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Frankenstein: The Narrative Structure of Frankenstein 13038 Views


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Dearest Shmooper, Watch the video to find out more about the epistolary, layered, narrative of Frankenstein. Or watch a cute kitten video on Youtube. We won’t judge you if you do that. We might do the same. Sincerely, Shmoop


Transcript

00:01

We speak student!

00:04

There's a curse on our village.

00:06

The curse of Frankenstein!

00:08

Frankenstein a la Shmoop

00:11

What is the narrative structure of Frankenstein?

00:16

So the narrative structure of Frankenstein

00:17

is incredibly complicated.

00:19

It's part of why it's so fun to read.

00:22

First, let's talk about why it's written in the form of letters.

00:24

Any novel that's written in letter form

00:27

is called an epistolary novel.

00:29

This word "epistle" just means "letter."

00:31

It's like another fancy word for saying "letter."

00:34

At the time, most novels were written in epistolary form.

00:37

This isn't -- It wasn't something new.

00:39

Clarissa, Pamela, Dracula -

00:41

These were all epistolary novels.

00:44

The reason that stories were written in an epistolary fashion

00:49

is because it made it seem a little bit more real.

00:52

We come across a letter and it's like,

00:55

"Oh, well, someone wrote this letter."

00:57

And it kind of gives us the sense that what's happening

00:59

is a little truer.

01:01

You know, in reality TV, you can have

01:03

a shaky camera and stuff like that

01:05

to make it feel more real.

01:06

- What they did is they had epistolary -- - That was their confessional.

01:09

Exactly. You know, even novels that weren't

01:11

straight-up letters would start with some frame story.

01:15

So the frame story is, you know,

01:16

the story that surrounds the actual kind of plot of the novel.

01:21

And a lot of novels had this frame story

01:23

that would be like,

01:24

"Oh, I stumbled across a journal

01:27

and that's how I'm getting all this information."

01:29

And then they tell the story.

01:30

And it just gives it a little bit more sense of reality.

01:33

Frankenstein is a particularly cool one

01:35

because it's not just letters,

01:37

it is so many layers of narrative.

01:40

So at one point in the novel,

01:42

you have --

01:44

The De Laceys are hanging out

01:46

and the monster is telling their story

01:50

and Victor Frankenstein is quoting the monster's story

01:57

to Walton on the boat,

02:00

who's recording it and writing it to his sister.

02:03

So you have, like, I don't know,

02:05

- Phone tag. - Walton's sister... Exactly!

02:07

It's phone tag.

02:07

It's Walton's sister, Walton,

02:09

Victor Frankenstein, Frankenstein, and the De Laceys.

02:12

So you have like four or five layers of narration here.

02:15

And, yeah, like you're saying, it's kind of this idea that

02:18

by the time it gets to Walton's sister,

02:20

how much of it is real anymore?

02:22

So it's kind of this fun, you know,

02:24

tug of war between, "Oh, it's real.

02:26

It's letters. It's written in epistolary form."

02:28

and then it's like, "Oh, but, you know,

02:30

it went through six layers of narration to get there."

02:33

Hmm. Okay, cool. Highly filtered.

02:35

[ mm ]

02:36

[ suspenseful music ]

02:37

[ screaming ]

02:40

What is an epistolary novel?

02:42

What is the advantage of writing in this form?

02:45

When it comes to Frankenstein,

02:47

what is the drawback of this form?

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