved particularly attractive to the professional and business classes: doctors, attorneys, sellers, ministers, bankers, storekeepers, factory owners, commercially oriented farmers and large-scale planters. Because of the party platform, commercial