Cultural Artifacts Literature & Language Essay Paper

Cultural Artifacts
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Cultural Artifacts
Introduction
The first piece of work chosen is a horror novel written by Mary Shelby entitled Frankenstein. The novel was written in the year 1818 at a period of the Romantic movement and published anonymously in London after which another edition of the novel was later published in France, thereafter incorporating her name. Apart from that, the second artifact chosen involves the painting titled The Elevation of the Cross created in the year 1610 by Peter Reubens. Being a triptych, the art is a three-piece on paper on display at a Catholic church in Belgium.
Related Themes
From the two works, an overlying theme is evident portraying rejection in which the book, Frankenstein, shows his rejection of the Creature. From his words, Victor explains his emotions after completing the creation, saying:
How can I describe my emotions at this catastrophe, or how delineate the wretch whom with such infinite pains and care I had endeavored to form? His limbs were in proportion, and I had selected his features as beautiful. Beautiful! – Great God! 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; but these luxuriances only formed a more horrid contrast with his watery eyes, that seemed almost of the same colour as the dun white sockets in which they were set, his shrivelled complexion, and straight black lips… (Shelley, 2016, p. 44)
From the above quote, it is evident that the Creature may be rejected due to its ugly looks. Additionally, Victor may also reject it due to his realization of the horrifying nature of his idea to create such a creature. The Creature was brought into the world without his knowledge or consent but was later on rejected by his creator.
On the other hand, The Elevation of the Cross, the painter portrays the crucifixion of Jesus with the portrayal of him being left to suffer and eventually succumb to his injuries. The mission of Jesus in the world was to save them from destruction, but a majority of the population rejected his teachings. Therefore, Jesus is portrayed having died to save individuals who did not heed to his words and totally rejected him eventually.
Personal Experience
The experience of rejection is traumatizing since it affects an individual emotionally. In my experience, I have suffered from rejection at a stage in my life during school. I had a speech impediment that made it difficult for me to express myself adequately. Consequently, this became a cause for harassment from my classmates, who regularly laughed and avoided me in school. While this was not my fault, my classmates did not put into consideration my feelings but instead saw this as an opportunity to make fun of the situation. However, this experience shaped my development all through my school life, thus setting the precedence for future growth for where I am today. I was able to conquer my fear and the rejection to accept my condition further and work harder to overcome it.
Profession
When an individual chooses a profession, he/she is bound to spend most of their time at work pursuing career goals. Therefore, the workplace brings about a new environment for colleagues to work together to achieve common goals. However, rejection may be present at such a workplace, hence creating a problem for individuals suffering from it. For instance, the choice of friends may alienate an individual by choosing to work with others, thus creating feelings of rejection. Such opinions may affect the motivation of such an employee, thus making his/her stay at the company unbearable. Therefore, it may be critical for such individuals to understand how to deal with it with activities such as art which may be a channel for emotions.
Resources on Humanities
Arif Kamal Barbar analyses the book, Frankenstein, through his writing called, "Frankenstein; From a Psycho-Political Perspective." Barbar examines concepts regarding the life and experiences of Shelley and how they impacted the writing of her book. This enables a greater understanding of the motivations behind the thought process of the book, thus giving readers a greater understanding of the book. Apart from that, Dr. Shannon Pritchard analyses Ruben’s painting through his article, "Peter Paul Rubens, Elevation of the Cross". According to Pritchard, there exists a story behind Rubens’ painting which is analyzed with the information provided about the history of the painting especially during the renaissance era. Finally, the last source of information is the biography of Mary Shelley, where she shares information on her life experiences. The biography also enables the readers to understand the motivations and thought processes that she used during the writing of the book.
The information from the above sources was researched extensively to ensure that it was adequate and adequately suited for this project. Therefore, a lot of effort and time was put into finding each of the sources. Firstly, the library provided a basis for the search through which relevant books, journals and articles were researched to form a background for the artifacts under study. Furthermore, an internet search was conducted to find additional information to support the preliminary data already found. The information was further refined to get the specific information after which adequate information was found.
Historical Context
With Frankenstein written during the Romantic period, it is one of the oldest known works of science fiction in the world of novels. The novel was put on paper when Shelley was still young and travelling across Europe with her friends. Furthermore, torrential rainstorms were a constant occurrence in the area, thus forcing them indoors to discuss different matters with science being at the center of it. The idea of scientific experiments brought discussions on galvanism which involves the use of electric currents to gain muscle movements on a human body. This culminated in the creation of a challenge to write a horror story with the idea of bringing a human being from the dead using the theory of galvanism (Means, 2017). From this challenge, Shelley’s first book was born but was later published anonymously.
On the other hand, The Elevation of the Cross was painted during a period of architectural and artistic innovations which flourished during the 17th century in Europe. Being a triptych, Rubens painted it as a three-piece with the theme aimed at inspiring individuals from the Catholic faithful. The painting at the time was created during at point of the Catholic Reformation in 1610 (Zucker & Harris, 2015). The painting’s first installation was at the of St. Walburga Church in located in Belgium. The painting was later transferred after the destr...