Victor Frankenstein, a brilliant student of the sciences and protagonist in Mary Shelley’s book Frankenstein, feverishly pursued his passions and became the first among his race to bestow animation upon a lifeless matter only to be immediately disgusted by his creation and abandons it. Victor believes that his creature is innately evil, but the creature himself states that misery made him a fiend. Through meticulous observation of the creature’s choices and crucial interactions between humans throughout the entire novel, I contend that the creature’s claim is valid, but I’ll comprehensively explore both claims to ensure I do justice to both characters. In the book Frankenstein, there are two issues that needs to be addressed before I begin. …show more content…
Days after reanimation, the creature wanders around searching for food and has his first interaction with a human when he enters a shepherd’s hut. The creature is initially surprised by the shepherd’s appearance, but most importantly he doesn’t react maliciously. Subsequently, the creature enters a nearby village allured by food, but is greeted with violence and is forced to seek refuge fearfully where he ends up spying on the De Lacey family. So far, these early human interactions for the creature clearly demonstrate a scared and innocent being who doesn’t have sinister desires whatsoever. However, he’s learning slowly that he’s abnormal and a social reject, but is optimistic about his odds to earn compassion from blind old man De Lacey. The creature decides to educate himself and through his reflections his pessimism grows, but is still hopeful. Eventually the creature stirs up the courage for a confrontation with the old man, but is cut short of time when the rest of the family returns early and violently expels the wretch. This point in time is especially significant for the creature because it’s his first attempt to establish a relationship with another being, but is rejected. This leaves the creature immensely miserable, but not yet broken as a general …show more content…
The creature was initially promised a female creature, but after long contemplation Victor decides to refuse it and destroys his progress, which the creature sought to derive happiness from. The creature says, “Shall each man, cried he, find a wife for his bosom, and each beast have his mate, and I be alone?” (Shelley 122) which clearly demonstrates his desire for happiness through companionship desperately. The creature subsequently makes his final plea to Victor, but recognizes that his creator does not even empathize him. This is the most important scene in the book for the creature. The creature has consistently been berated and harassed by humans throughout the novel however, he knows that Victor is his best shot to achieve happiness as he is the most compassionate, but is even spurned by him. At that point, the creature realizes that it will be impossible to ever overcome his deformities to earn the compassion of any human. As a result, he commits himself to bring upon Victor grief as he is the root of his miseries. Thereafter, the creature is the cause of the deaths of Henry Clerval, Elizabeth Lavenza, and Victor’s father. Considering all the following interactions, the creature clearly was not evil initially however, once he reached his threshold for pain and patience he chose to spite Victor because conforming no
The Creature was born capable of thing such as love and sympathy though he lost these capabilities as a result of how he was treated. The creature’s heart was ‘fashioned to be susceptible of love and sympathy’ but wrenched with misery to ‘vice and hatred’. On a cold night in November, Victor Frankenstein brought his creation to life. This creation has thin black lips, inhuman eyes, and
The Creature, after learning what it is to love, requests that Victor creates a companion for him. Victor rejects the creature’s proposition, as Victor now understands the consequences of animating what shouldn't be alive, the Creature wants nothing more than for Victor to suffer, to feel the pain that he, as a wretch, faces. The Creature does so by devoting his life to the destruction of Victor’s. In chapter 24, the Creature states “But it is even so; the fallen angel becomes the malignant devil.” The creature is viewed as entirely evil by the characters of the novel, despite the scenes in which his benevolent nature is shown. It is ironic that Victor and his creature are foils of one another, yet they suffer a similar fate: their desire to destroy one another led to their ultimate
The vivid similarities between the two tragic characters are driven by their isolation from the secluded world, which refuses to accept those who are different into society, by hatred, and most importantly by the absence of motherly figures in both Victor’s and the Creature’s lives. As Victor had stated, “I seemed to have lost all soul or sensation but for this one pursuit.” (Shelley 40) as he described that he lost all touch with the world due to his work. Both figures seem to strongly despise one another yet strangely enough, they both also despise themselves for their wrong and disastrous actions. Family ties and vengefulness are truly one of the most significant aspects affecting the resemblance of both Victor and the Creature. At a young age, Victor was left without his mother after her death and as a result, he never got to experience the true feelings of a mother’s warm touch and love. “She died calmly...it is so long before the mind can persuade itself that she whom we saw every day and whose every existence appeared a part of our own can have departed forever and the sound of a voice so familiar and dear to the ear can be hushed, never more to be heard.” (Shelley, 29) Just like Victor, in his own time, the Creature never got to experience not only the love of a mother but the love of a father as well. These driven characters thrive for the same goals, feed of similar pain, and feel the same
As a tragic hero, Victor’s tragedies begin with his overly obsessive thirst for knowledge. Throughout his life, Victor has always been looking for new things to learn in the areas of science and philosophy. He goes so far with his knowledge that he ends up creating a living creature. Victor has extremely high expectations for his creation but is highly disappointed with the outcome. He says, “I had desired it with an ardour that far exceeded moderation; but now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart” (Shelley 35). Frankenstein neglects the creature because of his horrifying looks, which spark the beginning of numerous conflicts and tragedies. At this point, the creature becomes a monster because of Victor’s neglect and irresponsibility. The monster is forced to learn to survive on his own, without anyone or anything to guide him along the way. Plus, the monster’s ugly looks cause society to turn against him, ad...
In the novel, Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, the Creature's only need is for a female companion, which he asks Victor Frankenstein his maker to create. Shelley shows the argument between the creature and Frankenstein. The creature says: "I demand a creature of another sex, but as hideous as myself " (Shelley 139). Shelley shows what the creature wants from Frankenstein and what his needs are. Shelley gives us an idea of the sympathy that Frankenstein might feel for the creature even though he neglects him. The creature confronts Victor demanding his attention and expressing his needs. I feel a lot of sympathy for the creature based on him being able to forgive Victor for abandoning him and being able to communicate with him.
...society rejected; some may argue it was simply the creature’s bad decisions. The argument is that the decision to kill William and to blame the murder on Justine is an idea that never came from Victor and was the entire creature’s idea. This argument is invalid because Victor created the creature in his perception of “beautiful” during a time when he had secluded himself from society (60). After the creature introduces himself to de Lacy, the creature is expelled from the house due to his scary countenance. The reason that he killed William was because the creature had claimed “war against the species” because Victor had put him into “insupportable misery” (122). The reason that the creature made the bad decisions is because the creature was created as an ugly creature by Victor and was subsequently therefore rejected by society.
In the novel Frankenstein or the Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelley the motif of cruelty functions as a motive and mode of retaliation. Both Victor and the Creature portray the roles of the perpetrator and victim of cruelty as seen through the rejection the Creature receives from the humans, Victor’s betrayal to the Creature, and the revenge sought out by the Creature.
...ntion he longed for, both of their lives would have turned out better than they did. The monster looked at Victor as his father, and Victor left him desolate, only causing the monster suffering (Nardo 32). He exposed the creature to cruelty (Nardo 33). Victor gave the monster only a pinch of happiness by agreeing to make him a female companion, but that happy moment faded once Victor discarded the parts of the second creation. This only made the poor wretch’s life more despondent than it already previously was (Britton 8). The depravity of love and affection caused by Victor caused the monster’s life to be dreadful.
When Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein is analyzed, critics comes to a conclusion about Victor Frankenstein's creation. The creature invokes the most sympathy from the readers than any other character in the novel. Because he is abandoned by society which manipulates the creature to do evil things despite his good heart. Therefore Shelley's message throughout the novel is that a person is not born evil, they are made evil.
In the book, Frankenstein, there are many justice and injustice problems. Justice is the opposite of injustice, the way that injustice is unfairness or undeserved outcomes. I believe that the greatest injustice in the book is the creation of the monster. I believe the human kind should not have the right to even try to create life, they are not God. in someway, victor is taking away a major role in a woman's life, in how women are the only one the can “give life”, in the giving birth to a human being.
“I was benevolent and good; misery made me fiend” How far and in what ways is the creature a victim of Frankensteins thirst for knowledge?
The creature did not decide to come into the world being so different that no one will be near him. When the creature did good deeds, he gets shot in return. Any other person who would be in creature shoes would be just as confused and angered as he was. He has never felt where he belong to anyone. When he was created, Victor couldn’t look at him and wished that he would be gone or dead. All living species all have a natural instinct to belong to someone. This means have a relationship such as family and friends. The creature knows he is destined to be lonely and knows Victor is the cause as he says to Victor, “ I was not even of the same nature as man...When I looked around, I saw and heard of none like me… I cannot describe to you the agony that these reflections inflicted upon me”(102). The creature knows he is the only one of his kind which makes sense when he was a female version of him. The agony also causes him to be not gentle to humans, and he resorts to murder to get back at his father. The creature gets the title of being worthy of getting sympathy because no one wanted to be near him even his
Tragedy shows no discrimination and often strikes down on those undeserving of such turmoil. In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, a creature more repulsive than one can imagine is brought to life by a young scientist. Although this creature is horrifying in sight, he is gentle by nature. Unfortunately, the softer side of the creature is repeatedly overlooked and the so called “monster” is driven to a breaking point. Even though the Creature committed many crimes, Mary Shelley’s Creature was the tragic hero of this story because of his efforts rescue the life of a young girl and helping destitute cottagers.
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is a nineteenth century literary work that delves into the world of science and the plausible outcomes of morally insensitive technological research. Although the novel brings to the forefront several issues about knowledge and sublime nature, the novel mostly explores the psychological and physical journey of two complex characters. While each character exhibits several interesting traits that range from passive and contemplative to rash and impulsive, their most attractive quality is their monstrosity. Their monstrosities, however, differ in the way each of the character’s act and respond to their environment. Throughout Frankenstein, one assumes that Frankenstein’s creation is the true monster. While the creation’s actions are indeed monstrous, one must also realize that his creator, Victor Frankenstein is also a villain. His inconsiderate and selfish acts as well as his passion for science result in the death of his friend and family members and ultimately in his own demise.
The creature is born into the world with a fully functional brain; however, he has no knowledge of anything. As the story progresses, the creature quickly learns the language, culture, and customs of the world he lives in. Since he is horribly ugly, he is rejected by the people of his society, this is the motivation behind his need and desire to learn about himself and the society he lives in. As the creature obtains more and more knowledge, he finally discovers his origins and birth from Victor. As a result, the Creature becomes a wretched monster, who now has no sympathy for anyone or anything. The Creature becomes fixed on the idea of needing a companion, and due to this obsession, he turns Victor’s life upside down. The Creature is able to torment Victor by killing his family members, then quickly vanishing so Victor can not tell who or what he saw. The Creature and Victor finally meet again and the Creature tells Victor of his stories and struggles. Throughout the novel, the Creature remains in the same state of being, he persistently harasses Victor and maintains a watchful eye on him. At the beginning of the novel, the Creature is an innocent being, made purely for science. In the end of the novel the reader sees what the Creature truly becomes when Victor has died and the Creature is having his last words, he says: “I felt the cheering warmth of summer, and heard the rustling of the leaves and the warbling of the birds, and these were all to me, I should have wept to die; now it is my only consolation”(pg. 166). This explains how the Creature is aware of how he has changed from start to beginning. The society that he lived in, causes him to shift from an innocent and loving creature, to a hopeless and wretched