Have you ever read a story and found yourself completely lost – unsure of what happened or what any of it meant? That’s a common experience, especially when it comes to classic literature. Many of these works are beautiful and meaningful, but their language can feel distant and difficult for modern readers. In this series, we’ll be taking some of literature’s most famous stories and making them more accessible by breaking them down, sentence by sentence.
We’ll start with my absolute favorite classic novel: Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus.
This book, written by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, was published in 1818 when she was only 21 years old. Frankenstein was born out of the Gothic and Romantic literary movements, which is reflected in the story as well as many others written and published during this same period in time. Unlike most books written today, it uses rich, formal, and sometimes archaic wording.
Let’s unpack and simplify an excerpt from the first letter.
| Original text | Translated text |
| You will rejoice to hear that no disaster has accompanied the commencement of an enterprise which you have regarded with such evil forebodings. | You will be happy to hear that nothing disastrous has happened on this trip even though you had a bad feeling about it. |
| I arrived here yesterday; and my first task is to assure my dear sister of my welfare, and increasing confidence in the success of my undertaking. | I got here yesterday; and the first thing I wanted to do was let you know that I am okay, and that I have a good feeling that this trip is going to be a success. |
| Original text | Translated text |
| …braces my nerves… | …inspires me/fills me with confidence… |
| …a foretaste of those icy climes. | …a preview/sample of those icy regions/climates. |
| Inspirited… fervent and vivid. | Motivated/encouraged… passionate and detailed/crystal clear. |
| Original text | Translated text |
| …the pole… seat of frost and desolation; | …the North Pole… center of ice/cold and emptiness/isolation; |
| it ever presents itself to my imagination… | I keep/cannot stop imagining it… |
| …the sun is for ever visible; its broad disk just skirting the horizon, and diffusing a perpetual splendor. | …the sun never sets; it barely touches the horizon, and shoots/spreads endless rays of sun across the sky. |
| …surpassing in wonders and in beauty every region hitherto discovered on the habitable globe. | …more beautiful and wonderful than anyplace known on Earth. |
| …there snow and frost are banished. | [Referring to the horizon/the line where the sky meets the surface of the sea/Earth] |
| Original text | Translated text |
| Its productions and features may be without example, as the phenomena of the heavenly bodies undoubtedly are in those undiscovered solitudes. | [Referring to the horizon] What it has to offer and what it looks like may not be able to be described, which is common with such beautiful far off places that have not been discovered yet. |
| What may not be expected… | It would be easier to ask “what wouldn’t it have?” |
| I may there discover the wondrous power which attracts the needle; | There I may find out why a compass points north; |
| …and may regulate a thousand celestial observations, that require only this voyage to render their seeming eccentricities consistent forever. | [Referring to the use of the compass as well as the sun, moon, and stars for accurate navigation at sea] and with this single trip, I will be able to more accurately observe and measure the behavior of the sun, moon, and stars, and find patterns in their movement. |
| Original text | Translated text |
| I shall satiate my ardent curiosity… | I will satisfy my intense/strong curiosity… |
| These are my enticements… | These are my temptations… |
| …sufficient to conquer… | …enough to overcome… |
| …to induce me to commence this laborious voyage with the joy a child feels… | The temptation is enough to make me start off on this difficult journey with the same joy as a child… |
| …conjectures… | [Referring to the compass and the mystery of the sun, moon, and stars] …theories… |
| …you cannot contest the inestimable benefit which I shall confer on all mankind to the last generation, by discovering a passage near the pole to those countries, to reach which at present so many months are requisite; | You must agree that it will be a huge gift to the world when I discover a passage near the North Pole that makes the journey to other countries of the world much faster. |
| …ascertaining the secret of the magnet, which… can only be effected by an undertaking such as mine. | …finding out how a magnet works, which can only be done by a commitment/quest like mine. |
By breaking down this excerpt from Frankenstein, we learn that:
This book is composed of letters from a sea man to his sister.
He is first writing to let her know that he is well and feels highly optimistic about his journey.
He is disclosing all he hopes to achieve on his journey to the North Pole.
He implies several times that this journey is one of a kind.
When tackling certain classics, a simple dictionary and thesaurus can be your best friends. They help you understand tricky words and phrases, so you can focus on the story and the characters rather than getting stuck on the language. Expanding your knowledge of different literary periods and their vocabulary will open up worlds for you. I urge you to stay curious and keep learning. Feed your mind; water it regularly, and never forget that there is always more to uncover.
To the pursuit of knowledge and wonder!
Paige Turner
(Screenshots from a free public domain edition of Frankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, via Google Books)
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