Narrative Voices in Shelleys Frankenstein and Fathers and Sons by Ivan

Narrative Voices in Shelleys Frankenstein and Fathers and Sons by Ivan Turgenev I have chosen to discriminate the narrative voices of Frankenstein andFathers and Sons, as the perspectives in these two novels differ fromone another. Frankensteins narrative voice contains tales of threecharacters within one narrative, none belonging at one time to theauthor, whereas the narrative voice of Fathers and Sons, is that ofthe 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 Shelleys novel Frankenstein is an example of first- soulfulnessnarrative, with Walton describing his encounters in letters to hissister Margaret, in England. He includes his meeting captainFrankenstein, of Victors experiences with his creation ofFrankenstein the behemoth, and the monster himself and his experiences.This narrative is written in the human body of letters, with the use of thisepistolary style of writing novels giving verisimilitude to theevents, as Walton writes of them as he is told. He is the narrativevoice of the whole novel enveloping the characters of Victor and themonster, the characters of whom, develop as the story progresses. Thisnarrative perspective structures the novel, portraying events as trueto life, resulting in its realistic theme. The confession of Victornestles within Waltons narrative, with that of the monster nestlingwithin that. This technique of having one story nestling withinanother follows a Gothic convention, (P.63 TRN). There are manynarrative perspectives, which crystallise it a Gothic novel, another exampleshowing this is the atmosphere of mystery and horror, when Victor iscreating his mo... ... sharp towards the tip, with large greenish eyes andsandy-coloured droopy sideburns, (p.7) and of the monster asdescribed by Victor in Frankenstein, His yellow skin scarcely coveredthe work of muscles and arteries beneath his hair was of a lustrousblack, and f lowing his teeth of a pearly whiteness. (P.56).In Fathers and Sons, Turgenev reflects the theme of fatherhood, with bask and affection shown between Bazarov and his father Ivanovich,Arkady and his father Nikolai and also Nikolai and his small sonMitya. In comparison, Shelley in Frankenstein labours on theabandonment of the monster by his creator. In effect, Victor is thefather of his son the monster and he has abandoned him at hisbirth. This showing of paternal love in Fathers and Sons and theabandonment of it in Frankenstein shows an important comparisonbetween the two novels.