Narrative Voices in Shelleys Frankenstein and Fathers and Sons by Ivan

Narrative Voices in Shelley's Frankenstein and Fathers and Sons by Ivan Turgenev I have chosen to compare the narrative voices of Frankenstein and Fathers and Sons, as the perspectives in these two novels differ from one another. Frankenstein’s narrative voice contains tales of three characters within one narrative, none belonging directly to the author, whereas the narrative voice of Fathers and Sons, is that of the author alone. Examples I will be using are taken from ‘The Realist Novel’ (TRN), and from the novels of Frankenstein (F) and Fathers and Sons (F&S). Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein is an example of first- person narrative, with Walton describing his encounters in letters to his sister Margaret, in England. He includes his meeting Victor Frankenstein, of Victor’s experiences with his creation of Frankenstein the monster, and the monster himself and his experiences. This narrative is written in the form of letters, with the use of this epistolary style of writing novels giving verisimilitude to the events, as Walton writes of them as he is told. He is the narrative voice of the whole novel; enveloping the characters of Victor and the monster, the characters of whom, develop as the story progresses. This narrative perspective structures the novel, portraying events as true to life, resulting in its realistic theme. The confession of Victor nestles within Walton’s narrative, with that of the monster nestling within that. This technique of having one story nestling within another follows a Gothic convention, (P.63 TRN). There are many narrative perspectives, which make it a Gothic novel, another example showing this is the atmosphere of mystery and horror, when Victor is creating his mo... ... sharp towards the tip, with large greenish eyes and sandy-coloured droopy sideburns,’ (p.7) and of the monster as described by Victor in Frankenstein, ‘His yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath; his hair was of a lustrous black, and flowing; his teeth of a pearly whiteness.’ (P.56). In Fathers and Sons, Turgenev reflects the theme of fatherhood, with love and affection shown between Bazarov and his father Ivanovich, Arkady and his father Nikolai and also Nikolai and his small son Mitya. In comparison, Shelley in Frankenstein labours on the abandonment of the monster by his creator. In effect, Victor is the father of his ‘son’ the monster and he has abandoned him at his ‘birth’. This showing of paternal love in Fathers and Sons and the abandonment of it in Frankenstein shows an important comparison between the two novels.