Essays should be a minimum of 5 full pages in length (no more than 7). A counterargument is required. The Enlightenment introduced the idea of inalienable human rights and the American and French Revolutions sought to turn theory into practice, establishing nations in which citizens shared liberty, equality, and fraternity. In reality, however, inequalities remained and not all were included in the fraternal embrace. Write a thesis-driven essay supported by judicious use of textual evidence to explore the role of the social outcast in the fiction of Heinrich von Kleist and Mary Shelley. For Kleist, please focus on either Donna Josefe in The Earthquake in Chile or Toni, the tragic heroine of The Betrothal in Santo Domingo; for Shelley, consider Victor Frankenstein, his monster, or both. Questions you might want to consider include: why are these characters excluded from mainstream society? To what extent, if any, are they to blame for their isolation? To what extent, if any, are they the victims of social prejudice? How do they respond to their social ostracism and with what, if any, success?
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