Use of Madness in Frankenstein

Use of Madness in Frankenstein

Novel by Mary Shelley

Presentation by: Maeve Drynan

Madness

"Nothing is more painful to the human mind than, after the feelings have been worked up by a quick succession of events, the dead calmness of inaction and certainty which follows and deprives the soul both of hope and fear. Justine died, she rested and I was alive."

(Frankenstein. 72)

"Clerval at first attributed my unusual spirits to joy on his arrival; but when he observed me more attentively, he saw a wildness in my eyes for which he could not account."

(Frankenstein. 46)

"I trembled with excess of agitation as I said this; there was a frenzy in my manner, and something, I doubt not, of that haughty fierceness which the martyrs of old are said to have possessed."

(Frankenstein. 178)

Why?

"I thought with a sensation of madness on my promise of creating another like to him, and with trembling passion, tore to pieces the thing on which I was engaged."

(Frankenstein. 145)

"My rage was without bounds; I sprang on him, impelled by all the feelings which can arm one being against the existence of another."

(Frankenstein. 81)

"But I was in no mood to laugh and talk with strangers... I told Clerval that I wished to make the tour of Scotland alone."

(Frankenstein. 141)

"Having parted with my friend, I determined to visit some remote spot of Scotland and finish my work in solitude."

(Frankenstein. 142)

"I passed the night wretchedly. Sometimes my pulse beat so hardly that I felt the palpitation of every artery; at others, I sank to the ground through languor and extreme weakness."

(Frankenstein. 43)

"...His full-toned voice swells in my ears; his lustrous eyes dwell on me with all their melancholy sweetness; I see his thin hand raised in animation while the lineaments of his face are irradiated by the soul within."

(Walton. 15)

"Winter, Spring, and Summer passed away during my labors; but I did not watch the blossom or the expanding leaves- sights which before always yielded me supreme delight- so deeply was I engrossed in my occupation."

(Frankenstein. 40)

• The state of being mentally ill

• Insanity

• Senseless folly

• Frenzy and rage