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Character analysis of the monster in Frankenstein
Character analysis of the monster in Frankenstein
Character analysis of the monster in Frankenstein
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The creation of life has always baffled human beings but in the fiction novel Frankenstein Victor Frankenstein has it all figured out. Frankenstein his whole life wanted to learn more about creating life and in the novel he finally creates it. The creation is made out of human body parts that Frankenstein finds and uses. Frankenstein’s vision was to create this perfect human being with all the best characteristics from physical attributes to mental attributes. When the “perfect” human being was created, he realized he made a monster instead. The debate of nature versus nurture is evident in the novel Frankenstein by the way that the creation turned into a monster.
To explain how this debate comes into play, first more knowledge about what
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He learns how to articulate words and also learns how to use the words in the correct fashion. He learns what food he can eat and the importance of warmth and shelter as he experiences the hard elements of the wilderness. With him being out in the world on his own, he never experiences the learning that a normal human being will learn from his or her parents as they grow up. The creation speaks to Frankenstein about this in when he says "Remember that I am thy creature; I ought to be thy Adam, but I am rather the fallen angel, whom thou drivest from joy for no misdeed. Everywhere I see bliss, from which I alone am irrevocably excluded. I was benevolent and good; misery made me a fiend. Make me happy, and I shall again be virtuous." (Shelley 87) During this time in the novel, Frankenstein is up in the mountains alone and his creation comes up to him after since the last time they saw each other the night that the creation is brought to life. The creation is speaking on what he endures during this time period. This quote exemplifies the nurture aspect of the debate as the creation is disowned by Frankenstein and instead of the learning from Frankenstein he learns through watching other humans and through experiences in the world.Without this knowledge he learns from Frankenstein, the monster becomes an outcast and has to go into hiding. The creation does not see a reason why this happened and is hurt through all this. He feels that his acceptance to society will be faster if he has the knowledge from
As Frankenstein is enroute to his pursuit of gaining more knowledge, he states, “I wished, as it were, to procrastinate all that related to my feelings of affection until the great object, which swallowed up every habit of my nature, should be completed” (Shelley 41). Frankenstein’s decision in allowing his intellectual ambitions to overpower everything else in his life leads him to be blinded to the dangers of creating life. He isolates himself from his society when creating the monster, letting himself be immersed in his creation while being driven by his passions, allowing nobody to be near him. The fact that he allows this creation of a monster to consume his total being reveals how blinded he is to the immorality of stepping outside the boundaries of science and defying nature. His goal in striving to achieve what wants to in placing man over nature makes him lose his sense of self as all he is focused on is the final product of his creation. He starts to realize his own faults as after he has created the monster, he becomes very ill and states, “The form of the monster on whom I had bestowed existence was forever before my eyes, and I raved incessantly concerning him” (48). His impulsive decision to make the monster leads him to abhorring it as it does not turn out to be what he has expected. Because he chooses to isolate himself in creating the
After hearing the monster’s side of the story Frankenstein started to show some compassion for the being and agreed to it’s desire for a mate. Now that Frankenstein has learned the full story of his creation he feels the need to take responsibility for it now with the line, “did [he] not as his maker owe him all portions of happiness” (Shelley 125), less the monster start to attack humanity out of
In Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein creates a corpse from the body parts of random men. On a dreary November night, Frankenstein successfully reanimates the corpse. In a panic, Frankenstein leaves the newborn corpse and retreats to his room. Comparable to a child missing its parent, Frankenstein’s creation- henceforth referred to as “the creation”- hovers over him while he sleeps. Terrified, Frankenstein leaves his apartment and finds refuge in the city. The following day Frankenstein returns to his apartment to find it empty. Two years later, Frankenstein is in the wilderness and sees a figure moving
As Frankenstein explains, he declares that he deliberately neglects to communicate with his creation, based on its shockingly hideous appearance. Had Frankenstein taken the time to communicate and care for his creation, with all the knowledge that he possesses of the responsibility of a good parent, the creation would have never developed the sense of vindication and reprisal that lead him to murdering Victor's loved one's. The creation would henceforth account Frankenstein for all his sufferings succeeding his birth.
The creation’s actions are influenced by his desire to make an impact upon Frankenstein. His decision to move to Geneva, his continuous contact with the human population when he could just as easily go off and live in nature, and the way he lives his life with killing and tormenting, all in hopes of having an influence upon Frankenstein. For example, at the end of the book, a large portion of the creation’s life motivation is to lead Frankenstein across the world, having him endure perpetual torment. The creation says, “I have devoted my creator, the select specimen of all that is worthy of love and admiration among men, to misery; I have pursued him even to that irremediable ruin” (185, Shelly). The creation turns this into sort of a game, every time Frankenstein is close to quitting the monster provides him with a clue or resources. In a type of sadistic way, the creation coerced Frankenstein into finally spending some father son time. This lack of attention provided by Frankenstein causes the monster to act out. This is mirrored by God’s negligence of Adam in the book of Genesis. The desire for a father’s attention is directly mirrored by Frankenstein and it seems as though Mary Shelley was commentating on the importance of a father’s presence in the life of their children. The novel Frankenstein implies that the concern and attention of one’s parental
..., but there was another still paramount to that. My duties towards the beings of my own species had greater claims to my attention because they included a greater proportion of happiness or misery."(Shelley 265) This quote reiterates one of the main points of the novel: Frankenstein's decision turns on the good of humankind. Frankenstein talks about the monster saying “He walks about the world free, and perhaps respected.” (Shelley 220) Frankenstein is condemning human nature and the society and institutions that come from it. Frankenstein doesn’t know if he should hold himself responsible for his creature.
Living in 18th century Germany, Victor Frankenstein, driven by his love for science and fascination for nature, lived as a highly esteemed chemist. However, as this passion began to dominate his life, Frankenstein began his work on creating a living man from scratch, and would not rest until it was complete. In her novel “Frankenstein”, Mary Shelley uses character development of Frankenstein and the Creature as well as juxtaposition between the lives that both characters lead to show that, although they are seemingly quite different, they are strangely alike.
Upon beginning the creation process, Victor Frankenstein uses the scientific advances of others to infiltrate the role of nature.
I took their word for all that they averred, and I became their disciple” (21). Frankenstein embodies the movement in science to understand everything, and that is not necessarily a good thing (Storment 2). Frankenstein only understands that this train of thought is bad when he reaches the pinnacle of knowledge and produces the creature. The fruits of Frankenstein’s labor end up costing him the lives of his friends and family, as well as his own sanity. The feeling of guilt thrives in Frankenstein because he knows his work was the direct cause of the chaos in his life.
Andrew Lustig proposed a great question to the readers of Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein, “How far should we go in out efforts to alter nature, including human nature? As stewards of God’s creation what are our responsibilities?” (Lustig 1) This question results in theme of nature vs. nurture in the novel. The nature vs. nurture debate is an important topic in Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein. The two central characters, Victor Frankenstein and the creature that he creates; both, characters were raised differently. The nature and the nurture of their upbringing can be a cause of why they are, the way they are. Victor and his creature are subject to very different nurturing styles. Shelley also incorporates the representations of light and fire. This representation is key to the nature vs. nurture discussion in the novel.
The theme of nature vs. nurture is highly debated in the field of psychology and is quite a prevalent topic of the novel Frankenstein. Nature vs. nurture is a psychology term related to whether hereditary genes or the environment
In Frankenstein, various themes are introduced. There are dangerous knowledge, sublime nature, nature versus nurture, monstrosity, and secrecy and guilt. I chose a main theme as nature versus nurture. Nature is some traits that a person is born with, and nurture is an environment that surrounds a person. The novel indirectly debates whether the development of individual is affected more by nature or by nurture through Victor and the Monster.
He had to learn about history, society, and the world on his own. Stumbling through the dangerous world for his first few days of life in a stupor of non-sentience, he had to learn of nature, and more importantly food and hunger, which in any other life would have been taught gracefully to him by those who created him. Later in his life, he learned of society through the only friends he ever knew. These friends did not know him, however, and when he revealed himself to them in an attempt to finally make a connection within society, he was once more met with human prejudice against his appearance, and yet again he was failed by Frankenstein’s
They produced in me an infinity of new images and feelings, that sometimes raised me to ecstasy, but more frequently sunk me into the lowest dejection (Shelley 116).” The monster was forced to learn about society and the world through literature because Victor abandoned him. Shelley’s life and career were influenced off the books of her parents, this lifestyle of being self-taught bled onto the story of Frankenstein. Shelley wrote her way of learning into the monster to perhaps describe the feeling of isolation as both lacked some parental figure. The monster was alone in society as he was rejected by everyone and through reading he taught himself on the wonders of human society just as Shelley did.
Victor Frankenstein is the protagonist and the narrator of the main story in Frankenstein. Raised by doting parents, Victor confesses: “I was their plaything and their idol, and something better-their child, the innocent and helpless creature bestowed on them by Heaven, whom to bring up to good, and whose future lot it was in their hands to direct to happiness or misery, according as they fulfilled their duties towards me.” (35) This statement condemns his later reckless and arrogant behavior. Victor was obsessed from an early age with natural philosophy and the ultimate knowledge of life. He sought answers to the many questions that puzzled great minds before him. Motivated by ambition and an insatiable quest to be God like and create life, Victor dedicated himself to this one pursuit for nearly two years. The creature, which was made out of old body parts stolen from the cemetery, strange chemicals, and a mysterious spark, convulsed to life. In this moment, Victor becomes a creator of a human life, the “God” to a being that was deserving of the attention and love of its creator.