“Master of their language”: Education and Exile in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

1. Shelley's concern with education. In the passage where Henry and Victor approach Oxford, later removed in the final copy of the narrative, she links education and the state and seeks to "reveal an oppressive traditionalism at Oxford that severely constrains the minds and actions of its students, said to be “slavish.”

2. Peter Brooks argues that the Creature must learn language in order to enter into human society. Brooks then says that language has "failed to gain [the Creature] entry into the ‘chain of existence and events,’ but has rather made him fully aware of his unique and accursed origin” Language is at the root of the monsters pain and awareness of self.

3. The Acquisition of language and understanding also allowed the creature to understand "the very system that names him monstrous. " So with the knowledge of language the creature was automatically granted the ability to understand the conventions of beauty in human society.

4. The creature's request to be allowed to leave and emigrate to South America with a companion created to be as "hideous" as himself, in order to have some connection and a sense of normality and belonging, parallels the treatment of British and American slaves in the 1780's and forward.

5. The creature and Frankenstein's relationsship is often likened to that of a slave and a slave master. Malchow reads into Frankenstein's pursuit of the creature northward to chasing a runaway slave.

Weland

Weland the Smith is a legendary master blacksmith of Norse and Germanic legend

He is credited with forging the chain-mail that Beowulf uses

He has two brothers, Egil and Slagfior

In to variants of his story, Weland’s wife leaves him with a ring that he cherishes and duplicates hundreds of times

Later he is imprisoned by King Niohad, of a Swedish province, and is hamstrung. He is forced to forge items for the king. His wifes ring is given to the kings daughter.

After his confiscation of his ring Weland seeks revenge. He killed the king's sons when they visited him in secret, fashioned goblets from their skulls, jewels from their eyes, and a brooch from their teeth. He sent the goblets to the king, the jewels to the queen and the brooch to the king's daughter

Weland is also credited with forging the sword Durandal used by both Roland in the Chanson de Roland, as well as by Hector of Troy.

Also in some variants Weland is credited with forging the sword Excalibur, used in Arthurian legend.

Vigilantes

Beowulf and Bruce Wayne share many characteristics. They are both powerful, intelligent, morally upright heroes who both play the same role. They are arrogant vigilantes. Bruce Wayne, as Batman, is Gotham City's Caped Crusader and Beowulf is the hero from Geatland who becomes the savior of Hrothgar's mead hall. Both are devoted to the cause of protecting their assigned location whether it be out of a deep-rooted hatred for evil-doers as seen through Batman, or simply to banish evil and gain glory as seen through Beowulf.
Beowulf is a character driven by glory and arrogance. Beowulf's incentive for being the mead hall's vigilante comes only from the desire for personal glory and achievement. This arrogance and need for self-proving seems to be Beowulf’s only true fault and the only thing that stops him from being a truly “perfect hero”. But this was a customary, acceptable act during the time period as it was normal for a warrior or accomplished person to state that which he or she had accomplished or what he or she was known for. Through Beowulf's vigilante-hood he faces and kills both Grendel and Grendel's mother alone and thus brings praise and merit upon himself. Hrothgar’s request initially was only to take care of Grendel, but when the threat arose, and Aeschere is killed, Beowulf is once again called upon to rid Heorot of evil, thus making himself the vigilante of Heorot.
Bruce Wayne’s vigilante-hood comes about through the killing of his parents and the desire to clean up and protect Gotham City, that came as a result of the witnessing of this. He trains his body and endurance to a level well beyond that of an average human, augments himself with a barrage of crime-fighting gadgets and fights Gotham City’s criminals. In the movie, The Dark Knight, the antagonist and villain of the movie, the Joker, issues threats against Wayne for his arrogance and threatens to kill a Gotham citizen each day until Batman’s identity is revealed. A few characters do meet an end prior to Harvey Dent’s false claim to be Batman. Batman faces a myriad of colorful villains, ranging from Scarecrow, to Mr. Freeze, to the Joker, and always triumphs over them and keeps Gotham City safe and crime-free. Batman has faced, and defeated, countless enemies and kept Gotham City the haven he desires it to be.

Together, Batman and Beowulf are actually very similar. Beowulf, being the original hero, is the forefather of Batman (and every other hero character) and it is interesting to note how alike the hero character is even today. Both are the same stock character in strength and morals and share similar faults. The hero seems to be one that does not allow much variation, as seen through the foundations of the original story, Beowulf, and the similarity of virtually every hero story today. Beowulf is an undeniably influential story that has laid the ground works for and entire genre of literature.