Comparative essay between themes in Frankenstein, The Secret Sharer and Macbeth.
Popular culture has a distinct way of touching the very nerve of human existence, both good and bad. Writers attempt to reach out to their audiences by way of specific themes that reflect real-life situations in fantasy settings; as such, the message is put across in an entertaining and meaningful way. Authors may use theme to alliterate morality, values or simply to teach the reader a lesson. These themes can often be studied and compared between novels in paralleled ways. Three novels that display this parallel in themes effectively are Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Joseph Conrad's The Secret Sharer, and William Shakespeare's Macbeth. .
The paralleled themes within these novels are quite evident, being used to portray the many faces of man and society's morality. The theme of social order can easily be seen in the novels in question. Both Victor and the Creature compromise the social order within Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Victor has a vision to create life; a being that will better mankind, this act can be seen as good and moral, the steps which Victor takes to create his being is where social order and morality is broken. " I collected bones from charnel-houses and disturbed, with profane fingers, the tremendous fingers of the human frame"(Shelley 39). Going against moral order, Victor assembled his creation of stolen .
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limbs to finally create life. "Born" benevolent, the creature is abandoned and soon grows a great resentment for Victor and all humanity. In his rage, the creature, himself, breaks the social order by murdering Victor's loved ones. The social order in Joseph Conrad's The Secret Sharer is broken by Leggatt. The story takes place on a ship, which can be seen as a microcosm of society. As a country has government and laws, the ship has a captain and those same laws.