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Essay / Identity in Frankenstien, Beowulf and Sir Gawin and...
Some battles are more important than others like the one the character endures eternally. British literature as a whole has many literary elements. But in these stories, the most important thing is identity. A journey of self-discovery for one's identity can begin at any stage of life. The universal and time-transcendent idea of identity in British literature attests to the human need for self-knowledge, as can be seen in the novels of Frankenstein, Beowulf and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. The monster struggles to find its identity. . He is trying to determine whether he is like Adam created on this earth for a specific purpose or like Satan expelled from the “almighty kingdom” – in his case, society. The Monster's reading of the book Paradise Lost in the story has been misinterpreted as factual; He seems to see Satan as a compassionate and sympathetic character who has been misunderstood and expelled (see chapter fifteen) “Many times I have considered Satan the most appropriate emblem of my condition; for often, like him, when I saw the happiness of my protectors, the bitter gall of envy rose within me” (Shelley p.114). One thing the monster does not have in common with Adam is that he was given some form of guidance and Doctor Frankenstein left the monster alone and unsure of how to succeed in the world, leading to the journey of the beast throughout the novel Frankenstein. During the course of the novel, the monster exhibits humanistic characteristics when his feeling of remorse developed while saving the little girl in chapter 16 when he saved the little girl who slipped into the stream. The monster who saves the little girl in the stream discovers that he has human traits, but has yet to develop them as a whole. In a sense, the monster y...... middle of paper ......uties "But of all those who dwelt there, among the British kings, Arthur was always judged the noblest, as I have heard." (Sir Gawain p. 25-26) Instead of just saying that Arthur is very aristocratic, he says that Arthur has a prestige for nobility, meaning that it is not just the unknown author but all the people who think so too. The speech given by King Arthur, causes the Green Knight to urge Arthur's court to play his game or risk having their reputation for bravery tarnished. But he also reminds the men around the round table of the delicacy of a reputation if it can, in truth, be “overturned by a word coming from the mouth of a single man”. Even though what the Green Knight is referring to here is how his defiance threatens his reputation, we can't help but think of how other words from men's mouths - for example, rumors - can have the same effect..