Sinbad the Sailor - Frankenstein IV

"The information I had obtained was of a nature rather to direct my endeavours so soon as I should point them towards the object of my search, than to exhibit that object already accomplished. I was like the Arabian who had been buried with the dead and found a passage to life, aided only by one glimmering and seemingly ineffectual light" (31).

"The Arabian who had been buried with the dead" is a reference to the Fourth voyage of Sinbad the Sailor in the Middle Eatern collection of folk tales The One Thousand and One Nights. On his fourth voyage, Sinbad finds himself on an island inhabited by a civilization of people whose tradition it is to bury the remaining spouse alive with the deceased partner. When Sinbad's wife falls ill and dies, Sinbad is lowered into the tomb along with her. Once in the tomb, Sinbad witnesses death and decay in all forms until he hears a stirring that he follows, only to find a way out of the tomb, to find the passage of life.

Shelley probably chooses the story of Sinbad because it is so similar to Frankenstein's voyages in the tomb, as he watches bodies decaying in his search for the spark of life. And similar to Sinbad, Frankenstein feels he has found a way out when he discovers that one secret that has been ever hidden from man.

http://www.wollamshram.ca/1001/Dixon/dixon01_12.htm

Mutability - Frankenstein III

"We rest; a dream has power to poison sleep.
We rise; one wand'ring thought pollutes the day.
We feel, conceive, or reason; laugh or weep,
Embrace fond woe, or cast our cares away;
It is the same: for, be it joy or sorrow,
The path of its departure still is free.
Man's yesterday may ne'er be like his morrow;
Nought may endure but mutability!" (67).

Shelley interjects the last two stanzas of the poem Mutability by Percy Bysshe Shelley, the man Mary eloped with when she was almost seventeen. The poem seems to describe Victor's situation with perfect accuracy; he had dreams of his monster that made sleep terrifying; he would be perfectly happy until a sudden thought made him remember his creation; yet in the end, it matters not what Frankenstein feels, for he loses almost everything. All that remains is the ability to change.

Clerval - Frankenstein II

"Clerval! beloved friend! Even now it delights me to record your words, and to dwell on the praiseof which you are so eminently deserving. He was a being formed in the 'very poetry of nature'" (113).

When Shelley uses the "very poetry of nature" to describe Clerval, she is making an allusion to The Story of Rimini by Leigh Hunt. In the story, those words are used to describe the prince Paola who takes the place of his brother to wed Francesca. When Francesca is told that her betrothed will not be there to marry her, she is rather upset, but when Paola arrives and realizes her discomfort, he soon mends the scene. As Clerval is formed in the "very nature of poetry," he similarly realizes discomfort or unhappiness and works to mend it.

http://books.google.com/books?id=0xhcAAAAQAAJ&pg=PR8&lpg=PR8&dq=the+story+of+rimini+summary&source=bl&ots=SMuvlWrUKq&sig=SJNMr6RKMWjy96mYfuaj8YWVFF0&hl=en&ei=GHK4TpndEcjA2gWWqujMDQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=8&ved=0CFwQ6AEwBw#v=onepage&q=Very%20poetry%20of%20nature&f=false

The Worth of Beauty - Frankenstein I

"They consulted their village priest, and the result was that Elizabeth Lavenza became the inmate of my parents' house -- my more than sister -- the beautiful and adored companion of all my occupations and my pleasures" (17).

Elizabeth's character is likely used by Shelley as a contrast to the monstrosity of Victor’s creation, used to explore the human regard for appearance through the way the two are treated. Elizabeth’s character is never truly discussed in terms other than her appearance; she appears beautiful, so therefore she must be good. The monster is generally assumed to be a similar case: he is ugly, therefore he is evil, while in reality the monster is of true and noble heart.

While exploring the morality of basing goodness on appearance, Shelley fails to give a character in her novel the opposite issues of the monster: a beautiful appearance with an evil heart. This may be because Shelley is never truly driving at this issue, she may merely be trying to get across that parenting matters; if one gets treated well, they will usually behave well. For instance, a large part of the reason Elizabeth ends up how she does is because of the people that take her in as a child. Victor’s monster, on the other hand, has at least as much, if not more, brain potential to become good and kind and wise, yet his appearance hinders all good relations to him. In this way, Shelley may be speaking out against institutions like insane asylums (also called lunatic asylums), which are now known for being places of social alienation. These institutions were generally thought of as being good, until depiction in popular culture, like Francisco de Goya's The Madhouse (painted between 1812 and 1814), told otherwise. Shelley's discussion of the morality of judging on appearances alone may have been influenced by this painting.

http://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/html/g/goya/7/711goya.html

Oranges and Lemons - 1984 X

"'Did you ever happen to hear an old rhyme that begins Oranges and lemons, say the bells of St. Clements?' Again O'Brien nodded. With a sort of grave courtesy he completed the stanza:
'Oranges and lemons, say the bells of St. Clements,
You owe me three farthings, say the bells of St. Martin's,
When will you pay me? say the bells of Old Bailey,
When I grow rich, say the bells of Shoreditch'"(178).

The rhyme that Winston searches for all throughout the first half of the book is actually an old traditional song.... Perhaps the rhyme was chosen by Orwell because of its sinister connotations: it is believed that the rhyme was highly influenced by the public executions that took place at Newgate prison, which was located right beside Old Bailey, England's most important court. The bells of Old Bailey would ring before an execution, therefore asking the condemned criminals "When will you pay me?"

Ironic in many ways, Orwell chooses O'Brien to finally reveal the last line of the rhyme. In a prime example of doublethink, O'Brien, a full fledged member of the Party and the Thought Police, is the one who knows the entire rhyme, although he should have no knowledge of such a thing ever having existed. It seems Orwell uses this rhyme to symbolize how near Winston is to betrayal. Early in the novel Winston learns the first two lines from the owner of the junk shop, who is really a member of the thought police surveying Winston along with the rest. Then when Winston meets Julia he learns the third line and further loses himself to the thought police by being ever present in the room in the junk shop, that is complete with a hidden telescreen. Then when Winston finally meets his final "betrayer," O'Brien, the man to get the confession out of Winston as well as to fully earn his trust, he learns the last line.

http://www.rhymes.org.uk/oranges_and_lemons.htm
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/LONold.htm http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/LONnewgate.htm

Being Watched through Technology - 1984 IX

"The voice came from an oblong metal plaque like a dulled mirror which formed part of the surface of the right-hand wall. Winston turned a switch and the voice sank somewhat, though the words were still distinguishable. The instrument (the telescreen, it was called) could be dimmed, but there was no way of shutting it off completely" (2).

The television was relatively new when Orwell was writing 1984; the first successful electronic television was demonstrated in 1927, but owning televisions in a home did not really start until the 40's, with wide scale broadcasting only coming into being right around the time Orwell was writing this novel. Therefore, it is highly probable that Orwell, along with others, were very speculative of the television and all its abilities. The early rumors surrounding the television are most likely where Orwell drew his inspiration for idea of the telescreen, essentially a TV that can never be shut off and that acts as a window through which the room and people in it can be watched and listened to.

http://www.nyu.edu/classes/stephens/History%20of%20Television%20page.htm

Vacant Memories - 1984 VIII

"For some reason they were nicknamed memory holes. When one knew that any document was due for destruction, or even when one saw a scrap of waste paper lying about, it was an automatic action to lift the flap of the nearest memory hole and drop it in, whereupon it would be whirled away on a current of warm air to the enormous furnaces which were hidden somewhere in the recesses of the building" (37-38).

The memory holes not only serve as a reminder of just how much the Party controls history, but Orwell also uses them as a reminder of the Party's absolute control over the minds of Party members. Any scrap piece of a memory, any information that suddenly became out of date because Oceania switched alliances in the war must be thrown down the metaphoric memory hole. The memory holes filling the workplace are yet another reminder that nothing in Oceania is concrete, and that a Party member must always be ready and willing to throw out out-of-date information.

The Power of Control - 1984 VII

"'Who controls the past,' ran the Party slogan, 'controls the future: who controls the present controls the past'" (34).

The past seems an unalterable thing; yet in most forms of history, such as oral history, or the histories found in books, such as the Bible which has been "re-translated" at least once by a king who could rewrite it without fearing any consequence, truth has ultimately been lost. Orwell realizes, though, that there is still the truth that comes into being when one believes completely that an event has occurred; therefore he is able to successfully use this idea as one of the founding principles of his Utopia he creates in 1984. If everyone believes that the event happened in reality, than no one can say that it did not happen. The Party realizes that although the past is generally thought of as a factual thing, it is really a story riddled with bias and falsities, a story controlled by those who hold power over the present; thus, the controller of the present controls the past. More importantly, though, is how the Party uses this power; they use their ability to change the past in order to adjust events so that the Party is continuously correct. Although at first this seems like more than a slight waste of time, a perfect rule would not be possible without it. Because the Party is continuously correct, the people have no reason for discontent, which completely removes an extremely common reason for overthrow. In that way, the Party's control of the present gives them the control of the future.

Secret Sighs - 1984 VI

"A deep and as it were secret sigh went through the Department. A mighty deed, which could never be mentioned, had been achieved. It was now impossible for any human being to prove by documentary evidence that the war with Eurasia had ever happened" (183).

When the war against Eurasia suddenly becomes a war against Eastasia, an enormous forgery has to be committed. But in accordance with the wondrous properties of doublethink, once the forgery is committed no forgery has been committed. Orwell uses the event to show just how well the Party's system is developed: even the workers whose job it is to forge events into being cannot remember that they had done such a thing.

Stolen Hearts - 1984 V

"'It was only an 'opeless fancy
It passed like an Ipril dye
But a look an' a word an' the dreams they stirred
They 'ave stolen my 'eart awye'" (218).

The song written by the Party for the proles is ever reoccuring in Winston's story, as it tells his tale along with George Orwell. Orwell uses the song to describe Winston's hopeless fancy for the future to be like the past, and a desire to help make it turn out that way. But although he feels this fancy rather strongly, he never bothered to act on it until one day he gets a look from O'Brien during the Two Minutes Hate that cause dreams of joining the underground conspiracy group referred to as "the Brotherhood" in their supposed quest to overthrow the Party. Orwell put two meanings in the last line of the song. The first meaning is how Winston and others in his position would understand the song, if they realize that it is deeper than a simple song for the proles: the dreams and falsities that they wanted to believe as truth stole their hearts and, essentially, their souls. The second meaning of the last line is the view of one more sympathetic to Winston's cause: the "they" in the last line is referring to the Thought Police, and how they will steal your heart and soul once they know of the dreams in your heart. But as the purpose of the song was never outwardly broadcast as a warning, or a tale of a Party member gone astray, the proles take it to be a song of a lost love, and the Party members barely know of its existence.