Parallel Structure

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is a prime example on the use of parallel character’s that add more depth to each other by acting in similar fashions or getting involved in similar situations. Likewise in the play The Importance of Being Earnest writer Oscar Wilde uses parallel characters who help add layers to each other and further develop the work as a whole. This two very dissimilar works are nonetheless connected by their very similar use of characters that mirror and mimic each other.

Although at first these two pieces of literature seem to have no correlation, one being a serious novel on a mad scientist and the other a twisted comedy about love and honesty, they use very similar devices to get their overall criticisms of human society across. Victor Frankenstein and Robert Walton draw connections between each other in their search for the unknown and undiscovered. Jack and Algernon are attached to each other by their “bunburying” antics and their constant struggles with the ridiculous rules and expectations of their society. In each case the one character goes through similar experiences with the other and helps the work as a whole to impart a greater meaning.

In Frankenstein Walton helps introduce and wrap up the themes of dangerous exploration and misuse of knowledge. He and Victor both are young and ambitious men in pursuit of a seemingly impossible goal that appears beyond the scope of the average man. In the end though each one ends their adventure in defeat. Victor’s leads to his death and his family’s destruction, his final moments are full of agony and regret for his carelessness. Likewise, Robert Walton is sailing into the Arctic depths in order to find some sort of prophesied utopia. However he drives his crew to the brink of mutiny and leads his men through a fruitless endeavor. In the end, both Victor and Walton parallel each other and drive home the main theme that some goals are not meant to be reached, that there are in fact limits to what man can achieve. 

The Importance of Being Earnest explores the idea that societal values don’t make logical sense through the two eventual brothers Algernon and Jack. Each gets wrapped into a similar situation of expectant love that is guided and shaped by lies and deceit. Algernon falls in love with his dearest Cecily, however their love is blocked by her longing to be with a man named Earnest. Just the same as Algernon, Jack too falls in love with a woman, named Gwendolen, who wishes only to be with a man named Earnest. The repetition of their situations helps to emphasize the idea that these two women are looking for love in all the wrong ways, a name is just a name and nothing more. However the fact that Algernon and Jack both have to work around the all important issue of their names shows that society values strength of character far less than it does the symbolism of one’s name. 

In each instance one character relates to another and works in cohesion to bring a greater point of meaning into the work. The parallels in these two pieces help show one of the many devices used in literary works to lead the reader to a better understanding of the work as a whole.