How Mary Shelley's Frankenstein Depicts Victor As A Hero

Frankenstein

(A Discussion of How Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein Depicts Victor as a Hero) With many works of classic literature throughout the ages defining the ideal or epic hero, it is clear that idealistic heroes are figures humanity has admired for many years. Both literal and fictional heroes are a goal or an idea to strive for. These heroes can be someone that a listener or reader strikes a connection with due to similar personality traits or upbringing. Due to the public desire for heroes in stories, writers create all sorts of different archetypes of heroes to fit every imaginable audience member and their desires for an ideal hero. However, Mary Shelley takes a rather unique approach to define a rather tragic, yet consistently unsuccessful

A very prideful man, Victor spent his time preparing to essentially play God and create life from death. Seeing the hideousness of his creation, Victor quickly flees the scene and abandons the creation. Allison Green goes to say, “Victor Frankenstein is fixated on the boundaries between life and death, and death and life,” (Green). Upon hearing the monster’s story, Frankenstein is immediately compelled to strike down the monster and undo his work. “Begone vile beast!” (85). Despite his actions, Victor’s heart is in the right place when he plans to destroy his hideous creation. Anna Clark states, “Victor is a singular character inwardly focused on his own flaws.” (Clark). Perhaps it is this inward focus that prevents him from taking decisive

Rather than give him the chance to overcome his fear and hesitation to save those he loves, Shelley gives him courage far too late for it to make a difference. Chris Nelson says, “Frankenstein is unable to kill his creation and dies after his life is destroyed completely,” (Nelson). If Victor were to pursue his goal of destroying the monster with the same vigor of his whining and contemplating, he would be a tragic hero. However, his lack of courage that leaves him essentially catatonic in crucial moments is what sets him up as a unique character. Jonathan Marks tells, “Much like the lion without courage, Frankenstein is a man without the courage to fix his errors,” (Marks). With a dash more courage, the novel based on the choices of Victor would take a very different