Frankenstein vs. Mariner WWE

Frankenstein's Mariner

By Neha Piracha and Michele Perry

Comparing Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and Samuel Coleridge's "Rime of the Ancient Mariner"

The End

It is easy to see how "The Mariner" influenced Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. The works share numerous similar elements, especially themes about the dangers and consequences of changing nature.

Exotic Settings

Good and bad omens

Outcasts of society

• Certain symbols in both works foreshadow coming events.
• Storms, moon, light, dark, birds, oceans
• "the heavens were clouded, and I soon felt the rain coming slowly in large drops, but its violence quickly increased" (Shelley 68). - Storm occurs as Victor spots his monster lurking outside of Geneva- an omen of the tragedy to come for the Frankenstein family.
• "Ah wretch! said they, the bird to slay/ That made the breeze to blow" (Coleridge lines 95-96). - Mariner shoots down albatross, the bringer of good-fortune for sailors .

• Works examine characters who go against societal norms.
• Mariner kills albatross, the good omen for the sailors-and becomes outcast.
• People flee from Frankenstein's creature at the sight of him-leaving the monster to roam around alone.
• "found a shelter, however miserable, from the inclemency of the season, and still more from the barbarity of man" (Shelley 95).
• "Alone, alone, all, all alone,/Alone on a wide wide sea!/ And never a saint took pity on/ My soul in agony" (Coleridge 232-235).

Desolate mood

Ambition and Irrationality

Natural Imagery

Cautionary tale

• Common Romantic element
• Characters are connected with nature and their thoughts may be reflected in the weather.
• "the young buds were shooting forth from the trees that shaded my window. It was a divine spring; and the season contributed greatly to my convalescence" (Shelley 55). Nature reflects Victor's mental and physical healing as he removes himself from the monster.
• "All in a hot and copper sky/ The bloody Sun, at noon" (Coleridge lines 111-112). The "bloody" sun parallels the bloody deaths that have taken place on the Mariner's ship.

• Warning incorporated in both works through narrative
• Victor and Mariner compelled to share their story so that their mistakes will not be repeated
• " I reflect that you are... exposing yourself to the same dangers which have rendered me what I am, I imagine that you may deduce an apt moral from my tale" (Shelley 25).
• "but this I tell/ To thee, thou Wedding-Guest! /He prayeth well, who loveth well /Both man and bird and beast" (Coleridge 611-614).

Punishment for tampering with nature

Supernatural References

• Brings otherworldly elements into both works
• The supernatural used to juxtapose the laws of nature.
• "I saw the dull yellow eye of the creature open; it breathed hard, and a convulsive motion agitated its limbs" ( Shelley 51).
• "The souls did from their bodies fly/they fled from bliss and woe" (Coleridge 221-224).

• Motifs of solidarity and hopelessness
• Victor and his creature both face isolation.
• Mariner is left alone after his crew dies.
• " In a solitary chamber...separated from all the other apartments" (Shelley 49).
• "I looked upon the rotting sea/And drew my eyes away/I looked upon the rotting deck/And there the dead men lay" (Coleridge Lines 241-244).

• Both works feature far away places difficult to reach.
• North pole and south pole- very edges of the earth dramatizes plot
• " The floating sheets of ice that continually pass us, indicating the dangers of the region towards which we are advancing" (Shelley 19).
• "And through the drifts the snowy clifts/Did send a dismal sheen/Nor shapes of men nor beasts we ken/The ice was all between" (Coleridge lines 53-57).

• Romantics believed that nature could not be controlled.
• The Mariner "plays destroyer" by killing the albatross.
• Frankenstein "plays creator" by raising life.
• Both live wretched lives after their deed.
• "How much happier that man is who believes his native town to be the world, than he who aspires to become greater than his nature will allow" (Shelley 47).
• "Forthwith this frame of mine was wrenched / With a woeful agony / Which forced me to begin my tale/ And then it left me free" (Coleridge 578- 581).

• Typical Romantic hero sought the glory of knowledge and discovery.
• Irrationality-acting without thought of consequence
• Frankenstein chooses to animate life because he has the knowledge.
• Mariner shoots the albatross because he can.
• "Life and death appeared to me ideal bounds, which I should first break through, and pour a torrent of life into our dark world" (Shelley 48).
• ''With my crossbow/ I shot the Albatross" (Coleridge Lines 52-53).