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I
Titan! to whose immortal eyes
The sufferings of mortality
Seen in their sad reality,
Were not as things that gods despise;
What was thy pity's recompense?
A silent suffering, and intense;
The rock, the vulture, and the chain,
All that the proud can feel of pain,
The agony they do not show,
The suffocating sense of woe, 10
Which speaks but in its loneliness,
And then is jealous lest the sky
Should have a listener, nor will sigh
Until its voice is echoless.
II
Titan! to thee the strife was given
Between the suffering and the will,
Which torture where they cannot kill;
And the inexorable Heaven
And the deaf tyranny of Fate,
The ruling principle of Hate. 20
Which for its pleasure doth create
The things it may annihilate,
Refused thee even the boon to die:
The wretched gift eternity
Was thine -- and thou hast borne it well.
All that the Thunderer wrung from thee
Was but the menace which flung back
On him the torments of thy rack;
The fate thou didst so well foresee,
But would not to appease him tell; 30
And in thy Silence was his Sentence,
And in his Soul a vain repentance,
And evil dread so ill dissembled
That in his hand the lightnings trembled.
III
Thy Godlike crime was to be kind,
To render with thy precepts less
The sum of human wretchedness,
And strengthen Man with his own mind;
But baffled as thou wert from high,
Still in thy patient energy, 40
In the endurance, and repulse
Of thine impenetrable Spirit,
Which Earth and Heaven could not convulse,
A mighty lesson we inherit:
Thou art a symbol and a sign
To Mortals of their fate and force;
Like thee, Man is in part divine,
A troubled stream from a pure source;
And Man in portions can foresee
His own funereal destiny; 50
His wretchedness, and his resistance,
And his sad unallied existence:
To which his Spirit may oppose
Itself -- and equal to all woes,
And a firm will, and a deep sense,
Which even in torture can descry
Its own concenter'd recompense,
Triumphant where it dares defy,
And making Death a Victory.
George Gordon, Lord Byron
1816
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Comments (3)
Jessica Stein said
at 3:54 pm on Feb 21, 2012
Jess Stein, Kate Goodman, Margaret Back, John Mann
Fifth passage: "Are you mad, my friend?..."
Victor is a romantic hero because he defys society's norms. He tests the limits of science by creating the monster because he is overcome by curiousity. At the end of the novel, Victor advises others not to make the same mistakes that he did, which displays the classical remorse of a romantic hero. It is ironic that Victor, the rebel, is the one now telling others not to make the same mistakes that he did.
Jordan Sessa said
at 6:03 pm on Feb 21, 2012
Jordan Sessa, Matt Tallent, Dan Schwarz, Matt Drissel, Jeremy Smith
First Passage: "But I have one want . . ."
Walton is a romantic hero because he expresses a common romantic idea that each man is a unique individual, but longs for companionship. Walton is on a journey to the North Pole, but is more concerned about his emotions and desire for a friend than his trip. Walton is also a romantic hero because he is endeavoring to push boundaries on his trip. He's on a journey to discover the magnetic north pole, but paradoxically (and in line with romantic sensibilities) he is never satisfied. Even when he finds a friend in Frankenstein, he laments the fact that he didn't know him in happier times.
Jeff Mogavero said
at 7:48 pm on Feb 21, 2012
Jeff Mogavero, Kris Leevongcharoen, Tom Nguyen, Caroline Doran
Third Passage: "I expected this reception..."
This passage reflects the Romantic idea that science and progress are not good. The monster is telling Victor how he will never be satiated until the blood of Victor's remaining friends is spilled, unless Victor creates another monster. The scientific advance that Victor created, being the Monster, has clearly had no benefits. This progress is causing the unwarranted deaths of Victor's friends, and destroying Victor's life. This passage also presents one of many paradoxes in the novel. Typically, people think of their "creator" as someone to look up to and revere. However, in this case the monster wants to destroy his creator (Victor) unless Victor helps him. The person who should have been the "master" has become the one taking the orders.
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