Creating An Instrument Of Evil In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

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Creating an Instrument of Evil
(A discussion of how Victor Frankenstein is not a hero in Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley)

“To a large extent, the novel is a reflection of the concerns of the time when the natural world was in crisis” (Phillips). The natural world being in a crisis because technology was becoming available that was seen to beat death. Also, more than ever before humanity was starting to turn atheist. Importantly, when one messes with the natural, cyclical, cycle of life, evil can be created. Demonstrated when Victor Frankenstein discovers galvanism. In Frankenstein, the novel, by Mary Shelley, begins with a young man named Robert Walton, an English adventurer. Walton embarks on an expedition to the North Pole. Where he …show more content…

Consequently, Victor was part of the murder and execution of innocents. After the creature became literate, the creature read Victor’s writings about him; Victor was ashamed and discontented with the horrific monster he gave life to. The monster in rebellion to his creators discontent, and disgust with him, decided, while passing through Victor’s homestead to murder Victor’s youngest brother, William. Not only did the monster murder William in cold blood, the monster also set-up Justine with the murder. Evidently, William is one innocent murdered. Then, after Justine is suspected with his murder and found with a piece of William, she is sentenced to death for her ‘crime’. Justine is soon executed by the time Victor finds out about the whole incident. Therefore, Victor is part of the death of two innocents, for creating such a beast. Victor’s guilty conscious is displayed in the following, “He beheld those he loved spend vain sorrow upon the grave of William and Justine, the first hapless victims to his hallowed arts” (Shelley 93). These arts of bringing his creature to life, without weighing out the consequences of his actions. Not only will Victor have to live with this for the rest of his natural life, but his family and community will have to mourn and live the consequences as well. Possibly, if Victor would have said something …show more content…

“‘Ineffectual Ideas, Violent Consequences: Vladimir Makanin’s Portrait of the Intelligentsia.’” Contemporary Literary Criticism, edited by Lawrence J. Trudeau, vol. 380, Gale, Farmington Hills, MI, 2015. Literature Resource Center, link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/H1100119738/GLS?u=wylrc_wyomingst&sid=GLS&xid=3c6ea1d7. Accessed 2018.
Mitchell, Jesse. “Master of Doom by Doom Mastered: Heroism, Fate, and Death in the Children of Hurin.” Mythlore, vol. 29, no. 1-2, 2010, p. 87. Literature Resource Center, link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A242509660/GLS?u=wylrc_wyomingst&sid=GLS&xid=afd1ba54. Accessed 2018.
Phillips, Bill. “Frankenstein and Mary Shelley's ‘Wet Ungenial Summer.’” Atlantis, Revista De La Asociación Española De Estudios Anglo-Norteamericanos, vol. 28, no. 2, Dec. 2006, p. 59. Literature Resource Center, link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A165578074/GLS?u=wylrc_wyomingst&sid=GLS&xid=918ec054. Accessed 2018.
Star, Alexander StarAlexander. “The Vulture of Narcissism.” The New Republic, vol. 205, no. 24, 9 Dec. 1991, p. 40. Literature Resource Center, link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/H1420001790/GLS?u=wylrc_wyomingst&sid=GLS&xid=3b82b90e. Accessed 2018.
Leonard, Alison, et al. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. Ginn,

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