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Quote by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

“I had admired the perfect forms of my cottagers—their grace, beauty, and delicate complexions; but how was I terrified when I viewed myself in a transparent pool! At first I started back, unable to believe that it was indeed I who was reflected in the mirror; and when I became fully convinced that I was in reality the monster that I am, I was filled with the bitterest sensations of despondence and mortification. Alas! I did not yet entirely know the fatal effects of this miserable deformity.”

Quote by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

Book:Frankenstein: The 1818 Text
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Frankenstein: The 1818 Text

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Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley was an English novelist best known for her famous work, 'Frankenstein'. Born on August 30, 1797, and passing away on February 1, 1851, she was an early female writer whose works explored themes such as women's rights, social inequalities, and scientific ethics. more

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“The tragic sense of life has its origin in our determination to carry off two incompatible, but equally serious, ambitions: to search for meaning and to face reality. An intense, unceasing demand for meaning - the longing for life to make benevolent, beautiful sense - is coupled with the dawning, appalling fact that it does not, in the end, make sense in that way. Tragedy is the name for horror seen against the backdrop of love. This is an area in which civilization does not reduce our suffering - does not make life more pleasing or comfortable. What is the achievement of tragedy? It is to present the deepest sorrows of the human condition: what we love is terribly vulnerable; each life is a brief, scarring moment in the wastes of eternity; our transient existence will be marked by depression, confusion, and fear ... The ambition of tragedy is to hold such intelligent fears in a ceremonial act endowed with splendour and grace. The ceremony does not overcome our fears. But, unlike horror, it does not seek to stoke anxiety. The tragic view is, really, a determination to hold on to nobility, love and beauty - even while knowing the worst about ourselves.”

PhilosophyHumanityExistenceSadnessComfortCivilizationTragedyMeaningMeaning Of LifeThe Human Condition
Book:In Search of Civilization
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