Vision, Language, And Experience

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Vision, Language, and Experience
Throughout Shelley’s Frankenstein there is constant tension between the visual and verbal. At one moment the reader can sympathize with the creature and at another the reader can relate with Victor’s anger. The visual portrayal of the creature does have an effect, but not nearly as much as the language. The sympathy changes throughout the volumes particularly do to the narratives of the characters. When Victor speaks it seems believable that the creature is a horrible thing, but when the creature speaks the perspective completely changes. But, there is still a problem because a conclusion cannot be addressed. Though language has an overwhelming effect, there is still a huge communication barrier between the characters in the novel and the reader’s understanding of them. Through this barrier, Shelley conveys a powerful message: people can only truly understand each other when put through the same experience.
In the novel, Victor and Walton are the only two characters that really connect and it is because they share somewhat of the same experience. Both of them are excessively ambitious and both attempt, as Victor is successful, to defy the limitations of man. Walton writes in his letter to his sister: “I have no friend Margaret: there will be none to participate my joy” (8). Walton truly desires a friend for companionship and company. He desires a being that can understand him and see his greatness. He finds some of these qualities in Victor. Though Frankenstein is not his ideal friend, he completes Walton by advising him in the right direction. Walton reciprocates this in Victor as well. Walton is the only human to hear his story, which, in a deeper sense, means that he allows Victor to live on. Victor says, “But when you speak of new ties, and fresh affections, think you that any can replace those who are gone?” (180). Here Victor tells Walton that it is not conceivabl...